Good practice

Guyana Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030

Guyana · Georgetown · See the Guyana profile

Guyana's 18M-ha tropical forest (87 % of territory) earns ART TREES-certified carbon revenue: 40.6M verified tCO2e (2016–2021), US$187.5M received. 15 % of revenue flows to 240+ Amerindian communities; 1,300+ village projects funded.

18M ha (87% of territory)

Forest area

40.6M tCO2e

Verified emission reductions (2016-2021)

US$187.5M

Revenue received

15% to 240+ communities

Revenue share to Amerindian communities

Guyana Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030

Details

Maturity: Scaling
Promoter: Government of Guyana / Guyana Forestry Commission
Period: 2009-present
Keywords: Tropical forest, carbon, REDD+, indigenous, jurisdictional

Context

Guyana's Low Carbon Development Strategy monetises its 18M ha of rainforest (87% of the territory) through ART TREES carbon revenues.

Results

It verified 40.6M tCO2e (2016-2021) and received US$187.5M, with 15% of revenue flowing to 240+ Amerindian communities and 1,300+ community projects financed.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-21
Government of Guyana / Guyana Forestry Commission — accessed 2026-06-21
WBCSD – Guyana Jurisdictional Forest Carbon Credits (2024) — accessed 2026-06-21
EDF Vital Signs – Guyana village forest benefits — accessed 2026-06-21

Attachments

Quality score: 60/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 16% in this catalogue (335 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Carbon — sequestration / storage, evidenced3/3

ART issued 33.47M TREES Credits (2016–2020) + 7.14M for 2021, independently verified; Hess Corporation paid US$187.5M as of January 2024 under a US$750M, 10-year deal.

Biodiversity — conservation / improvement, evidenced2/3

18M ha of intact Amazonian rainforest provides habitat for jaguars, harpy eagles and giant river otters; REDD+ social/environmental safeguards applied, but no targeted biodiversity payment metric.

Water & soil — retention, infiltration, erosion control1/3

Intact forest maintains the Essequibo basin hydrology, but no specific water-service payments or soil erosion metrics are evidenced under LCDS.

Fire resilience — risk reduction, evidenced0/3

No fire-management component is documented in the LCDS framework or ART TREES monitoring reports.

Governance, certification & transferability3/3

First ART TREES-certified jurisdiction globally; UNFCCC corresponding adjustments registered (Article 6); multi-stakeholder oversight board with National Toshaos Council holding 15 % revenue share.

Cite this

Evidoria. Guyana Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030. Persistent ID: 7b346e7d-e0bf-476c-8de2-af600a21080b.

Export as decision brief (PDF)

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