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Iwokrama and Canopy Capital Partner to Price ‘Utility Value’ of Rainforest
In our last issue of Guyana Birding News we reported that Guyana’s President, Bharrat Jagdeo, made an offer to place the country’s entire standing forest under the control of a British-led international body in exchange for development and technical assistance towards becoming a green economy. In this issue we have another groundbreaking deal involving Guyana’s forests – particularly the Iwokrama Rainforest Preserve – to report.
Speaking on a video about the importance of the world’s rainforests, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales commented that, “We are content to pay for the other utilities we receive – water, gas and electricity – so shouldn’t we pay as well for the world’s greatest utility: it’s rainforests? In other words, pay for the perpetual retention of forests like Iwokrama in Guyana.”
According to a press release issued by Iwokrama, on March 27, 2008 at the world’s first Biodiversity and Finance Conference in New York, Iwokrama and UK investment house, Canopy Capital, announced a deal that will pave the way for financial markets to price the ‘utility value’ of rainforests. The release says, “For the first time investors will pay for the ecosystem services produced by a rainforest, including rainfall generation, climate regulation, biodiversity maintenance and water storage – utilities with a global significance which are vanishing as forests fall.”
The deal will safeguard these services within Iwokrama, the million-acre reserve located in the heart of the Guiana Shield that is used for research into sustainable forest management. Speaking of the deal, Iwokrama’s Chairman Edward Glover said, “Forests do much more than just store carbon. We should move beyond emissions-based trading to measure and place a value on all the services they provide. This initiative fits perfectly with Iwokrama’s original mandate to demonstrate that conservation, environmental balance and sustainable economic activity can be mutually reinforcing.”
Funds generated from the deal will help Iwokrama continue with its mission of conserving the rainforest through sustainable practices that provide livelihoods and business partnerships for the 7,000 people living in and around the forest. The release quoted Iwokrama Head Ranger, and esteemed birdwatching guide, Ron Allicock as saying, “I love this place [Iwokrama]. This is my home. I want it to be around for my children, my children’s children, forever.”
For more information on the deal and Iwokrama on the whole, visit www.iwokrama.org or www.canopycapital.co.uk.
President Jagdeo Joins Conservation International to Help Conserve Tropical Rainforests
Continuing his mission of conserving Guyana’s rainforests, on May 20 President Jagdeo helped launch Conservation International’s global campaign titled, “Lost There, Felt Here.” The goal of the campaign – which includes a video segment featuring Harrison Ford – is to show the impact that destroying tropical forests has on people everywhere. According to CI, burning and clearing of tropical forests emit at least 20 percent of total greenhouse gases that cause climate change. That is more than all of the world’s cars, trucks and airplanes combined.
It was noted that saving forests helps to combat climate change, and as Guyana retains roughly 80 percent of its original forest cover, preserving the rainforest is essential for the Earth’s well being. President Jagdeo hopes the CI campaign will help further, “create incentives to reward the conservation of existing forest and support our communities with new economic development alternatives for the 21st century.”
The campaign also allows individuals to make a contribution by protecting an acre and supporting conservation programs that protect tropical forests worldwide. To learn more (and to see the video), visit: www.conservation.org.
Guyana Welcomes Several Birdwatching Tours
As a result of the Guyana Birding Tourism Program’s product familiarization trips and marketing efforts, the first wave of birding trips came through Guyana in early 2008. The tour leaders provided Guyana Birding News with some encouraging feedback on their trips.
Based in Canada, Eagle Eye Tours completed its first group tour to Guyana in January. Co-owner and tour guide, Richard Knapton said, “there are superlative groups of birds in Guyana…many birdwatchers want to see Guiana Shield species…and this makes Guyana a highly competitive destination.” Besides the fantastic birds spotted on their trip, Knapton said that, “One of the real beauties of Guyana is to fly over the forest and see it unbroken from horizon to horizon.”
In February, the U.S. tour operator EcoVentures Travel led a group of to some of Guyana’s premier birdwatching destinations. Tour leader Ken Klotz said the group had a fantastic trip and all were quite impressed by the number of birds they spotted. “Some species that are hard to find in other countries are relatively abundant here,” said Klotz. “Even birders who have birded extensively in countries like Ecuador, Peru and Panama can easily add a significant number of new species to their life lists. One man who had birded most in the tropics of Latin America added 90 life birds to his list.”
