Need for collaboration on National Protected Areas System recognised
Final negotiations for the establishment of Guyana's National Protected Areas System (NPAS) are still on hold but all stakeholders have emphasised the need to put their heads together to achieve a common objective. Representatives of various Amerindian communities sought answers from Presidential Advisor on Science, Technology and the Environment, Navin Chandarpal, on the NPAS last week following his presentation at the workshop "Critical issues in the conservation and sustainable and equitable use of wildlife in the Guiana Shield" held at the Le Meridien Pegasus. They reiterated that it was imperative that there be adequate consultations on the issue before arriving at a final position. Earlier, project manager of Conservation International Guyana (CIG), Sandy Griffith had underscored the need for collaboration and for the process to be tackled in a comprehensive manner. Chandarpal stated that it was the intention of the government and the relevant agencies to seek the support of international institutions in order to approach the establishment of NPAS in a systematic way. Assistance was to have come from the Global Environmental Facility through the World Bank but the funding was put on hold following issues raised by the indigenous community. Chandarpal said rather than developing the various areas identified separately, it was decided that an overall plan would be implemented and that Kaieteur National Park would be the pilot area. The involvement of indigenous people in the process had been taken into consideration and there had been several consultations, Chandarpal stated. He said that the operation guidelines of the World Bank specified how the issue was to be addressed if a protected area was located in the vicinity of an indigenous community. Chandarpal said other issues had been raised prior to the commencement of the NPAS project and the World Bank did not proceed for the final negotiations. "As far as what was required for the project [is concerned] we concluded and fulfilled what was needed," he stated. Chandarpal said the identification of Kaieteur National Park as a protected area was a matter which had been settled several years ago, and that the World Bank had made it a requirement that the boundaries of the park be extended. A board was established to manage the park and it was recognised that there needed to be the involvement of the neighbouring Amerindian communities, Chandarpal said. According to him, a proposal was made to the communities and the offer was refused. In answer to another query, Chandarpal explained that the recently established NPAS secretariat at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was not a committee. The EPA has a responsibility under the Act for the implementation of measures in relation to protected areas, wildlife and other issues, he said, and was not there to plan the project. The secretariat has proposed that working teams be established which must include representatives of the villages in the particular areas identified. The teams will formulate proposals which will be discussed at national consultations. CIG was recently granted an exploratory lease for 200,000 areas of forest as a first step towards the establishment of a conservation concession. At the workshop, Griffith used the opportunity to acknowledge the relationship between protected areas and wildlife protection, and the role protected areas play in wildlife management. She pointed out that is was important for all institutions, national and international, to work towards the common goals of conservation and sustainable development. They must keep their objectives in mind and produce results which benefit the countries in which they operate. CIG will continue to seek opportunities to establish new protected areas, she said, thus contributing to the global efforts "to secure the rapidly disappearing habitats from the ravages of destruction." "We will continue to invest in strengthening the management of existing parks and protected areas in the site where we work," Griffith said. "We are concerned that increasingly, forests that are protected are being ravaged of all living resources beyond the trees." She said while CI acknowledged that some work was being done to address the situation, the organisation was disposed to contributing to a process that would deal with this issue in a comprehensive way. The CIG projects manager stated that her organisation believed that people and nature could co-exist and CI would continue to search for new opportunities with the local and indigenous peoples in the areas in which they worked. She stressed that it was only by working together that sustainable solutions could be realised to the dilemma which faces the earth's diminishing pool of resources. The five-day workshop was hosted by the Iwokrama International Centre for the Conservation and Development of the Rain Forest and attracted participants from Guyana, Suriname, the Department of France, the US, the UK, and Canada.
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