OFFICIALS of Guyana’s Mangrove Restoration Project (GMRP) have been invited to take part in a World Trade Organisation (WTO) conference being held in Ecuador in September 2012 following a visit to the Mangrove Reseve at Victoria, East Coast Demerara by Mr. Freddie Ehlers, Minister of Tourism for Ecuador. Mr. Ehlers on a visit to Guyana for bilateral meetings had been invited by Guyana’s acting Minister of Tourism, Irfan Ally, on a tour of the mangrove site.
Ally disclosed: “Minister Ehlers was extremely impressed by what he saw, and he thought our mangrove restoration effort could be a model case study for development, as it incorporates mangrove protection and management of a community development component and eco- tourism.”
He noted, Ecuador has extensive mangrove forests many of which have been destroyed by developers to make way for shrimp farms.
Chairperson of the GMRP Annette Arjoon-Martins who hosted the tour said that Minister Ehlers subsequently invited her to travel to Ecuador to do a formal presentation on Guyana’s Mangrove Project to the World Trade Organization Conference.
On the tour, which began at the Mangrove Visitor Centre at Cove and John, Ministers Ehlers and Ally listened to a presentation of the mangrove restoration project by Arjoon-Martins, viewed displays of the various agriculture products being produced by the Mangrove Producers Co-ops which have become an adjunct to the mangrove restoration initiative and sampled fresh cane juice and fried breadfruit chips.
From the Centre, they travelled by horse cart to get to the Mangrove Reserve where they were greeted by folk singing and drumming by drummers from Victoria Village, specially arranged for the visit.
Mr. Ehlers was very taken with this, and even tried his hand at some of the drumming, an observation noted.
Mangrove Tour Guides Raymond Hinds and Carlotta De Jesus then escorted the visitors along the seawall with the 30-foot-high mangrove forest, and explained the four species of mangroves and the various medicinal plants found growing naturally in the area.
Ally subsequently remarked: “Apart from the important sea defence aspect, our Mangrove Project also has definite tourism potential. Additionally, it is generating employment in these coastal areas for tour guides, horse carts owners and mangrove rangers, and from the mangrove honey and various agricultural products coming from these communities.
Arjoon-Martins said that Mr. Ehlers had disclosed that he was particularly keen to highlight the community development component which has emerged in mangrove conservation work in Guyana.
She said: “He felt that this aspect is a success story which should be replicated in other parts of Latin America, hence the on the spot invitation for the GMRP to attend and make a presentation to the Conference in Ecuador in September.”