Camps and shop removed from outskirts of Iwokrama forest

An aerial view of the illegally operated shop in the buffer zone before the Iwokrama monitoring team dismantled and removed it from the area. (Iwokrama Interna-tional Centre photo)

Several camps and a shop that were found to be operating on the fringes of the Iwokrama forest were removed during the past week as the Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development has moved to step up monitoring and enforcement to guard against illegal mining incursions.

The Centre said that camps and shop, operating in breach of the Iwokrama Act, were detected after its staff along with teams from the Corps of Wardens under the Ministry of Natural Resources, Guyana Geology and Mines, Guyana Forestry Commission and the Guyana Police Force, carried out a monitoring and enforcement exercise in the Iwokrama Forest and buffer zone area, along the Siparuni River.