Communities

One of the reasons Canopy Capital chose to work with Iwokrama is because of the IIC's long standing and good working relationship with the 16 indigenous communities in and around the Iwokrama reserve. The Foreign Affairs Minister of Guyana, a former Minister for Amerindian Affairs, and herself an indigenous Amerindian, sits on the Board of Trustees of Iwokrama. In addition, Sydney Allicock, a well respected community member, and toshoas of Surama Village also sits on the Iwokrama Board.

The Makushi communities comprise widely separated settlements usually numbering a few hundred individuals. They are represented by the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB) which since its foundation has worked in close collaboration with Iwokrama. The IIC has a Community Co-management Agreement with NRDDB, providing guidelines for collaboration and a forum for discussion of community benefits. The only community actually within the Iwokrama boundary is Fairview Village, whose land title has been fully demarcated and accepted by the Guyana Government, the community and Iwokrama.

Iwokrama's maxim is to "use the forest without losing it". Whilst doing so, it has sought to develop activities every step of the way that will benefit the communities and the wider national population. Prior to the formation of Iwokrama, there were very few development opportunities for local communities such as employment, training, capacity building and business opportunities.

Training and Employment Opportunities at Iwokrama

Around 54 staff, most from the surrounding local communities, are employed at the Centre's Iwokrama River Lodge and Research Centre working on the various programmes. Tourism operations include jobs for tour guides, bird guides, chefs, reception staff, drivers, boat captains, co-ordinators and supervisors. Training services employs instructors, co-ordinators and logistics staff. The research, conservation and monitoring programmes use rangers and research assistants. In addition, there are administrative positions such as accounts clerks, booking clerks, merchandising clerks, inventory staff and other supporting activities. The Centre's joint venture sustainable timber operation employs approximately 50 persons in jobs such as timber supervisors, log scalers, log graders, sawmill operators, and heavy equipment operators amongst others.

This local capacity not only supports local employment at the Centre but also provides training resources for national and wider community development projects. To support tourism activities, rangers and guides (tour and birding) are trained. Training is also done in areas such as first aid, reception and service delivery; while training in forestry related areas includes reduced impact logging, log scaling, log grading, tree identification, chain saw operations, equipment maintenance and forest management and planning. Other training courses include protected area management, collaborative management and more recently small business development.

Participation in Shareholdings, Concessions & Fees:

• Fairview Village is a shareholder in the conduit for Iwokrama's FSC certified timber business, Iwokrama Timber Inc. (ITI). The concept of shareholding, as understood in business, is a relatively new concept to the Makushi and Iwokrama is a pioneer in this regard. The governance system for the timber operation is unique and innovative in that it involves Iwokrama as an NGO, a private sector partner and the local communities. Each of these partners brings value to the partnership - Iwokrama brings science and monitoring; local communities bring traditional knowledge and ownership; and the private sector contributes capital and commercial experience.
• The Iwokrama Canopy Walkway is run as a partnership formed among Iwokrama, Wilderness Explorers (an international tour operator), Rock View Lodge (an eco-tourism destination in the Rupununi) and the Amerindian village of Surama. Each of the 4 partners has an equal share in Community and Tourism Services Inc. The facility also houses the Atta Rainforest accommodation facility located at the base of the canopy walkway. The current chairman of the Company is Sydney Allicock of Surama Village.
• Forest User / Visitor Fees - 1/3 of the Forest User Fee is paid to the NRDDB. 100 % of the fees charged for visits to the village of Fair View are paid to the village.
• Landing Fees - Iwokrama has supported the construction of an airstrip in Fair View's titled land and has convinced the Ministry of Public Works of Guyana to contract the village (instead of Iwokrama) to maintain the airstrip. 100% of the maintenance fees paid by the Ministry are received by the village. Iwokrama acts in an advisory capacity in helping the village to manage the airstrip.

Offering Sale of Goods:

Communities sell vegetables, fish, meat, honey, oils, soap and handicrafts to Iwokrama for sale in its merchandise outlets both in the field and at the Georgetown Office.

Delivering Social Benefits:

Iwokrama has helped to ensure the belief that "the forest will always be there" and that that the communities can use it. Hunting and fishing is allowed on a sustainable basis in both the Sustainable Utilization Area (SUA) and the Wilderness Preserve (WP). The Centre has attracted spin offs such as tourism, sport, medical facilities, and transport. The communities feel they can gain respect from telling their stories about how they managed their forest in the past and how they intend to do so in the future.

