LCDS 2030 will ensure Guyana’s economic resilience, sustainability

The Local Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030 will ensure Guyana develops in a sustainable manner, while safeguarding the economy.   

Following its return to office in August 2020, the PPP/C Administration expanded the LCDS initiative, which was first launched in 2009.

President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, said LCDS 2030 sets out a vision to propel Guyana on a massive transformational pathway. The programme incorporates all areas of the environment.

“We have expanded the strategy taking into consideration the new area of development… the new sector of oil and gas [sector], and we have now developed a strategy through a consultative mechanism,” President Ali stated during a discussion held at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington DC.

He noted that while the strategy was conceptulised by the state, it includes the view of local and international stakeholders. 

Dr. Ali said the approach takes into consideration Guyana’s natural assets, as he referenced the forest that can be deployed to bring economic benefits to the country.

This, the Guyanese leader contended, will uplift the social infrastructure and financial life of Guyana, thus lending significant support to the world on climate change issues. 

He stressed that in the holistic development strategies of Guyana, there is full commitment to ensuring the forest remains in tack and sustainable.

“…in a way that speaks to the transformative agenda of the government, where we are focusing on how we will achieve human resource transformation, how we will build a mechanism in the education sector…health, housing… and the social sectors, to support the infrastructure and economic transformation that will take place,” Dr. Ali added.

Another component of the strategy is to achieve sustainable and resilient development in the continuously changing world.

And with climate change also being a sore issue, the administration continues to implement workable measures to improve the livelihood of citizens.

The president also involved the ‘one Guyana’ masterplan into the development scheme, pointing out that the approach is not a “theoretical concept or slogan.”

The ‘one Guyana’ strategy, he underscored, is a common principal that will define the nation and position Guyana in global leadership in a number of areas.

At a time when the global economy is facing multiple crises, Guyana remains one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

The nation, like any other Caricom country is facing head wind, due to the impact of climate change and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, among other things.

According to the Caricom and the World Food Programme, around 2.8 million people, nearly 40 percent of the population in the English-speaking Caribbean is insecure.

Guyana has stepped up and is doing its part in helping the region in food security and other major initiatives.

Apart from its rapidly growing oil and gas economy, the country has an abundance of resources, including the vast forest, sugar, rice and gold.