Twenty years of Smithsonian work here being celebrated

The United States Embassy is inviting the public to a presentation ‘Celebrating 20 Years of Smithsonian Work in Guyana’ at the Hotel Tower.

In a press release the embassy said the presentation will be hosted by Director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield Programme Dr Vicki Funk. The Institution’s Director of National Museum of Natural History, Dr Cristian Samper will give the introductory remarks. The embassy said the institution has been funding research projects in Guyana for 20 years and this collaboration has identified and recorded “a brilliant array of plant and animal life, including numerous species previously unknown to science.” Studies of the rich diversity of plants and animals in the Guiana Shield region help to identify the areas most in need of preservation. Unlike other nearby regions, the release said, more than 70% of the natural habitat remains pristine. These areas are now threatened by increased resource extraction, it said.

The presentation is scheduled for the hotel’s Rupununi Room tomorrow at 4.30 pm.