Continuing the trend, the U.K. operator, Ornitholidays, brought their first birdwatching group to Guyana in March. Ornitholidays guide, Mike Witherick, said all were pleased to see standout species including the Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock, Hoatzin, Crimson Topaz, Capuchinbird and the Harpy Eagle. Witherick, whose previous birding experience in the area was limited to Costa Rica, Jamaica, Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago, said Guyana “is the equal of any of these.”
President of the Guyana Amazon Tropical Birds Society (GATBS) Andy Narine joined all three trips to assist in guiding duties. The tour operators said he was, “first class,” and “extremely knowledgeable.”
The companies all plan on returning to Guyana on future birdwatching trips; the Ornitholidays trip planned for 2009 is already completely booked, and a second departure is being planned. For more detailed information, please read the related press releases on guyanabirding.com.
Fifth Familiarization Trip Explores Guyana
According to Mike Russell, a guide for Wildlife Travel -- which was set up by the Wildlife Trusts in the UK to promote good practice in ecotourism and to support nature conservation -- “Guyana has the potential to become one of the great ecotourism destinations in the world.” Mike was in Guyana in April as part of a GTA-USAID/GTIS sponsored familiarization trip that hosted top tourism companies specializing in birding, natural history, and scientific tours. Participants included: Betchart Expeditions (US); Bird Holidays (England); Exotic Birding (US); Geographic Expeditions (US); Heatherlea (Scotland); Neblina Forest (Ecuador); Tourismus Schiegg (Germany); and Wildlife Travel (England); and journalist Angela Alleman.
The group was treated to an array of Guyana’s wildlife, including a few Giant Anteater sightings (once was a mother and baby); Giant River Otters; a Puma; and Spider, Squirrel, Brown-faced and Weeping Capuchin, and Saki monkeys. Surama Village was pointed out as a particular highlight on this trip as there the group saw a juvenile Harpy Eagle, a Great and Common Potoo and a herd of Peccaries.
Peter Cosgrove of Heatherlea was wowed by Guyana, saying, “For all those who want to see an unspoilt Amazon, Guyana is the place to visit. It is home to an array of highly desirable rare animals and birds, great Amerindian culture…[making] Guyana a dream eco-tourism destination.”
In related news, Narca Moore-Craig, along with three others, was in Guyana in March as part of a reconnaissance trip for the tour operator Naturalist Journeys. The trip was the second to Guyana for Ms. Moore-Craig, who visited last November as part of a familiarization trip.
During their trip, the group focused on exploring Georgetown, Iwokrama and Surama. Key birds they saw included the Crimson Fruitcrow, Pompadour Cotinga, Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock, White-winged Potoo and Raquet-tailed Coquette. The butterfly enthusiasts on the trip were excited to see the “exquisitely beautiful” Helicopis genus at the Georgetown Botanical Garden and at the Iwokrama Field Station.
Moore-Craig’s, who said Naturalist Journeys is planning on bringing a trip to Guyana in 2009, said her main recommendation for tourism in Guyana would be to, “focus on the larger natural history market as well. And of course, preserving the integrity of the forest is essential to maintaining ecotourism.” To which she added encouragingly, “Guyana seems to be headed in a good direction on that score, better than many countries.”
Iwokrama Birding Guide Training Program to Increase Local Guide Expertise
From May 31 to June 15, 2008, 16 of Guyana’s intermediate-level birding guides will participate in the Iwokrama Birding Guide Training Program to increase their avifauna knowledge and birding guide expertise to a level of professional guides. The 16-day course will take place at many birding sites in Guyana’s North Rupununi, including Bina Hill Institute, Surama Village and the Iwokrama International Centre. Professional instructors for the program will be Chris Collins of the Neotropical Birding Club and Wildwings, and Barry Walker, owner of Manu Expeditions in Peru.
The main goal of the program is to provide knowledge and skills to birding guides in Guyana so they will be better equipped to provide international caliber birding guide services to the international and domestic tourist markets. Four of the guide trainees will also receive train-the-trainer skills so they will be able to train future guides in Guyana as the birding tourism market continues to increase.
The training will allow Guyana’s tourism destinations to be better equipped for increases in tourism arrivals and will improve employment and income generating opportunities for local communities, while focusing on the importance of strong environmental ethics. All participants will receive birding equipment including high quality binoculars, The Birds of Northern South America field guide set, and bird vocalization recording and playback equipment.
The Iwokrama Birding Guide Training Program is primarily funded by the European Union Microprojects Fund, with additional in-kind contributions from many tourism partners in Guyana. Iwokrama, Caribbean Airlines, Cara Lodge, Rock View Lodge, Community and Tourism Services (CATS), Surama Ecolodge and the Bina Hill Institute provided donations for travel, venue costs, lodging and meals. Conservation International, the British High Commission, Birding Ecotours, Small Planet Consulting and Doug Dunlevy have all contributed donations to support the guide tuition fee and equipment purchases.
