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Guyana’s wildlife crucial to tourism development
Guyana’s healthy wildlife population is a major tourist attraction and many a happy tourist
Jaguar
has returned from the Iwokrama Reserve boasting of sighting a jaguar, our national animal.
The relative inaccessibility to the natural habitat of Guyana’s wildlife populations offered much protection in the past and their populations thrived. However, this is slowly changing as Guyana’s pursues its economic development with mining and forestry both of which require access to such resources often located deep in our interior, playing a significant role.
These roadways also enable easy access for community hunters, some of whom are employed fulltime to supply the mining and forestry camps with a regular supply of fresh meat. The recreational hunters with custom-designed vehicles and sophisticated hunting equipment also capitalize on Guyana’s commitment to sustainable development through the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), includes setting aside areas for bio-diversity conservation. The protected-areas system comprises Kaieteur, Iwokrama, Kanuku Mountains and Shell Beach. It offers some protection to our wildlife populations. Connectivity of these sites in the future can significantly enhance such protection.
The Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) has also conformed to the LCDS condition of limited deforestation by enabling regulations for sustainable harvest which also offers protection to wildlife habitats.
Most encouraging is the recent passage of Guyana’s Wildlife Conservation and Management Regulation, which will be implemented through a new Wildlife Management Department in the Environmental Protection Agency with support as necessary from other regulatory agencies.
The protocols governing conservation and management of Guyana’s wildlife are clearly laid out as are the protected species which should not be harvested or hunted.
As most wildlife can be found in the backyards of hinterland communities where local wildlife rangers already possess the capacity for monitoring, it is hoped that they can be empowered to enforce wildlife regulations on the ground.
Guyana’s wildlife populations depend on people’s attitude to conservation.
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