Iwokrama Centre for International Rain Forest
Conservation and Development
Guyana, South America
Iwokrama International Centre
IWOKRAMA’S MISSION STATEMENT:
“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 International Centre
About Iwokrama …….
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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
An international effort…….
HRH Prince of Wales:
Patron
Iwokrama International Centre
GUYANA
IWOKRAMA
INTERNATIONAL
CENTRE
IWOKRAMA
RESERVE…..the Green
Heart of Guyana
Iwokrama International Centre
The Iwokrama Reserve
Iwokrama International Centre
Core work programmes:
• Conservation and use of forests and
biodiversity
• Business development
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Sustainable timber
Sustainable tourism
Training and consultancy services
Intellectual property and services
• Human resource development
Iwokrama International Centre
Business Development
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Timber
Tourism
Training Services
Intellectual Property and
Services
Commercial Partners:
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Tigerwood Guyana Inc Timber
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Community and Tourism
Services Inc - Tourism
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KfW - Training C
Iwokrama's Earned Revenues (US$)
$900,000
Projected
$760,000
$800,000
$700,000
$570,000
$600,000
$500,000
$289,086
$400,000
$206,840
$300,000
$200,000
$137,587
$136,796
$153,673
Iwokrama International Centre
$100,000
$0
$320,013
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Iwokrama River Lodge and Science
Centre
Iwokrama International Centre
Timber
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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
Sustainable Ecotourism
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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
Community Relations
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Collaborative
Management
Agreements
Training / Capacity
building programmes
Benefits sharing
arrangements
Innovative governance
models
Employment – 96 %
of staff from local
communities
Iwokrama International Centre
Training Services
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Full training
facilities
Ranger training
Guide training,
Protected area
management
Collaborative
management.
Other specialized
training courses
PDF Programmes
Iwokrama International Centre
Intellectual Property & Services
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EU GSI project – IUCN
Environmental services
Merchandising and value adding
Iwokrama International Centre
Ecosystem Services
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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
Iwokrama / Canopy Capital Deal
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Partner: Canopy Capital of the UK
Launched at the world’s first Finance and
Biodiversity Conference in New York on the 27th28th 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
Basic tenets of the agreement
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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
Iwokrama as the testbed….
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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
Stage 1: Identification of ESS
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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
Stage 2: Commercialization
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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
Major challenges
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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
Benefits
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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
To learn more about us…….
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Visit our website www.iwokrama.org
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Visit the Iwokrama Forest
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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