Camping out in a jaguar’s territory
Guyana Chronicle
August 17, 2003
‘All sessions were designed to increase the participant’s interest, excitement, and knowledge until 20:00 hrs when they would retire to bed’
IN the midst of 360,000 hectares of virgin rainforests and in the company of jaguars, deers, sloths and monkeys, students from three communities in Region One (Barima/Waini) recently learned about the multiplicity of benefits in protecting their environment.
Eleven of them - 12 to 16 years old - travelled from Moruca, Mabaruma and Almond Beach to the Iwokrama International Centre’s field station at Kurupukari for two camps from July 24-30 and August 01-08.
Ethel Andries, Honey Bee Keeper of Fairview Village, explains the nature of her business to visiting Mabaruma, Moruca and Almond Beach students. It was part of a day’s discussion on Community Businesses within the North Rupununi.
Two leading conservation agencies - the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society and Iwokrama - linked up to create the Protected Areas Exchange Youth Camp.
The students were exposed to fun-filled, educational and interactive sessions meant to:
** Increase awareness and understanding of protected area issues; different types of protected areas, their values and management.
** Foster development of partnerships between youth groups in the Rupununi and the Shell Beach area.
** Provide worthwhile and relevant experience for young people who may be interested in longer-term involvement in conservation and development, thereby strengthening local capacity in management of protected areas.
** Develop inter-agency education partnerships.
The planners believe that education is an integral process in achieving the objectives of any conservation programme, especially for protected areas. And they reason that such goals will only be realised through acceptance by stakeholders.
Christopher Chin, Camp Facilitator and former Iwokrama staff member, described the Exchange Youth Camp as an offshoot of an environmental education programme conducted two years ago at Shell Beach.
He said the programme was meant to give youths “hands on experience” in a location like Iwokrama, which covers 360,000 hectares of virgin rainforest, and which already demonstrates ways in which to conserve and manage protected areas.
Each group of students was accompanied by one teacher. It was the first time any of the participants had ever experienced the grandeur of Iwokrama and all its rich offering of biodiversity.
Chin said the students began their day at 08:00 hrs with activities that involved sightings and documenting of plant species and animals such as the jaguar, deer, three-toed sloth, white-faced saki, red-howler monkey and rare birds thriving in the Iwokrama forest.
All sessions were designed to increase the participant’s interest, excitement, and knowledge until 20:00 hrs when they would retire to bed.
Interwoven subject areas were taught in daily classroom sessions. These touched on the levels and importance of biodiversity within the Iwokrama and Shell Beach forests, community projects and business alternatives within Iwokrama; management, monitoring and constraints for various programmes, and the level of youth participation and activities.
Chin explained that field trips were integral in bridging various concepts that were meant to demonstrate to youngsters the full scope of a protected area. Participants had an opportunity to evaluate the week’s events, the results of which can then be considered for future programmes.
Ranger, Ron Allicock, and students on their way to experience the variety of trees in the Iwokrama forest.
When they were finished exploring the forest, the youths were taken back to their classrooms for a series of power point presentations that reinforced practical sessions. Other activities involved them playing a game of pantomime to demonstrate the various animals that they had learned about on their field trips.
“After we established what protected areas were, and linked it within the context of Guyana, we then explored the similarities and differences between the Shell Beach area and Iwokrama forest. The discussions led into an examination of the wildlife within the Iwokrama area,” Chin said.
The foundation for the remaining days was set as the students explored the various programmes within the Iwokrama reserve that try to demonstrate the basic principle of collaborative management.
Chin said the students also travelled to Bina Hill Institute in the village of Annai in the Rupununi to meet with interns and the staff of Radio Paiwomak, the first community radio station in Guyana.
“On our way, the group stopped over at the Iwokrama canopy walkway to have that experience. We saw various species of birds that can only be seen from the canopy and as normally done, various sightings were recorded into a datasheet,” he reported.
Patricia Hercules, one of the teachers who accompanied the students from Mabaruma, said the youngsters plan to share their experiences with others in the Environmental Protection/Rangers Clubs in the North West District in Region One .
She added that the trip was especially beneficial for the Secondary school students, whose overall exposure at Iwokrama will help them complete their School Based Assessment projects, a prerequisite to their upcoming final Science exams.
Hercules said the participants also plan to share the knowledge gained on protected areas with others in their communities in an effort to create more “workers” who can help conserve and protect their environment.
Over the past decade, various points of view have been shifting toward management of protected areas by participatory structures such as co-management and working with young people, according to Chin.
Shell Beach and the Iwokrama forest are among important biological sites chosen to be within a National Protected Area System. These sites are managed by the GMTCS and Iwokrama Centre, respectively.
According to Chin, both the GMTCS and Iwokrama have a history of working with indigenous youth groups to understand the importance of respective projects and their environment.
Programmes of this nature serve to further strengthen local capacity for protected area management, using youths as a tool for action.
Recently, an application was made for the Government of Guyana to consent to the Ramsar Convention, an inter-governmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. A key objective of such a programme is environmental education. - (ESTHER ELIJAH)
