For over 40 years, Annette Arjoon-Martins has turned conservation into opportunity for women in Region 1

By Shaniya Harding
SINCE she was a young girl growing up along the riverbanks of the Pomeroon River, Annette Arjoon-Martins saw the struggles many women in her community faced in achieving financial independence. She said this inspired her for more than 40 years of her career. For over four decades, Arjoon-Martins has walked the coastal communities of Guyana’s Region 1, blending environmental activism with women’s empowerment. From making Shell Beach the country’s first coastal protected area to training young women to monitor the sprawling mangroves of Barima-Mora Passage with drones, her work marries conservation with opportunity. Beyond protecting ecosystems, she equips women and girls with skills and incomes, from pepper flakes to honey, turning them into leaders in their communities while showing that safeguarding the environment and uplifting women can go hand in hand.
While serving as a programme manager at the Guyana Marine Conservation Society (GMCS), Arjoon-Martins described herself simply as an environmentalist. She has worked across the length and breadth of Guyana, though the bulk of her career has been spent in Region 1, where she has been active for more than forty years. Highlights of her work to date include making Shell Beach the first coastal protected area in Guyana, as well as many other initiatives over the years. Her current work, however, is making a tangible impact in some of Guyana’s most remote communities. Working in the Barima-Mora Passage, an area adjacent to Shell Beach, Arjoon-Martins is teaching young girls from surrounding communities to develop alternative livelihoods. One of the most impactful ways she and her team do this is through drone operation.
A simple skill, taught to some 14 girls over several weeks, has enabled them to earn a living while contributing to research and community development. “I am very happy to say that some of these girls who were trained are now working with government agencies as their drone pilots. So it was good to have the girls trained not only to monitor the mangrove forest in the Barima-Mora Passage, but also to work with the Protected Areas Commission at Shell Beach. So they are now monitoring that entire 100-kilometre stretch of beach.” Moreover, the work of these young women goes beyond monitoring. Arjoon-Martins added that the women and girls are helping protect the environment like never before: “At the beginning, we had them going out to do regular monitoring. So they would do their reports, which we would then send to the agencies. For example, if they went out and saw an oil spill, they took photographs, videos, and a report. Well, then that was sent to the Environmental Protection Agency, who then sent in their officers to go and speak to the people who were selling fuel.”
Arjoon-Martins and her team are also working with older women. As she explained, she is currently collaborating with women from Region 1’s communities in pepper production. Working with more than 20 women, Arjoon-Martins helps them cultivate a very unique type of Wiri Wiri pepper: “We work with the women in terms of farming it, and then when it’s picked, they put it in a dehydrator to dry it, and then they flake it, and then it’s sold as a pepper flake.” This project has had far-reaching impacts, with some women earning an independent income for the first time in their lives, and others going on to support their families and communities. “The women who previously didn’t have much to do are now earning an income from picking and selling the peppers. Actually, one of the successes is that they’re selling it now to a businesswoman at Kamaka Market, and they’re getting $1,000 a pint, whereas before, you’d barely get maybe $200 or $300,” she added. “It gives women the capacity to earn an income, invest it back in their kids’ education, as most mothers will, or at least be able to buy the things that they need.”
For Arjoon-Martins, the work she does is deeply personal. Growing up in a community similar to the ones she now works with helped spark her passion for women’s empowerment. “My mom is Indigenous, and I’m Indigenous, and growing up in Pomeroon River, which is a riverine community in Region 2, it was very obvious to me from a very young age that women are really challenged to find employment and earn an income. So growing up, it really stuck with me that if I wanted to work on a programme, I would want to work on helping women, uplifting women, uplifting young girls,” she said.
This passion is why she aims to continue expanding opportunities for Guyana’s women in the hinterland. Moving forward, her focus includes women in pepper flake production and honey production: “My present step with them in terms of working with the Pepper Flakes is that we want to look at how to do value-added products from the Pepper Flakes. So we’re also working with women in beekeeping. We’ve trained a bunch of women in beekeeping as well. They have their hives in the mangrove forest, which provides them with very high-quality honey,” she added. “I could see, for example, we could have the Pepper Project and the Honey Project doing something where we have pepper-infused honey. So again, you’re going after the gastronomic market.”
While Arjoon-Martins’ work has made a significant impact, she hopes to see continued efforts to support and develop women in Guyana and internationally. In recent years, she has pointed to positive shifts in women’s roles and empowerment. Speaking on the growing number of women in governance, she shared, “If you look at the number of female ministers, big improvement from years ago. Even in Parliament as well, you could see the representation there,” she commended agencies like the Women’s Chamber of Commerce: “I do see since the Guyana Women’s Chamber was formed, for example, they have a lot of programmes that are really benefitting women, benefitting young women especially. In terms of at the village level, we don’t have that level of awareness yet of having women organised as a group and representing their groups.”
While strides have been made, there are still areas that need further development. Arjoon-Martins highlighted domestic violence as an area requiring intervention. She explained that the number of domestic violence cases and violence against women overall is an international issue requiring collaboration to address. “We are battling, as I said, domestic violence, which is much worse now. It’s almost like a disease. So I think that going forward, I would really like to see, at least before my time is up on this earth, some really tangible programmes to curb this disease.” Through her work, Arjoon-Martins has shown that conservation and women’s empowerment can successfully go hand in hand. By training young women in drone technology, supporting green enterprises and creating income-generating opportunities, she is not only protecting Guyana’s unique ecosystems but also giving women and girls the tools to thrive.