AFRICAN, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) Secretary-General, Guyanese Dr Patrick Gomes, on Thursday paid an informal courtesy call and had a healthy discussion with staffers at Iwokrama’s 77 High Street, Georgetown offices.

Dr Gomes is an ardent supporter of Iwokrama and while he was Guyana’s Ambassador to the European Union and the ACP, was instrumental in the centre securing a substantive European Grant for a research project that was implemented in three regions of the ACP, where Iwokrama was the designated focal point for the Caribbean region, and successive initiatives

According to a release, Dr Gomes toured Iwokrama’s offices where he met and interacted with two of the three staffers of Iwokrama who were offered scholarships under the ECCAM project to pursue their masters degrees.

The three staff are Shara Seelall, Jason Dick-Grant and Purnanand Lalbachan.

ECCAM – Education for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation project is funded by the ACP and European Union from the European Development Fund.

The project offers opportunities for study in several partnering ACP countries’ universities.

Partner universities include the University of Guyana, the Fiji National University and the University of the West Indies. Iwokrama is an associate partner. All three awardees will attend the Fiji National University.

The secretary-general had an enlightening discussion with the awardees on the history of the ACP, established by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975.

He also spoke about the historical contributions and influence of Guyana, Fiji and other ACP countries to several international issues, including treaties on the environment and trade.

Dr Gomes indicated that the ACP deeply appreciates the commitment of the Iwokrama International Centre for its novel work in conservation and sustainable development and acknowledged the role Iwokrama provides in the transfer of knowledge, including scientific knowledge to other ACP countries.
He also lauded Guyana’s role on the international front on environmental issues and expressed admiration for the initiatives of President David Granger for the Green State Development Strategy (GSDS).
The secretary-general firmly believes that Iwokrama could play a pivotal role in the implementation of this strategy.
The Iwokrama International Centre (IIC) was established in 1996 under a joint mandate from the Government of Guyana and the Commonwealth Secretariat to manage the Iwokrama forest, a unique reserve of 371,000 hectares of 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.”

The centre, guided by an international Board of Trustees is unique, providing a dedicated, well managed and researched forest environment. The forest is zoned into a Sustainable Utilisation Area (SUA) and a Wilderness Preserve (WP) in which to test the concept of a truly sustainable forest where conservation, environmental balance and economic use can be mutually reinforcing.