‘From Wild to Web’, an eco-tourism-based wildlife monitoring project in Guyana’s Rupununi community of Yupukari, was announced as a winner of the ECOCLUB.com 2009 Ecotourism Awards.

Minister Manniram Prashad and school children from the community.

The sixth annual eco-project competition, under the theme ‘Their Crisis, Our Communities – Progressive Change through Social Ecotourism’ asked for “innovative projects that meet urgent needs, help create ‘another world’ at the grassroots level and improve life for all in their communities”.

ECOCLUB member Judy Karwacki, of Small Planet Consulting, submitted the proposal for Yupukari’s ‘From Wild to Web’ project in conjunction with Rupununi Learners Incorporated (RLI), a Guyanese non-profit corporation whose board and membership comprise Rupununi village residents.

The project seeks to enhance the wildlife monitoring activities of Yupukari’s Wildlife Club by providing them with dedicated laptops and cameras.

This will give the village youths an opportunity to learn to digitally document field projects, make web pages and then upload them to the existing RLI website.

For ten years ECOLCUB has been promoting social and ecological change through and within tourism.

Based in Athens, Greece, ECOCLUB supports the philosophy and practice of social ecotourism worldwide by participating in tourism policy and decision-making processes, conferences and movements.

According to a release, the ECOCLUB Ecotourism Awards funds community and environment supporting projects proposed and implemented by ECOCLUB members from around the world.

Submissions were posted online in a public forum and voted on by members and then narrowed to six finalists; and three winners were democratically chosen in late June.

In addition to the project in Guyana, the other winning projects are based in Honduras and Peru, and each winning proposal will receive a micro-grant of 1000 pounds (approximately US$1400) to implement the project.

RLI was thrilled to hear that the Yupukari village ‘From Wild to Web’ project has been chosen by ECOCLUB members, stating, “This award means that the Wildlife Club will be able to share what we are seeing and learning with our village, our region and the world!”.

By adding digital documentation training, resources and implementation to Yupukari Wildlife Club field projects funded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the ‘From Wild to Web’ project will enhance the capacity of the village youths to participate in developing local, regional, national and international conversation about the future of threatened Rupununi lands and waters.

The Yupukari Village Wildlife Club connects village youths to a synergistic group of learning, scientific inquiry and enterprise activities, all of which are documented in words and pictures at www.rupununilearners.org.

Since September, 2005, the villages of Yupukari and its satellite communities have been participating in and driving a long-term ecological monitoring programme for Black Caimans (Melanosuchus niger), the first study of its kind in Guyana.

The initial project quickly seeded a local crew of trained caiman field researchers and ecotourism venture based on caiman ‘catch and release’ attraction.

Both full and part-time livelihoods have grown from the new inputs in the community which have included a four-bedroom guesthouse; the internet-enabled, computer-equipped Yupukari Public Library; a home furnishing enterprise; Yupukari crafters; and an independent housing for up to four visiting volunteers at one time.

The caiman research has, for safety reasons, been necessarily closed to participation by youths, but thanks to a harpiologist volunteer and recent funding, a monitoring programme for harpies and amphibians is underway as a collaboration with the village Wildlife Club and the after-school programme in the Yupukari Public Library.

Bird watching is another area of Wildlife Club activity, and accompanied by an experienced local surveyor, club members practice and build skills in wetland bird survey while contributing to ongoing National Important Bird Areas survey undertaken by the Guyana Amazon Tropical Bird Society.

The addition of a laptop, cameras and training in digital documentation by Wildlife Club members will build the capacity of these future decision makers to investigate, understand, present and advocate for their resources and their future.

RLI representatives will implement the project; and Ms. Karwacki, who is also the Tourism Director for the Guyana Sustainable Tourism Initiative (GSTI) will act as Project Manager.

Training and support for the technology is already available at the Yupukari Public Library and dedicated equipment that will be purchased with the award money will allow the Wildlife Club to undertake a group project in photographing and publishing club activities and discoveries.

Meanwhile, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Mr. Manniram Prashad, has extended congratulation to the community and the Wildlife Club for their achievement.

Minister Prashad and a delegation, during Tourism Awareness Month in November, 2008, visited Yupukari, along with Iwokrama, Fairview, Surama, Rockview, Karanambu, Lethem, Cattle Ranches and the Takutu Bridge.

This was in keeping with his promise to visit Surama and Karanambu, two of the recipients of the Guyana Tourism Awards, and to also visit Yupukari and the Caiman House Field Station, which were identified as being among the four most market ready communities for tourism development.

The minister was impressed by and attracted to the ecotourism based wildlife monitoring project, environmental and conservation efforts, and activities of the community through the Wildlife Club.

Minister Prashad had indicated that this attraction and the community’s commitment to conservation will attract international attention, hence he said the award by ECOCLUB.COM came as no surprise to him.

The minister had promised to donate a laptop along with other equipment and books to boost their monitoring capability, and to strengthen the Wildlife Club, while promoting visits to Yupukari to encourage the youths in the conservation and monitoring activities.

Minister Prashad said he was totally impressed by the Wildlife Club and urged other clubs to emulate their activities.

Yupukari has grown to become a popular ecotourism destination for its monitoring programme for the Black Caiman which are endangered in Guyana, and a number of trade and media familiarisation trips by the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA).

Other activities offered include bird-watching, camping, caiman spotting, observation of caiman monitoring, river trips, nature walks, indigenous experience, story telling, wildlife viewing, swimming and canoeing.

Yupukari is on the Rupununi River and is one hour by boat and one and a half hours by road from Karanambu, and visitors can also fly in to Karanambu for one hour and proceed overland to Yupukari.