Canada donates $200M to Iwokrama Centre
by Linda Rutherford
THE Iwokrama Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development is now better equipped to forge ahead with plans for developing its ecotourism capacity thanks to a $200M grant from the Canadian government. The agreement on the grant was reached on Thursday between Iwokrama Director General (acting) Dr David Hammond and Head of Aid of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Mr Kamoji Wachiira. Wachiira, who is also Canadian High Commissioner (acting), noted that the grant was not part of the usual bilateral arrangements between the governments of Guyana and Canada, but was rather part of funding provided for the Caribbean region. Hammond, whose substantive position with the Centre is that of Principal Forest Ecologist, said at a press briefing shortly afterwards that the money will be used primarily to hire an `Ecotourism Specialist' and `Programme Support Director' and to design and construct a canopy walkway at the Centre's 360,000-hectare forest reserve at Kurupukari, on the upper Essequibo River. A canopy walkway is a bridge-like construction suspended between two points in a forest so as to allow for a better appreciation of the teeming wildlife and other things of interest to be seen therein. It was noted that in the few countries in the world where such contraptions were established, tourism arrivals had been increased dramatically, in some cases from a few hundred per year to tens of thousands. As Hammond was to note later, "Guyana's forest is an incredible repository of wildlife which is either extinct or endangered in many other parts of the geographic range, and people who are very keen on this type of wildlife are willing to pay to visit in the off-chance that they may happen to see a jaguar, arapaima or one of the other flagship species of tropical forests." The positions of `Ecotourism Specialist' and `Programme Support Director' are to be advertised shortly. Hammond said while the duties of the former will be limited to working with the Centre's division of Eco-Tourism Development and Management, that of the latter will be more expansive, in that the incumbent will be expected to assist, not only with the CIDA project, but also in developing innovative mechanisms for the overall administration of the Centre. "So that person will actually play a very important role in the future of how the Centre itself develops and how the various projects and programmes are managed," Hammond said. He stated that the Centre was currently putting together a basket of goods and services to show how the forest within its preserve can pay its way by generating sufficient revenue to prove that there are lasting economic, social and ecological benefits to be derived from the sustainable use and conservation of forests. He said that ecotourism was a particularly important component of the `basket of goods and services' of which he spoke, and that CIDA's support will play a fundamental role in the Centre's ability to generate and further refine ecotourism. The achievement of this ambitious goal, it is hoped, will not only be beneficial to Iwokrama, but it will also act as an important stepping stone for ecotourism in Guyana in general. Wachiira noted that Canada has always been supportive of Iwokrama, since its inception, namely the Guyana government's dedication in 1989 of 360,000 hectares of prime rainforest to the international community to demonstrate that tropical forests can yield economic benefits without destroying biodiversity. This dedication was made by then President Mr Desmond Hoyte at the historic meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "We saw the potential for the Centre right from the beginning, in the sense that - as the Guyanese government so clearly stated when they gave the land to the international community - tropical rainforests need new approaches of conservation to make them sustainable," Wachiira said. He noted that supporting forest conservation was nothing new to Canada since it has been doing so internationally even before the historic `Earth Summit' of 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With reference to the canopy walkway, which he said was something rather innovative for Guyana and possibly the entire South America, Wachiira said, the idea is to increase the flow of tourists to the area, from both within and outside Guyana. Such a venture, he opined, would not only boost income but would also show other sustainable uses of the forest. Conceding that it was an ambitious effort on the part of Iwokrama, Wachiira said he was confident it could succeed since it has elsewhere, in places like Costa Rica, Malaysia and parts of West Africa. "We [at CIDA] are told it is a very effective way of boosting ecotourism," he said. He expressed the hope that what was foreseen "as a catalytic gift to the Centre will attract other donors, agencies and researchers to come and build on it, and that in the future we can look at other ways of collaborating both with the Centre as well as with the Guyanese resource people".
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