Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali strongly rebutted a BBC reporter who criticized Guyana’s decision to allow offshore oil drilling, arguing it would contribute to climate change.
When the reporter questioned if Guyana had the “right” to extract the oil, Ali fired back, noting Guyana maintains a large, carbon-storing forest.
“Let’s take a big picture look at what’s going on here. Over the next decade, two decades, it is expected that there will be $150 billion worth of oil and gas extracted off your coast,” BBC journalist Stephen Sackur said. “It’s an extraordinary figure. But think of it in practical terms. That means, according to many experts, more than 2 billion tons of carbon emissions will come from your seabed from those reserves and be released into the atmosphere.”
The President of Guyana brought a wrecking ball to the BBC, which tried to guilt trip him and his country for exporting natural resources. pic.twitter.com/S5Md9Eh90j
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 31, 2024
Ali accused the reporter of hypocrisy for not valuing Guyana’s environmental protections or paying for maintaining the forest.
He pointed out Guyana has the lowest deforestation rate in the world and oil extraction would still allow it to be carbon neutral.
“Let me stop you right there,” Ali said. “Let me stop you right there. Do you know that Guyana has a forest, forever, that is the size of England and Scotland combined? The forest stores 19.5 gigatons of carbon, a forest that we have kept alive, a forest that we have kept alive.”
“Does that give you the right to release all of this carbon?” Sackur asked.
“Does that give you the right to lecture us on climate change?” Ali said. “I am going to lecture you on climate change because we have kept this forest alive that stores 19.5 gigatons of carbon that you enjoy, that the world enjoys, that you don’t pay us for, that you don’t value, that you don’t see a value in, that the people of Guyana has kept alive.”
“Guess what? We have in the lowest deforestation rate in the world. And guess what? Even with our greatest exploration of the oil and gas resource we have now, we will still be net zero, Guyana will still be net zero with all our exploration,” he added.
He charged that developed nations destroyed the environment during industrialization but now lecture others, questioning if the reporter was “in the pockets” of these polluting interests.
Ali vigorously defended Guyana’s sovereign right to develop its resources.
“I am not finished yet. I am just not finished as yet,” he said, cutting off Sackur’s interruption. “Because this is a hypocrisy that exists in the world. We, the world in the last 50 years, has lost 65% of all its biodiversity. We have kept our biodiversity. Are you valuing it? Are you ready to pay for it? When is the developed world going to pay for it? Or are you in the pockets of those who have damaged the environment? Are you and your system in the pockets of those who destroyed the environment through the Industrial Revolution and now lecturing us? Are you in their pockets? Are you paid by them?”