Through small grants…
EXECUTIVE Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Indarjit Ramdass said the institution has been implementing the small grants component of Guyana Protected Areas System (GPAS) Project and some 30 communities have derived benefit from approximately US$1.4M. He was speaking at the opening of a regional two-day workshop, under the theme ‘Conservation experiences of local and indigenous communities in protected areas of the Amazon region’, at Grand Coastal Inn, Le Ressouvenir, East Coast of Demerara.
Giving an overview of initiatives in Guyana, he said the EPA is responsible for the establishment and maintenance of Guyana’s National System of Protected Areas.
He disclosed that, currently, there are two established protected areas, Kaieteur National Park (KNP) and Iwokrama Rainforest Reserve, which account for about 2.3 per cent of the country’s land mass.
Ramdass added that a community-owned conservation area has also been established in southern Guyana, by the Wai-Wais, while work is currently ongoing to establish two more protected areas, at Shell Beach and the Kanuku Mountains.
“The Government, in recognising the strong relationship between indigenous communities and biodiversity, has committed to a ‘parks with people’ approach to protected areas, both for establishment and management,” he explained.
Ramdass said, although protected areas have been a part of the Guyanese landscape since the 1920s, work on a national system only began in earnest in 1999, through collaborative efforts with relevant sector agencies, namely the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, Guyana Forestry Commission and Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Conservation International (CI), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society (GMTCS).
“Through partnerships with international donors, Government and sector agencies, NGOs and, more importantly, local communities, the EPA has been able to complete a number of initiatives critical to the establishment of a National Protected Areas System,” he disclosed.
Ramdass said the EPA continues to collaborate with lead agencies towards effective management and administration of the existing protected areas and, most recently, the EPA, in partnership with the KNP Board, the National Parks Commission (NPC), WWF and two communities, participated in the ongoing management planning process for the KNP.
CONSULTATION
This process focuses heavily on consultation with the two indigenous communities in the area, in an effort to develop a pragmatic and truly effective management plan, he said.
Ramdass stated that the EPA has also participated in the development of the community-owned conservation area in the Wai-Wai titled community of Konashen and it is a signatory to a tripartite Memorandum of Cooperation, signed in 2004, with CI and the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, which has paved the way for the development of a management plan for the area.
He said the EPA has also facilitated initiatives towards the creation of new protected areas and, with funding from the Government of Germany through Kreditanstalt fur Wiederraufbau (KfW), it has been implementing the small grants component of the GPAS since 2006.
Ramdass said, under the latter, communities associated with existing or proposed protected areas receive grants for sustainable livelihood development projects, resulting in those associated with KNP, Kanuku Mountains, Shell Beach and Upper Mazaruni areas benefitting, from the total awarded, so far.
He said the financing includes provision of farming tools and equipment, fencing of farmlands, specialty training, beekeeping and construction of multi-purpose centres.
Ramdass said, with KfW support, the EPA has also facilitated progress towards the delineation of new protected areas and, in collaboration with CI, the lead agency for the proposed Kanuku Mountains protected area, consultations were conducted with 18 indigenous communities and a draft boundary has been proposed for consideration.
He also disclosed that CI has been instrumental in the development of the draft management plan for that area, which, again, was developed through considerable consultations with the 18 indigenous communities.
Ramdass announced that a similar process has been undertaken in the Shell Beach area, where the GMTCS has facilitated the completion of a delineation exercise involving residents of eleven communities and those processes have resulted in the formation of community representative groups in both Shell Beach and the Kanukus.
He emphasised that these groups are made up of the elected leaders from each of the stakeholder communities and are able to represent domestic interests in the relevant processes.
“In an effort to address gaps in technical expertise and human resources, the EPA has also worked with its partners in a number of capacity building initiatives,” Ramdass informed.
He said, again with support from KfW, the Iwokrama International Centre trained a cadre of national and community representatives in various areas of natural resources management, among them collaborative natural resources management for professionals from governmental and non-governmental organisations; collaborative natural resources management for community members and representatives; park rangering and visitor management/tour guiding.
“While these initiatives represent considerable strides in the establishment of a National Protected Areas System in Guyana, we stand to benefit from the experiences of other countries within the Amazon region,” Ramdass acknowledged.
“We are also in a position to share our experiences with a view to improving conservation processes between governmental entities and local and indigenous communities,” he concluded.