PRESIDENT David Granger is looking to use this first outing at a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to press for member nations to once more fund Iwokrama – the project at the heart of Guyana which aims to demonstrate sustainable use of the rainforest.Funding for the project has dried up over the years, despite having big names such as Prince Charles as its patron, so much so that the government had to bail out the Iwokrama Centre, which manages the project.

The government has committed US$100,000 to run the operations of the centre to the end of the year and appointed a high-level team to determine the way forward for the centre.
The review team includes former Executive Director of Conservation International (Guyana) Major General (rtd) Joe Singh; forestry expert Clayton Hall; current Chief Executive Officer Dane Gobin; Forest Ecologist Dr Raquel Thomas-Caesar; current Executive Director of Conservation International Dr David Singh; and representatives from various government ministries and agencies.
“We are using this forum to urge them [Commonwealth nations] to recommit to Iwokrama,” the President said in an interview on his arrival in Malta, a country smaller than the size of the 371,000- hectare Iwokrama forest.
The forest was offered as a gift to the Commonwealth in 1989 by then President Desmond Hoyte.
In 1996, the Iwokrama International Centre (IIC) was set up to manage the rainforest “in a manner that will lead to lasting ecological, economic and social benefits to the people of Guyana and to the world in general.”
“Guyana is committed to Iwokrama and the viability of Iwokrama is tied up with the whole issue of global warming and climate change; it’s not just a financial matter, it is just not a Guyana matter, it is a Commonwealth matter.
“In fact, it is a global matter, because we see Iwokrama as a global laboratory for ecology and the environment; so we hope we can move forward. It has already been put on the agenda; we hope this CHOGM will move the agenda forward in terms of the viability for Iwokrama,” President Granger stated.
He said that Iwokrama cannot survive or achieve its objectives without foreign funding.
“It is an international scheme and it is an international obligation to fund that scheme,” Granger stated.
He said funding for Iwokrama may have eased because of shifting priorities on the part of Commonwealth nations, but Granger said “we particularly would like to refocus not only on Iwokrama, but the whole idea of low-carbon development strategies and other aspects of climate change.”
Apart from 16 local communities, Iwokrama brings together scientists engaged in ground-breaking research into the impacts of climate change on the forest and measuring the scope and value of its ecosystem services.
Recently, the Iwokrama Centre announced that it has begun harvesting trees in the second phase of a project designed to bring in revenue and at the same time demonstrate sustainable use of the forest.
The centre will employ a 60-year cutting cycle, harvesting a maximum of 1,800 hectares per year (which is less than 0.5% of the Iwokrama Forest) under a very selective harvesting regime, which will result in only a few stems per hectare being removed and no large gaps created in the forest canopy.

By Neil Marks in Malta