Amerindian communities benefit from grant to assist protected areas

Jun 18, 2008 News

Two Amerindian Communities, Moco Moco in Region Nine and Almond Beach, Region One recently benefited from funds made available through the German Bank for Reconstruction and Development (KfW) Small Grants component of the Guyana Protected Areas System (GPAS). This programme is being implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with support from GFA Consultancy Group of Germany.

Moco Moco, was presented with a tractor, a 5-ton hydraulic dump trailer, a disc plough, a disc harrow and a threshing machine while Almond Beach Community received a tractor and trailer.

A release from the EPA said that the equipment were handed over by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of a $16M farming project which aims to develop savannah agriculture, increase crop production and reduce poverty in the villages.

Additionally the Moco Moco project is expected to reduce the frequency of clearing forested areas to cultivate farms, thus contributing to the conservation of the Kanuku Mountains as part of the proposed national system of protected areas while the Almond Beach Community which includes, Shell Beach Protected Area, will be provided with an alternative income to illegal harvesting of marine turtles.

The German Bank for Reconstruction and Development has been providing grants over the last two years for communities living in and around protected areas or areas proposed for protection to assist in improving the livelihoods of the communities.

The donation will see the Moco Moco community bringing under cultivation approximately 36.45 hectares of farmland in the savannah with crops such as rice, peanuts, sorrel, cassava and peas and will build on the experiences of a 2001 pilot project which explored farming in the Savannahs.

Shell Beach is expected to improve the transportation and marketing of water coconuts from Almond Beach, increasing the income for community members through the sale of a greater number of water coconuts.

Currently, the community collects water coconuts on an 11-kilometer stretch of coconut plantation and transports them to the Waini River from where they are exported, the release added.

Other projects that have benefited from similar assistance includes; the marketing of the North West Organic Products, the construction of the Crabwood Oil Factory at Waini, provision of boat, engine and ranger equipment for Kaieteur National Park and the delineation of the Proposed Kunuku Mountains Protected area, the release said.