THE Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWMP) Programme recently presented consolidated data from its eight years of implementation along with the preliminary results of the biodiversity component of the programme.
The findings were recently released during an event held at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) boardroom. The event provided an opportunity for review of the findings of the biodiversity component, sparking an insightful discussion.
The biodiversity component spanned two years and focused on seven Rupununi villages.
Six methods were analysed during the project. These included camera trapping, passive acoustic monitoring, bird counts, environmental DNA (eDNA), local ecological knowledge and fish stock assessments, and they focused on three taxonomic groups: fish, mammals and birds.
The aim of this component was to assess which method is most cost-effective. It provided the preliminary results from camera trappings, acoustic monitoring and eDNA.
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The findings revealed that acoustic monitoring found 459, while camera trapping found 88 species. The highest rates of detection were recorded near Rewa, Katoka, and Maruranau.
Also, a regional AI model has been created and is capable of identifying 445 species classes. This is one of the largest regional identifying databases to date with 133 eDNA samples being collected and some 276 vertebrate species identified. Among these species are 195 fishes, 32 mammals, 22 amphibians, 11 birds and 10 reptiles. Also identified were seven threatened species: four mammals, two turtles, and one fish.
Based on the summary of the findings, over 700 individual species have been detected so far by camera trapping, acoustic monitoring, and eDNA and consolidated findings showed that camera trapping is best for identifying mammals. Acoustic monitoring was found to be best for identifying birds, while eDNA was best for identifying fish species.
At the end of the biodiversity project, the participating communities were presented with copies of the results, hard drives containing all the raw data and a dashboard with the analysed data along with instructions on how to use the instrument.
The findings will be used to inform the monitoring design for the National Biodiversity Monitoring Initiative, which is the border-to-border biodiversity monitoring vision for Guyana.
This is the first of its kind on such a scale in the world.
Additionally, the results will be compared across the SWM sites globally, to improve understanding of multi-method monitoring approaches at a global scale.
The communities were thanked for all their hard work as without them, the projects would not even exist.
Gratitude was also extended to the European Union (EU) for their continued funding of this initiative.
“Thank you to our implementing partner, the Guyana Wildlife Conservation and Management Commission (GWCMC), with whom our partnership over the project has become incredibly strong and productive. Thank you to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations for supporting us throughout. Thank you to our six local partners for being dedicated to their respective visions, it has been our delight to support your initiative. Thank you to all of the village councils for your involvement in project activity,” the SWM Programme representative said.
