Leanna is set to become an Ambassador at large for Iwokrama, the International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development.

The video, according to the Centre, will be sent to the Miss Universe organisers to be used as part of the worldwide promotion of the pageant.

Leanna will represent Guyana at the Miss Universe pageant in early June in Panama, and she has decided to use the conservation and sustainable utilisation of bio-diversity as her platform.

This is the very platform that she used for the Miss Guyana Universe Pageant on February 22, when she walked away with the crown after competing with 23 other delegates.

After her win, Leanna said she would continue to promote the wise use of biodiversity because it is a subject of international importance and making people aware could benefit the world at large.

The Iwokrama head office in Bel Air, Georgetown quoted Leanna as saying that Iwokrama “is the leading organisation when it comes to the promotion of conservation and sustainable utilisation.”

The Centre said it has agreed to work with Leanna so that she can be its Ambassador-at-large during her reign as Miss Guyana Universe. It will help to prepare her for the Miss Universe competition by enabling her to explain to the world the concepts and ideas underlying Iwokrama and the sustainable use and conservation of bio-diversity.

Iwokrama is an autonomous not-for-profit research and development institution established by Guyana and the Commonwealth to demonstrate how tropical forest biodiversity may be conserved and sustainably utilised for ecological, social and economic benefits.

It manages and conserves 3,700 square kilometres of pristine Guiana Shield Frontier Forest, dedicated as a protected area by the people of Guyana.

Leanna and her chaperone, Ms. Nicolette Trotman, along with a camera crew from GTV, were scheduled to be back in Georgetown yesterday after the three-day visit to the Iwokrama forest.

She was expected to meet with Iwokrama rangers and community leaders to learn more about the real issues involved in conservation.