The Iwokrama International Centre on Thursday handed over equipment to add some support to the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Corp of Wardens team, mainly for their monitoring exercises.
A release from Iwokrama said that the Wardens have provided critical monitoring support for Iwokrama as it relates to illegal gold mining and Iwokrama is very grateful for the ongoing collaboration with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and looks forward to bolstering this relationship.
The CEO of Iwokrama, Dane Gobin has expressed his gratitude for the Ministry’s support in combatting illegal activities. He also expressed appreciation to the Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, , MNR Permanent Secretary, Joslyn McKenzie and Deputy Chief Warden Chetwin Bispham and his team for their steadfast commitment to maintaining the integrity of the Iwokrama Forest.
Dr Raquel Thomas, Director of Resource Management and Training, Iwokrama was on hand to present the equipment to the PS and team. She voiced her wish for the continued strengthening of the ties between the Wardens and Iwokrama Monitoring team, inclusive of exchange capacity building exercises.
Iwokrama has had deepening challenges with illegal gold mining during the Covid-19 pandemic period and currently has an ongoing court case along with another pending and is slated to commence in the new year regarding an illegal miner arrested for mining in the Iwokrama Forest on September 2019.
