THE Review Committee recently established to revise the operations of the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development will be paying a visit to the centre at the end of this month.

This was revealed by Minister of Governance, Raphael Trotman, in a recent interview with this publication.

The committee will visit to eye the facilities and devise models to safeguard sustainability, since the centre has been faced with financial constraints.

Minister Trotman recently approved a grant of US$100,000 for the centre to continue its work until yearend. This grant had been approved by the former Administration, but it was never handed over to the centre.

In explaining why the money had not been handed over by the previous Administration, Minister Trotman said that Administration had been overtaken by time with the elections.

Therefore, he said, the Granger Administration, since assuming office, has ensured that funds were delivered to ensure the viability of the centre, since it was in a situation where it could not meet its operational expenses, pay its staff, and meet other expenses.

Commonwealth Secretary-General, Mr. Kamalesh Sharma made it clear during his recent visit to Guyana that the Commonwealth would not be able to fund the operational costs of the centre, but would provide technical and financial support for the development of a self-sustainable model.

This, he said, is because the centre was meant to be self-sustaining, but instead had cost the Commonwealth £3.5 million and has been the longest and most expensive project undertaken by the organisation.

Chairman of the centre, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, is currently embroiled in legal battles in his home country of India, while the patronage of Prince Charles has run dry, as he is distracted by other international commitments.
These reasons informed the limited funding for the centre, as it was in a situation where inflows had reduced significantly. For this reason, the Review Committee was set up to revise the works of the centre and devise a renewed mandate which would enable it to be self-sufficient, as was the initial aim of the project.

Sub-committees were established to revise the centre’s budget and financing, research and training, governance and management. The committee is, however, chaired by Minister Trotman.

The budget and financing committee will be spearheaded by Professor Hamley Case, Permanent Secretary of the Indigenous Affairs Ministry; Vibert Welch, Vice-President of Conservation International; Dr. David Singh, CEO of the Iwokrama Centre; Dane Gobin, and a representative from the Tourism Ministry.

The governance aspect will be addressed by Dr. David Singh, Commissioner of the Protected Areas Commission; Damian Fernandes, and Vibert Welch; while the management structure will be addressed by Dane Gobin, Director of Resource Management at Iwokrama; Dr. Raquel Thomas and Advisor in the Ministry of Governance, Clayton Hall.

Research and training will be addressed by Dr. Raquel Thomas and Dr. Allyson Stoll from the University of Guyana.

The committee is expected to present its final findings by August 17. President David Granger will then present the centre’s new plan at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta come November.

Aside from the Centre’s commitment to preserving Guyana’s rainforest and combatting climate change, many are of the view that the Centre has only been targeting researchers, and not actual tourists. In this regard, Minister Harmon recently said the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Public Infrastructure are now planted within the review committee, and will therefore seek to address the matter of turning the centre into a tourist destination, and not just an exploratory centre.

By Shivanie Sugrim