How will Canopy Capital's Investment help Iwokrama's Communities

Using a rainforest without losing it is not easy. Forest communities have over millennia developed a ‘slash and burn' system which works well with small numbers of people and large areas of forest, but increasingly pressures are growing from the world community, driven by growing populations which are making this system increasingly hard to maintain. Modern business has largely managed to make money out of the forest only by cutting it down and turning it into something else - such as timber, soy, beef or palm oil. Iwokrama is an experiment to create a new model of managing large areas of forest. It seeks to strike a balance between providing long term benefits to communities with income generation, while at the same time maintaining the full ecosystem services of the forest. Canopy Capital's Investment recognises this new approach and also the IIC's striving for excellence in every undertaking that Iwokrama attempts.

Phase I - Initial Investment

This investment has secured a five year option to ‘measure and value' the ecosystem services that Iwokrama's forests provide. The extra revenue we have provided is helping Iwokrama to complete its current business plan and maintain its intensive operations in all areas rather than cut them. This will help to ensure the present community benefits remain secure.

Like so many other conservation based projects in remote rainforests, Iwokrama has over the years survived on a combination of donor and earned income which at times has been insufficient to maintain all its operations. Under the business plan, the IIC is gradually moving towards financial self-sufficiency by deriving an increasing income from its four business operations and project income, while continuing to seek international support for its new generation of research, linked to the impacts of climate change on the forest, and the measurement and valuation of its eco-system services.

Canopy Capital's investment has helped Iwokrama accelerate this new approach to greater financial independence and the preservation of the remarkable partnership between the IIC and the local communities. Our innovative business approach has also renewed considerable interest in Iwokrama around the world and already helped to attract possible new sources of funding from donors. Our joint intention is that Iwokrama will grow in the future to become one of the most respected and successful research and conservation centres in the region, so securing the benefits to the communities for years to come.

Phase II - New Investment Model

Within five years Canopy Capital intends to develop a new investment model based on the rising value of the ecosystem services of Iwokrama's standing forests. For this we are actively seeking the support of investment banks and willing investors who believe that the value of tropical rainforests acting as public utilities will grow. This will not happen overnight but certainly the market signals are clearly emerging.

Community Engagement So Far

A process of explaining to the communities how the Canopy Capital model is different from other methods of supporting Iwokrama and its implications continues. The plans for the deal were fully explained to the 2008 Iwokrama Board of Trustees meeting in Georgetown at which the Chairman of the NRDDB was present.

Representatives of Canopy Capital have also visited Iwokrama and explained the nature of their plans to the NRDDB Chairman and its Deputy Chairman. Iwokrama's Chief Executive Officer has also written to and held meetings with the Communities around the reserve to begin the process of education about the emerging markets for ecosystem services their forests provide and how Canopy Capital's investments can help.

Through the Global Canopy Programme, a science based NGO in Oxford, which acts as Canopy Capital's technical advisor, we are establishing contacts with other forest communities in the States of Amazonas, Rondonia, and Acre in Brazil to see if lessons can be learned from their experiences.

Amazonas State has developed an excellent model of social and environmental benefit sharing known as the ‘Bolsa Floresta' or forest bursary, where communities are paid a monthly sum in return for maintaining the ecosystem services of their forests and in return sign up to a pledge to ‘make no smoke'.The Surui in Rodonia have developed an innovative forest mapping programme using handheld computers which could be adopted in Iwokrama.The Yawanawa in Acre have experience of selling their forest products to business outlets in the US.

We are also collaborating with the United Nations Development Programme's Guiana Shield Initiative, which is advised by the Netherlands based Institute for Environmental Security. This project is developing a model ‘ecosystem services contract' with communities in Venezuela, Colombia, Suriname, Brazil and also Guyana. Iwokrama and the Institute for Environmental Security, are currently developing the first full contract in collaboration with the Global Canopy Programme, and are also developing a monitoring protocol for the project, which may be adopted by other communities in the region

Conservation International has long experience of working in the region and has managed a ‘Conservation Concession' with the Wai Wai Community to the south of Iwokrama. We are working collaboratively with their Guyana office to exchange lessons learned.

We have held a collaborative meeting with the Forest Peoples Programme, one of the most experienced NGO's working for Indigenous Community rights around the world, and invited them to critique our plans, and have pledged to do our best to respond to any shortcomings. The FPP have also visited Iwokrama in 2008 to see the work being done on a range of matters, including local community relations and have given us valuable feedback following their visit.

Iwokrama has established a high level international science committee to direct future research in the reserve. Quantifying and understanding ecosystem services and the role of Iwokrama in mitigating climate change will be a significant focus of the committee.