By Danielle Swain in Belém, Brazildanielle@newsroom.gyIn a brightly lit conference room on the edge of the Amazon, two CARICOM siblings made the case that some of the most effective climate solutions are not emerging from wealthy nations, but from small developing states learning from one another.At a joint COP30 side event on Saturday titled “Building Climate Resilience in Belize & Guyana: Uniting NDCs & REDD+ for Transparent Partnerships,” ministers and technical teams from both countries framed their collaboration as a blueprint for how South-South partnerships can accelerate climate ambition, even as international finance remains slow, uneven and insufficient.And at the centre of Guyana’s delegation was Vanessa Benn, Minister within the Ministry of Housing, whose rise in national politics has been marked by a determined push to link development with environmental stewardship. Her presence in Belém underscored President Dr Irfaan Ali’s wider World Leader’s Climate Summit call, that Guyana’s forest-based climate leadership should serve both national prosperity and regional solidarity, especially among countries confronting similar vulnerabilities.Guyana’s Minister within the Ministry of Housing Vanessa Benn speaks during a joint Belize–Guyana climate side event at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, November 15, 2025. (Photo: Yusuf Ali/News Room)Partnership in shared vulnerability and visionBelize and Guyana may lie in different bodies of water, but their climate profiles read almost the same. Low-lying coastlines threatened by flooding and sea level rise, forest communities dependent on natural resources, and economies strained by increasingly extreme weather events.Both nations, like most Small Island Developing States (SIDs), also face a financing gap that hampers their ability to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.According to Belize’s Minister of Sustainable Development, Orlando Habet, “ambition equals resources,” and those resources remain painfully inadequate for countries that did little to cause the climate crisis.Belize’s Minister of Sustainable Development Orlando Habet speaks during a joint Belize–Guyana climate side event at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, November 15, 2025. (Photo: Yusuf Ali/News Room)Yet the joint event suggested that small states do not have to wait on the world.Guyana’s long-running Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), first launched in 2009, and its landmark partnership with Norway have earned the country global recognition for transparent forest governance and high-integrity carbon markets. Belize, meanwhile, is advancing an increasingly inclusive model of NDC development, built on community engagement, improved climate finance systems and a new Carbon Markets Initiative Bill.The countries’ 2022 Memorandum of Understanding signalled the beginning of what speakers described as a “new era” of Caribbean climate cooperation, one grounded not only in political goodwill, but in technical exchanges between ministries, data teams, MRV specialists and forest officers.Minister Benn: Be bold in climate actionSpeaking with characteristic directness, Minister Benn framed Guyana’s forest success not as a miracle, but as the product of political will, detailed technical work and the participation of the communities who protect the country’s vast forest estate.“We have a multi-stakeholder steering committee… and the participation of our citizens through continual stakeholder engagement,” she said, emphasising that Indigenous peoples are not just beneficiaries but decision-makers in Guyana’s LCDS and carbon market programmes.Guyana’s Minister within the Ministry of Housing Vanessa Benn with (from left) Village Councillor Don Antone and Toshao of Aishalton Anthony Williams during a joint Belize–Guyana climate side event at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, November 15, 2025. (Photo: Yusuf Ali/News Room)This message aligns with her broader public record.Since taking office, Benn has advocated for greener development priorities, particularly in housing, sharing that public policy must be both sustainable and people-centred. Her push to integrate environmental stewardship into Guyana’s housing sector, including the use of lesser-known timber species and higher construction standards, is part of a larger effort to make national development climate-resilient.At COP30, she extended that philosophy to international cooperation.“Caribbean countries like Belize and Guyana are advancing ambitious mitigation and adaptation agendas, but the scale of available financing remains far below what is needed,” she warned. “Still, we are not waiting to act.”Technical Leadership Belize and Guyana bring science into focusWhile ministers set the political tone, the technical exchanges anchored the event in evidence and implementation.Belizean climate policy specialist Ide Sosa presents on Belize’s transparency and NDC progress during the joint Belize–Guyana climate side event at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, November 15, 2025. (Photo: Yusuf Ali/News Room)For Belize, climate policy specialist Ide Sosa presented the country’s first Biennial Transparency Report and NDC achievements, walking the audience through the institutional challenges, data gaps and capacity needs that shape Belize’s climate reporting. She outlined the country’s plans to strengthen greenhouse gas