1 / 23

Iwokrama Centre for International Rain Forest Conservation and Development Guyana, South America

Iwokrama Centre for International Rain Forest Conservation and Development Guyana, South America.

orsen
Download Presentation

Iwokrama Centre for International Rain Forest Conservation and Development Guyana, South America

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Iwokrama Centre for International Rain Forest Conservation and DevelopmentGuyana, South America Iwokrama International Centre

  2. “To promote the conservation and the sustainable and equitable use of tropical rain forests in a manner that will lead to lasting ecological, economic, and social benefits to the people of Guyana and to the world in general, by undertaking research, training and the development and dissemination of technologies.“ IWOKRAMA’S MISSION STATEMENT: Iwokrama International Centre

  3. About Iwokrama ……. • Makushi (local tribe) word meaning “place of refuge” • A gift from Guyana to the International Community in 1989 • Iwokrama International Centre was formed in 1996 • 1M acres (371,000 ha): • 50% Wilderness Preserve (WP) • 50% Sustainable Utilization Area (SUA) • Management of the area is under the direct control of the Chief Executive Officer who reports to the Iwokrama International Board of Trustees • Government of Guyana has representatives on the board Iwokrama International Centre

  4. An international effort……. HRH Prince of Wales: Patron Iwokrama International Centre

  5. GUYANA IWOKRAMA RESERVE…..the Green Heart of Guyana IWOKRAMA INTERNATIONAL CENTRE Iwokrama International Centre

  6. The Iwokrama Reserve Iwokrama International Centre

  7. Core work programmes: • Conservation and use of forests and biodiversity • Business development • Sustainable timber • Sustainable tourism • Training and consultancy services • Intellectual property and services • Human resource development Iwokrama International Centre

  8. Timber Tourism Training Services Intellectual Property and Services Commercial Partners: Tigerwood Guyana Inc - Timber Community and Tourism Services Inc - Tourism KfW - Training C Business Development Iwokrama International Centre

  9. Iwokrama River Lodge and Science Centre Iwokrama International Centre

  10. Timber • SFM timber model which follows environmental, social and economic best practices • Innovative Governance models - Private Sector / Iwokrama /Communities • FSC Certification • No log export policy adopted Iwokrama International Centre

  11. Sustainable Ecotourism • Birding - Recently, Iwokrama was highly praised by an independent USAID report which said that “Iwokrama is one of the most, if not the single most important site for birding and nature tourism in Guyana”. • Canopy walkway • Turtle Mountain • Hiking • Caiman spotting • 1,450 visitors in 2007 up from 760 in 2006 Iwokrama International Centre

  12. Community Relations • Collaborative Management Agreements • Training / Capacity building programmes • Benefits sharing arrangements • Innovative governance models • Employment – 96 % of staff from local communities Iwokrama International Centre

  13. Training Services • Full training facilities • Ranger training • Guide training, • Protected area management • Collaborative management. • Other specialized training courses • PDF Programmes Iwokrama International Centre

  14. IntellectualProperty & Services • EU GSI project – IUCN • Environmental services • Merchandising and value adding Iwokrama International Centre

  15. Ecosystem Services • Rainforests are giant global utilities providing water, pollination, soil erosion prevention, recreation etc – important to climate regulation and agriculture (food security) – important services to humanity. • Values have mostly not been recognised, valuation systems not perfected and markets not developed • ESS add value to existing forest values – timber, NTFP’s etc and reinforces the value of standing rainforests • More important to the developing world which have characteristics of high forest cover, low population and economic challenges thus putting immense pressure on these governments to monetize forest resources through the sale of traditional forest values such as timber often leading to forest degradation Iwokrama International Centre

  16. Iwokrama / Canopy Capital Deal • Partner: Canopy Capital of the UK • Launched at the world’s first Finance and Biodiversity Conference in New York on the 27th-28th March, 2008. • Not an emissions based arrangement as Iwokrama is already a protected area and would not qualify • Innovative agreement between private sector and NGO involved in sustainable development in an attempt to show that you can use a forest with out losing it through valuation creation using ESS • Two-staged process – a) identification and valuation of ESS b) commercialization and market development Iwokrama International Centre

  17. Basic tenets of the agreement • 5 year agreement • Gives Canopy Capital a license to market ESS in the Iwokrama Forest over the period in order to explore sources of international funding • Provides payments to the Iwokrama Centre for this license • Contains adequate termination clauses to protect both parties • Centre has the right of veto for which types of ESS can be marketed • Does not include the transfer of rights or ownership to any part of the Iwokrama Forest • Contains clauses which ensure a fair share of benefits so that all parties including local communities get a fair share of the proceeds of any commercial earnings • All activities have to fall within the confines of the Iwokrama Act • Fits within the framework of the Guyana Government with whom we continue to work closely with in this regard Iwokrama International Centre

  18. Iwokrama as the testbed…. • Iwokrama Forest Zoned into Sustainable Utilization Area (SUA) and Wilderness Preserve (WP) • Iwokrama Forest FSC certified – indicating operations which follow social, environmental and economic best practices, the only institution in the Guyana shield to have achieved this status • Iwokrama already involved in model development of timber tourism and training businesses including innovative governance models • Traditional forest resources mapped • Management plans / inventories developed for traditional resources • Monitoring protocols in place • History of research activities • Local communities involved in all facets of Iwokrama’s work Iwokrama International Centre

  19. Stage 1: Identification of ESS • Research into various ESS – water, pollination, soil erosion protection etc contained in the Iwokrama Forest. • Measuring services: water – rainfall attraction, water stored in the forest, run off into the rivers etc • Determining economic values of these services Iwokrama International Centre

  20. Stage 2: Commercialization • Fitting into any national framework / policy governing these services • Developing market mechanisms to ensure that resource / service providers / owners are compensated by beneficiaries of these services • Ensuring that forest peoples / local communities and other stakeholders share equitably in the benefits Iwokrama International Centre

  21. Major challenges • Getting people / companies / countries to pay for “another” service in a declining world economy where resources are already over-committed to offset rising fuel prices, fight poverty, mitigate natural disasters, combat terrorism and deal with the effects of civil wars • Convincing owners of forest resources that over the short to medium terms ESS could be a viable alternative to revenues derived from extractive operations • Developing appropriate valuation models for services, some of which are intangible • Developing innovative financial models such as green bonds to help finance PES Iwokrama International Centre

  22. Benefits • International – model of increasing the value of and revenues from standing forests thus leading to reduced deforestation and mitigating the effects of climate change and the development of innovative financial mechanisms to fund such efforts • National – Economic development for Guyana whilst still maintaining its 78 % (16M ha) forest cover, economic benefits for forest peoples / local communities • Iwokrama – provides direct economic benefits to the Centre to continue its important work in conservation and sustainable development Iwokrama International Centre

  23. To learn more about us……. • Visit our website www.iwokrama.org • Visit the Iwokrama Forest • Contact me at: Dane Gobin BSc MBA Chief Executive Officer Iwokrama international Centre 77 High Street, Kingston Georgetown Tel: 225-1504 Fax: 225-9199 Iwokrama International Centre

More Related