The project is a Commonwealth initiative which aims to demonstrate that tropical forests can provide economic benefits without destroying biological diversity.

The Iwokrama forest is part of the Guiana Shield forest frontier at the edge of the Amazonian rainforest. This environment supports an extremely high level of biodiversity.

Surveys have so far identified 1,125 species of higher plants, 450 species of birds, 127 species of mammals, 114 species of amphibians and reptiles, and 420 species of fish.

The Iwokrama forest is also home to healthy populations of a number of globally endangered species including jaguars, giant otters, black caimans, harpy eagles, scarlet macaws, jabiroos and arapaimas (the world's largest scaled freshwater fish).

Iwokrama aims to achieve financial self-sufficiency for its core activities by the year 2007, through income generated by the development of economically, socially and environmentally sustainable forest-based enterprises. Sustainable harvesting of timber and non-timber forest products, eco-tourism and training courses are some of the industries that will be developed in the forest under carefully managed conditions.

A key focus is development of business enterprises involving partnerships with local and national stakeholders, based on the equitable sharing of the benefits generated by these activities.

The 3,600 sq km Iwokrama forest in central Guyana was contributed by the Government and people of Guyana. It is part of an international effort to show how tropical rainforests can be managed in a manner that will lead to lasting ecological, economic and social benefits for the people in Guyana and the world in general.

The forest is managed by the Iwokrama International Centre located in Georgetown. The centre was set up in 1996 under an agreement between the Government of Guyana and the Commonwealth Secretariat, after Guyana contributed the forest for the project at the 1989 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malaysia. Its patron is the Prince of Wales.

Donors expected to be at the London meeting include the European Union, the UK's Department for International Development, the World Bank, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and Conservation International. High Commissions are also expected to be represented.

During the last executive session at the 2002 CHOGM in Australia, when Commonwealth small island states called for support and action for sustainable development and against global warming, President Bharrat Jagdeo made strong pleas for members to reaffirm their support for the Iwokrama initiative.

He supported Tuvalu in its request for aid towards reducing the impacts of global warming and indicated that the Iwokrama Centre was a major player within the Commonwealth for related work.

However, it is estimated that further funding for the centre will be needed for at least another three years to allow the Iwokrama programme to reach a significant level of sustainability.

The Iwokrama International Centre received a large injection of funds from several donors, including the UK and Canada, during 1997-2000.

Dr. Kathryn Monk, Director-General of the Centre, says that the Iwokrama project is "now poised to begin generating significant income from the forest itself that will help the centre meet its mission to demonstrate how tropical rainforests can be conserved and sustainably used while making a significant contribution to both local and national economic development."

Dr. Monk states that this would contribute considerable understanding about "how developing countries in and beyond the Commonwealth can better harness the potential of forests to contribute to sustainable and equitable development, lasting poverty reduction and the protection of vital local and global environmental services and values."

An endowment fund would also ensure that the centre can pursue its role as an education and training centre in these fields.

"Continued moral and financial support from member governments is essential to protect the achievements of the past few years and build for the future," says Monk.

"With so much achieved so far, it would be tragic for Guyana, the Commonwealth, and the wider international community if the future of the centre and its programmes was threatened by insufficient continuity of commitment at this crucial transition stage." (COMMONWEALTH NEWS AND INFORMATION SERVICE)