By Cindy Parkinson
IN keeping with Tourism Awareness Month, REEL Guyana, together with the Guyana Marine Conservation Society, launched the country’s first coastal and marine-focused research center and website at Moray House, on Thursday.

REEL Guyana and GMCS premiered a short documentary on the Imbotero Research Centre. The film, titled “Imbotero Research Centre: Merging Coastal Communities and Science,” depicts the Warraus Tribe and their way of life in Imbotero and their contribution to the growth of research tourism in the area.
The Imbotero Research Centre is located in the Warrau Community in the North Western Region on the Venezuela border.

Annette Arjoon-Martins, head of the GMCS, said that the increasing developmental pressure on Guyana has revealed the urgent need to safeguard and protect Indigenous communities.
With this in mind, the GMCS has been conducting extensive work in Region One, which contains Guyana’s largest mangrove ecosystem — the Barima Mora Passage — and is home to the Indigenous Warraus.

In addition to providing access to local, national and worldwide studies on the coastal and marine ecosystems and their inhabitants, the research centre will help promote research tourism.
As seen in a documentary by two university students conducting studies on canoes and crabs, the research centre has already demonstrated its value in producing significant research.
Arjoon-Martins was asked by the Guyana Chronicle to share her personal views on what the launch and the initiative meant to her personally.

“The biggest pleasure I’ve had in my life is being able to do these projects in these communities… giving people, particularly girls in those areas, the means to earn a living and their own income is one of the most fulfilling things I can do. It’s not me alone, but a team; without the support of the government and the governmental agencies, we could not have done this,” she said.

She particularly thanked the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Corporation of Guyana, Carolyn Rodrigues, for encouraging her 22 years ago to not give up on her passion when it got challenging.
“I remembered, she said, do what you are doing and don’t expect gratitude and, if it comes, consider it a bonus and that was very pivotal for me to continue and face all the odds,” Arjoon-Martins said, adding: “I just happen to be the face of what we are doing, but I could not have done it without your support and I thank you all.”

According to Kamrul Baksh, Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), initiatives such as these are “very important” for the tourism sector.
Baksh related that the establishment of a website is a key step in marketing and promoting the destination.
He also expressed his appreciation to Arjoon-Martins, who secured the funding to complete the project.

“We want to ensure that more Indigenous communities supported by the Guyana Tourism Authority are brought up to this level of business enterprise and given the exposure they require, so that sustainable conscious travellers can come to the destination and have a wonderful experience,” Baksh said.

He added: “We are very happy that Annette from GMCS is leading a lot of the effort and I am incredibly proud of the work that she has done. We’ve supported her from the inception and we have started several training and capacity-building programmes, which is one of the major pillars that we need to establish a community enterprise and we support it in all facets, whether it be tour guiding, culinary training, first aid training, hygiene and sanitation training, or customer service training, just to name a few.”

In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Sarah Singh, one of the students from the University of Guyana who did the study on crabs in Imbotero village, said: “This entire research centre and the entire project that we are working on is mind-blowingly beautiful.”

Sarah added that residents of Imbotero, specifically girls, are using aerial drones to capture different scenes in and around the community, after which they will be trained to use underwater drones.

Project Coordinator of the Guyana Marine Conservation Society, Olivia Rodrigues, mentioned in part of her presentation, how excited they were to be at GMCS knowing that the possibilities are endless.

She said that the thematic areas of research included climate change, mangroves, blue carbon, and Warrau culture.
Preparation is also underway for the launch of the Barima-Mora Passage Booklet in January 2023. The GMCS will also continue to target children in primary and secondary schools as part of an Educational Awareness Programme in Region One.