inventories, improve data management and scale up sector-level technical training. Her presentation underscored the core Belizean message that progress is happening, but structural support is urgently needed.For Guyana, environmental policy expert Preeya Rampersaud detailed the country’s 18 million hectares of forest, its world-leading 0.05 per cent deforestation rate, and its jurisdictional approach to ART-TREES credits. She highlighted the benefit-sharing mechanism that channels 15 per cent of carbon revenues directly to Indigenous communities and emphasised Guyana’s position as a global early mover in high-integrity carbon markets.Guyana’s climate and biodiversity specialist Preeya Rampersaud presents on Guyana’s forest and carbon market programme during the joint Belize–Guyana climate side event at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, November 15, 2025. (Photo: Yusuf Ali/News Room)Together, Sosa and Rampersaud demonstrated the strength of the partnership at the technocratic level with two systems developing in parallel, learning from one another, and pushing each other higher.Belize is learning from and contributing to the modelWhile Guyana’s carbon market achievements featured prominently, Belizean officials stressed that their country is not a passive learner.As Sosa and Minister Habet highlighted, Belize has already submitted its first Biennial Transparency Report (BTR), is executing its NDC 3.0 roadmap and is strengthening its greenhouse gas inventory systems with new institutional arrangements, improved data management and national consultations.Its inclusivity in NDC development, they argued, offers lessons for the wider Caribbean, including Guyana.Moreover, Belizean officials emphasised the centrality of forests and Indigenous communities to their national climate ambitions, mirroring Guyana’s approach, and underscoring why the partnership works.Toshao Derrick John, Chair of Guyana’s National Toshaos’ Council, pressed Minister Habet on the role of Indigenous peoples in Belize’s climate programmes. Habet acknowledged the challenges, legal, administrative and cultural, but affirmed that Indigenous participation must be written into policy to ensure continuity across political cycles.Toshao Derrick John, Chair of Guyana’s National Toshaos’ Council, asks Belize’s Minister Orlando Habet about Indigenous involvement in Belize’s climate programmes during the joint Belize–Guyana side event at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, November 15, 2025. (Photo: Yusuf Ali/News Room)His response reflected the underlying theme of the event that the resilience of national systems depends on the resilience of local communities.Norway’s enduring climate partnershipNorway, long regarded as Guyana’s most trusted forest partner, also addressed the room.Hege Ragnhildstveit of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative attends the joint Belize–Guyana climate side event at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, November 15, 2025. (Photo: Yusuf Ali/News Room)Hege Ragnhildstveit of the Norwegian Climate and Forest Initiative praised Guyana’s “ambitious forest policies,” its “global service” in storing 19.5 gigatons of carbon and its groundbreaking issuance of ART-TREES carbon credits. But she also reinforced the need for transparent implementation and continued community benefit-sharing, applauding Guyana for designing mechanisms that direct 15 per cent of revenues to Indigenous communities.Scaling up a Caribbean Climate ModelFor much of the event, both countries described themselves not simply as vulnerable nations, but as innovators and early movers.Guyana’s jurisdictional carbon market programme has already attracted more than US$200 million in revenues under its second phase, while Belize is building the architecture to access similar results-based finance.The COP30 side event acted as an example of how Caribbean states can strengthen regional collaboration and international support for climate priorities by speaking with a unified voice.In Belém, where President Ali attended the pre-COP30 high level Climate Summit urging global leaders to mainstream forests and biodiversity into climate cooperation, the message was given again, the Caribbean is not waiting for permission to lead.Partners and equalsBy the end of the 90-minute session, what emerged was a developing model of climate action that is regional in spirit, strengthened by shared struggle, and powered by mutual respect.As Edalmi Pinelo, Belize’s Chief Climate Change Officer, noted in her closing, the partnership shows “we are ready to fight climate change in any region.”For Minister Benn, the collaboration is an extension of Guyana’s wider global leadership, and a practical demonstration of President Ali’s insistence that forest countries must shape the future of climate governance, not merely react to it.Representatives from Belize and Guyana pose for a group photo after the joint Belize–Guyana climate side event at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, November 15, 2025. (Photo: Yusuf Ali/News Room)And for Belize, it is proof that cooperation among developing countries can deliver more than solidarity. It can build systems, strengthen institutions and change the pace of climate ambition.In the Amazon, two small states showed what big climate leadership looks like.The post Guyana and Belize forge a new model of climate partnership at COP30 appeared first on News Room Guyana.