Phase Two of the four-part process in the proposed establishment of the Kanuku Mountains as a protected area commenced last Monday at St Ignatius, Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo), after settlement of a dispute which had stalled the process.

Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues, travelled to the region to reiterate government's support for the establishment of the National Protected Areas System which she asserted would benefit the Amerindian communities in a big way.

Acting executive director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Bal Parsaud; and Joe Singh, executive director of Conservation International (CI) - the lead agency in the process - were also there with the minister to launch the second phase.

The process was stalled last year when one out of eighteen Amerindian communities in the region had indicated its desire to have the issue of indigenous land rights be addressed before consultations on the protected area could continue.

A compromise was reached with government and it was decided that the land issue and that of the protected area would be examined simultaneously.

"I trust that we are all very enthusiastic in having this consultation process on the Kanukus restarted. I also know that we are all cognisant of the shortcomings in the first phase and hope that measures would be put in place by all parties involved to ensure there are not repeated," Rodrigues told the gathering at the opening.

One of the problems which most communities involved in the first phase highlighted was that too much information was being beamed to them at one time, and that the groupings were too large.

The minister noted that studies have suggested that the Amerindian people were the poorest in Guyana and stated that part of the problem was because many of the communities were remotely located.

She said one of her primary concerns was the economic upliftment of the Amerindian people and, as a result, her ministry would pursue projects or programmes that would contribute to their socio-economic advancement.

"In this case, we are confident that protected areas have tremendous benefits for the local communities and the country as a whole, once it takes into consideration the situation at hand. And more importantly, protected areas are in keeping with the tradition of Amerindian communities, since conservation and sustainable use have been practised by Amerindians for hundreds of years," Rodrigues stated.

The few Amerindian touchaus Stabroek News spoke with in Region Nine at the opening conceded that their initial impression of protected areas was that the authorities wanted to take away their land which they used for traditional purposes like hunting, fishing and farming.

Phase Two of the consultation process would be undertaken using a mechanism where the 18 communities would be divided up into clusters involving about 4-5 communities, unlike the first phase.

The touchau of Moco Moco, Ronnie Cassiano, said during Phase One he was not able to grasp the concept of protected areas but it was being made clearer now that they were in smaller groups.

"The first impression we got was CI was coming to take over the Kanukus. The idea of the cluster is a good thing - we are now understanding the issue. It was explained to us that they are not stopping us from our traditional activities," Cassiano said.

Chief of chiefs of the Region Nine Amerindian Touchaus Council, Tony James, said he did not see the protected areas issue as being a separate one from the land rights because consideration has to be given to the future where the expansion of communities was concerned, and how the protected areas could affect this.

James said the regional touchaus council will be meeting shortly to discuss the issue "because the more you look at it the more you're seeing different things coming out."

The minister noted the importance of the involvement of the Amerindian people in the process.

She remarked: "I must say that even this process of consultation which is expected to yield a management plan suitable to everyone for the most part is, on a regular basis, frustrated. In some cases this stems from a lack of information but at other times it is difficult to understand why."

Turning to the land issue, Rodrigues stated that despite government's commitment to the matter it could not be resolved overnight.

"It would take the commitment of all of us - government, NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and [Amerindian] communities - to move it forward," she said.

The minister disclosed that Cabinet has given its approval for the land issue to take on a regional dimension. This means that those administrative regions which have completed demarcations could commence submissions for extensions and new communities.

Singling out Region Nine, she said there were seven more communities to be demarcated and if the green light was given by them then the first stage could be brought close to completion by the end of the year. "I must admit that there were problems and misunderstandings - both on the part of the government and the communities where demarcation is concerned...But mistakes are made to make us learn and we must learn from these experiences," the minister said.

The EPA head stated that the agency and government of Guyana has received a report on Phase One and was comfortable with the process, having been given the assurance that it would be a participatory one involving all the stakeholders.

Parsaud posited that EPA would have a more pronounced presence on the ground in the process. He pointed out that it was only when the consultation process was completed that government would review it and make a decision whether to proceed.

He noted that government was moving more towards eco-tourism and bringing the interior communities into Guyana's mainstream but stressed the significance of recognising the rights of the indigenous people. Explaining the consultation process, Singh stated that site visits were done over the past year by CI teams where they sought to explain what protected areas meant, how they were developed, and the role the communities played, after which an evaluation was done.

He said Phase Two would be a community resource evaluation which entailed a mapping of the resources in the area, the potential for further use of the resources, and the communities' involvement in the use of the resources.

He noted that the communities had felt that the groups were too large for the first phase, hence the decision to break them up into clusters based on their geographic location.

In this phase CI's education awareness team would be meeting with the clusters in an attempt to build capacity in the communities involving the village councils, teachers and the training of community coordinators.

Phase Two is scheduled to last until October.

Singh said Phase Three would entail the interpretation of the data collected in Phase Two and before any report is submitted to government CI would go back to the communities to again consult with them to ensure its accuracy.

He said if government and the communities agreed after the third phase that a protected area was desirable, then Phase Four would examine a management plan and how the communities would benefit.

The CI executive director stressed that there were mechanisms to deal with matters pertaining to conflict resolution.

"We're getting mixed signals coming from the communities. I hope we can resolve any issue which may come up for the betterment of all," he stated.

He pointed out that if there were issues which could compromise the process they were not articulated in the first phase except that of the land issue and this was being addressed by government.

He told the gathering that if there were indeed issues then they should be forwarded to CI which would deal with them and if found to be outside CI's mandate then they would be transmitted to the government.