Commonwealth Deputy Secretary General, Ransford Smith on Sunday said that there is need to find a business strategy to allow the Iwokrama rainforest project to provide for its own sustainability since it is not a question of overseas funding, but the utilization of its own resources.
He said this can be tackled in a way that is not in conflict with the organization, pointing to income-earning activities like birding.
In support of funding also, he noted that Iwokrama is an example of the forest being a storehouse for carbon, and there must be recognition of its value in that context.
There was a call for viewing Iwokrama less in terms of what can be given, but how it can be managed and developed for sustainability, and any assistance given should be toward this objective.
These statements were made during a Common-wealth-sponsored two-day workshop on Business, Finance and Climate Change Reporting at Bransville Hotel in Pike Street, Campbellville, held on Saturday and Sunday.
And responding to questions about international funding, Deputy Secretary General Smith said that he thought Iwokrama would have been financially viable by now since there are measures like eco-tourism and other sustainable activities that can be undertaken.
Smith is leading the 21 Commonwealth delegates attending the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting (CFMM) ending tomorrow. At the CFMM a short film is expected to be shown on Iwokrama before a presentation by keynote speaker Sunita Narain on the special theme ‘Climate Change – The Challenges Facing Finance Ministers’.
Smith explained that ‘what they expect is that Iwokrama will develop and become an example of sustainability’.
Close to 12 years ago, on November 9, 1995 Iwokrama signed an agreement with President Cheddi Jagan and Chief Ameka Anyaoku, Secretary General of the Commonwealth for the close to one million acres of forest or 371,000 hectares, now called Iwokrama Forest, after it was pledged by President Desmond Hoyte in 1989 at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
When the Guyana government made this forest available a number of international pledges were made but it is not clear how many of the pledges were actually fulfilled. The Commonwealth has provided US$1.1M to Iwokrama over the years, but the operational cost for Iwokrama per year is some US$600,000.
There has been intervention at a government level to keep the Centre running and the Centre itself is engaged in sustainable harvesting of timber.
Director Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, economic affairs division, Common-wealth Secretariat stated in an interview with Stabroek News at the workshop that there is a campaign to raise revenues for Iwokrama, through the Prince of Wales Organisation. Prince Charles, Patron of Iwokrama, on June 22 had hosted a reception at his London residence for large corporations as a fund-raising effort. Stabroek News was unable to gain information yesterday from the Chairman of the Iwokrama Board of Trustees Edward Glover on the sums raised by this initiative or pledges given.
Coomaraswamy noted similarly that two weeks ago the Commonwealth Secre-tary General held a luncheon in New York attended by large US-based foundations, like Carnegie and the Rockefeller to bring awareness to the issue of funding for Iwokrama.
He said that there is a concerted effort to attract funding for the Centre. Iwokrama is also looking to tap the carbon credits market.
In 1996 the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development Act came into being and the Centre is an autonomous corporate body, governed by an International Board of Trustees.
Six per cent of the Iwokrama Forest is owned by Fairview Village through Amerindian land title obtained in July 2006.
The work of the Centre is the geographical zonation of the Iwokrama Forest into two spatially equal zones: a Sustainable Use Area (SUA) and a Wilderness Preserve (WP). The SUA is available for multiple resource use to yield benefits now, while maintaining the potential to meet the needs of future generations, according to the Iwokrama website. The SUA is managed by the Centre and the local communities and in particular Fairview Village.
Journalists participating in the weekend workshop came from Uganda, Jamaica, Grenada, India, Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda and London. And the media houses represented were the Jamaica Observer; Ugandan Weekly Observer; Trinidad Guardian; The Tribune, The Bahamas; Financial Express/ Today Newspaper, India; Grenada Broadcasting Net-work; Greenworld News Corp. Trinidad; and the BBC Caribbean and BBC World Service.