British High Commission Offers Tropical Forest Tourism Good Practices Workshops
The British High Commission (BHC) in Guyana funded recent workshops that will help forward sustainable tourism development in Guyana through an ecotourism best practices project. The project will work with Guyana’s tourism sector to create awareness that the proper planning, management, and promotion of environmental and social good practices are essential to develop a sustainable tourism industry.
The project has two main activities, including a two-day interactive workshop based on Conservation International’s newly published A Practical Guide to Good Practice for Tropical Forest Based Tours; Guyana is the first destination to hold workshops featuring the guide.
The second project activity complements the work of the GTA-USAID/GTIS tourism program, as it involves preparing, in collaboration with the project partners and tourism sector, a draft code of conduct and good practices checklist for birding tourism in Guyana.
For the project the BHC is working closely with the Guyana Tourism Authority, Guyana Amazon Tropical Birds Society, Rupununi Community Tourism Association and South Rupununi Conservation Society.
Look for Guyana Exhibits at 2008 ABA and Birdfair
Guyana is once again taking flight and will be landing at two well-regarded birdwatching shows. The first will be at the American Birding Association (ABA) Convention, which will take place in Snowbird, Utah from June 23-29. From there Guyana heads to England to set up an exhibit at the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water from August 15-17.
At Birdfair, Tony Thorne of Wilderness Explorers and Iwokrama Forest Ranger, Ron Allicock, will be giving a presentation titled, “Guiana Shield Endemics: Where to find them in Guyana.” Last year’s Guyana presentation by Tony and Ron drew a large crowd and we’re expecting the same this year. Guyana is also currently finalizing plans for a Caribbean themed BBQ night co-sponsored with Birdfair. This will be the first year the annual BBQ will have a theme and we’re pleased that Birdfair co-coordinator, Tim Appleton, asked Guyana to be a part of it.
For information on how you can attend the events, visit www.americanbirding.org and www.birdfair.org.uk. We look forward to seeing you all at one of our booths.
Guyana Birding Tourism Program Changes Its Name
Over the past two years, the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) – United States Agency for International Development (USAID) / Guyana Trade and Investment Support (GTIS) Birding Tourism Program has focused on marketing Guyana’s birding assets to the niche bird watching tourism market, and we’ve enjoyed considerable success: more than 30 international tour operators are currently selling, designing and bringing birdwatching and natural history trips to Guyana; Guyana has been featured in numerous international magazines and newspapers; and a range of beneficial relationships have been formed with leading birding, conservation, tourism, aid and NGO organizations around the world.
Birding tourism will remain a key focus for Guyana, but the input of tour operators and media who have visited through the Birding Tourism Program in the past two years shows that Guyana provides an excellent product-market match for several other sustainable nature and cultural tourism markets.
To this end, GTA-USAID/GTIS is expanding its focus to several niche sustainable tourism markets; namely, nature and wildlife viewing, learning tourism, eco-indigenous tourism, and volunteer conservation tourism. The primary draw for all of these markets is the opportunity to experience Guyana’s untouched and expansive rainforests, and the amazing flora, fauna and people that live within them.
To reflect the move into this new and exciting phase, GTIS has renamed the Birding Tourism Program to the Guyana Sustainable Tourism Initiative (GSTI). We look forward to sharing the exciting developments this will bring to Guyana with all of you.
For this issue’s Pick of the Flock, we’re recommending a couple of excellent bird identification guidebooks that will help you name any new bird species you may see while in Guyana. Both books receive unofficial endorsements from Guyana’s local birdwatching guides, as they are exactly what you’ll see them using in the field.
Steven Hilty’s A Guide to the Birds of Venezuela is considered a classic South American bird guide. The hefty book provides information on more than 1,400 bird species and has long been considered the bible for birdwatching in Guyana.
The Birds of Northern South America: An Identification Guide, Vol.1: Species Accounts and Birds of Northern South America, Vol. 2: Field Guide by Miguel Lentino, Robin Restall, Clemencia Rodner and Roger Williams is quickly gaining popularity amongst birdwatchers and guides in Guyana. Vol. 1 has in-depth information on species, including habitats, vocalization, nomenclature and taxonomy, and the incredibly comprehensive Vol. 2 features 6,400 paintings and 2,308 maps covering all the birds from Ecuador to French Guiana.
