THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Amazon Sustainable Landscape (ASL) Project Management Unit has initiated community consultations across 35 communities. These consultations started on July 16, 2024, and will conclude on August 30, 2024.
These consultations, the EPA says, are being conducted at two key project sites: The North Rupununi Wetlands, and the Kanuku Mountain Protected Areas.
The primary objectives are to engage stakeholders, inform communities about the project’s goals and activities, and to gather valuable feedback. A total of 27 communities have been successfully consulted thus far.
This initiative is crucial in ensuring that community voices shape the sustainable management of these ecosystems.

The project was launched in April 2024, marking a significant step forward in conserving biodiversity, and promoting sustainable development in the Amazon region. It is a five-year project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and implemented by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-US.
It focuses on enhancing landscape connectivity and improving the management of protected regions within southern Guyana’s forests. The EPA is leading the execution of this project, in partnership with the Protected Areas Commission (PAC) and the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC).
The project operates under the theme, ‘Securing a living Amazon through landscape connectivity in southern Guyana,” and is structured around four main components. These are: integrated protected landscapes, integrated productive landscapes, policies/incentives for protected and productive landscapes, and capacity building and regional cooperation.

Additionally, it focuses on the enhancement of management practices to support conservation of 611,000 hectares of the Kanuku Mountains protected area, and 901,800 hectares of the North Rupununi Wetlands.
Valued at over $5 million, the project is designed to preserve the ecological and hydrological integrity of these critical areas and aims to support conservation efforts in important habits in the Rupununi.