Even as the Kaieteur National Park has gotten the thumbs down, the Iwokrama Field Station and Reserve has been touted as a possible future UNESCO World Heritage Site following the recent visit of UK biodiversity conservation consultant, Professor Jeff Sayer to the facility.

If successful, the accreditation would place Iwokrama in a unique position to attract tourists from around the world as an area of recognised natural and cultural value. Other World Heritage sites include Hadrian's Wall in Scotland, the Galapagos Islands and the ancient city of Thebes in Egypt.

However, according to Sayer, the nomination process may be a little way off.

At a press briefing following a short meeting with Minister of Fisheries, Crops and Livestock, Satyadeow Sawh, Sayer remarked that the zone was "an area of world significance for its fauna and flora" and "incredibly rich" in fish varieties. He also emphasised the area's cultural value to the global heritage with several well-established Amerindian communities in the vicinity.

"Though for a World Heritage nomination to be credible," he said, "all the people concerned must thoroughly discuss the implications of World Heritage listing."

"Don't rush ahead," he advised and suggested bringing together the Amerindian groups and other stakeholders. In this way, he said, they would be "able to discuss their fears and hopes and explore ways in which this might be done to create rather than limit opportunities."

According to UNESCO's website (www.unesco.org), the World Heritage status is designed to "make sure that future generations can inherit the treasures of the past."

"Yet most sites face a variety of threats, particularly in today's environment," it states. "The preservation of this common heritage concerns us all."

While the increase in tourism revenues derived from World Heritage status is an incentive for governments to ensure that areas of natural and cultural value are well preserved and protected, tourism is one of the areas singled out by UNESCO as a cause of great damage to such areas.

"What will be the cost of this tremendous boom to the integrity, the very survival perhaps of our heritage sites?" the website asks.

World Heritage sites are expected to be maintained and protected against the negative aspects of tourism.

Representing Iwokrama, young professional Shyam Nokta stated that the organisation will "maximise the opportunities that will come forward from this" and intended to "involve all stakeholders in every process."

Sawh noted that the government was "very cognisant of the need to conserve with sustainable exploitation our resources."

A previous nomination bid for Kaieteur National Park was turned down this year amid concerns that not enough had been done to ensure the protection of biodiversity. Ex-UNESCO Chief, Bernd Von Droste, had told Stabroek News that he had concerns over mining activities in the region.

Sayer added yesterday that the bid had suffered alongside a stronger effort from Suriname, which targeted a wider area.

"Kaieteur was perceived as being relatively small," he said.

"The information available about Kaieteur's biodiversity was not sufficient to demonstrate it was of global importance," he added. "There have not been sufficient studies of Kaieteur."

He recommended that a bid involving a cluster of sites would probably fare better -- highlighting Kaieteur National Park, the Iwokrama reserve and the Rupununi floodplains as a possible selection.