Guyana plans to conserve approximately 3.7 million acres of forest in the Acarai–Rupununi corridor. The proposal forms part of Guyana’s pursuit of “30 by 30”. Under the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, countries agreed to work towards effectively conserving and managing at least 30 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas, and 30 per cent of coastal and marine areas, by 2030. The target measures more than acreage. How places are managed, and whose rights are respected, also matter.
Guyana’s legally designated National Protected Areas System covers approximately 8.46 per cent of its terrestrial territory, according to the 2026 biodiversity report. Proposed areas are not included in that figure. In February, the Government said it intended to reach 20 per cent of land under protection by the end of 2026 and 30 per cent by 2030. Reaching those goals will involve decisions about places where people live, work and have longstanding connections.
What could count towards the target
Guyana’s existing system includes Kaieteur National Park, the Kanuku Mountains, Shell Beach, Iwokrama and the Kanashen Amerindian Protected Area, as well as four urban parks. Each has its own landscape and management arrangements.
The proposed Acarai–Rupununi area would cover approximately 1.5 million hectares, or 3.7 million acres. Before it can be counted as a protected area, its boundaries, legal status and management arrangements must be settled. Those details will determine what protection requires in practice and how it fits with existing uses of the land.
The global framework also recognises other effective area-based conservation measures, or OECMs. These are places outside formal protected areas where governance and management achieve lasting biodiversity conservation. An intact forest or community territory does not qualify simply because it remains green on a map. Its conservation value and the arrangements that sustain it must be established.
Guyana’s 2026 biodiversity report says a national process for recognising OECMs is being developed, but a formal mechanism is not yet operational.
A “people-centered way”
At the September 2026 30×30 Leaders Event, President Irfaan Ali said that “30×30 will only succeed if conservation is developed in a people-centered way.” For a community near a proposed area, that principle has practical meaning. Will people be able to continue customary activities? Who will make management decisions? What work or income might conservation create, and who will benefit?
Kanashen shows why those details matter. The Wai Wai held title to their ancestral territory before seeking its recognition as a protected area. Kanashen joined the national system in 2017, and its Village Council manages it. This path shows the importance of recognising a community’s authority as well as its connection to the land.
The global target calls for Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ rights to be respected. That needs to be reflected in the process for considering new areas, while plans are still being shaped and people can influence the outcome.
There are wider land use decisions too. Guyana’s biodiversity report identifies the need to coordinate protected area planning with mining concessions, titled Indigenous lands and forestry allocations. Agriculture and infrastructure plans also belong in the discussion. If boundaries or rules are unclear, the uncertainty will be felt by the people trying to plan work, investment and daily life in those areas.
Guyana’s second Global Biodiversity summit
Guyana will host the Second Global Biodiversity Alliance Conference and Financing Forum in Georgetown on 30 and 31 October 2026. The meeting is expected to focus on turning conservation ambitions into projects that can attract public and private finance. For Guyana, that discussion has a local test: whether support can help assess biodiversity, manage conserved areas and create benefits that reach the people involved.
At the first Georgetown summit in July 2025, participants established the Alliance through the Georgetown Declaration and agreed on a 2030 action plan. The United Nations joined in May 2026, and President Ali reported in September that membership had grown from 17 founding members to 138. That growth gives Guyana more potential partners. Its value will become clearer when partnerships produce work that can be funded, carried out and checked.
Hosting the conference again puts Guyana’s own plans before that network. People should be able to see where funding may come from, who will manage the work and how the results will be measured. Those answers matter long after visiting delegates leave Georgetown.
Reporting on his Al Jazeera interview, Guyana Times quoted President Ali as saying: “We want to be a country that is playing its role and its part on climate, biodiversity, energy, food, human capital development.” The proposed conservation area brings those ambitions into contact with real choices about land, livelihoods and development.
30 per cent will be an important milestone. Its lasting meaning will depend on what happens within the areas Guyana conserves: whether ecosystems remain healthy, communities can shape decisions, and the resources needed to care for those places arrive and endure.