Iwokrama Setting Stage to Expand International Partnerships

In June the Iwokrama management team and Field Station hosted senior representatives from Conservation International (CI) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the largest private US-based foundation donor to environmental causes. Janette Gitler, Moore Foundation’s Environmental Program Director, Russ Mittermeier, PhD, President of CI, and Lisa Famolare, CI’s Vice President for the Guianas Regional Program, were all enthusiastic with what they saw and made it clear they were interested in exploring ways to partner with Iwokrama (CI-Guyana is already a partner in several projects). During their visit to the region, the representatives visited the Canopy Walkway, as well met with representatives of the North Rupununi District Development Board/Bina Hill Institute.

North Rupununi Arapaima project featured in the Jacksonville Zoo's “Range of the Jaguar” enhibit.

Iwokrama’s Director General, Graham Watkins, PhD, and Public Relations and Fundraising Consultant, Timothy Silcott, also travelled to Florida in June to cultivate two other important partners. First the pair met with senior representatives of the Jacksonville Zoo, including its Executive Director Dennis Pate, to discuss and explore other possibilities for the already extensive on-going partnership between the Zoo and Iwokrama. Jacksonville Zoo has offered assistance to Iwokrama’s fundraising efforts by coordinating a solicitation mailing on behalf of Iwokrama. Then Watkins and Silcott went to Miami to meet with the Latin America and Caribbean Program Executive Director and Assistant Director, respectively Alejandro Grajal, PhD, and Richard Stanoss, DVM. In addition to briefing the Audubon Directors on the latest news at Iwokrama, the group also discussed potential cross-marketing and joint fundraising possibilities between Iwokrama and Audubon.

Dr. Watkins also visited Geneva, Switzerland in May to present Iwokrama as a case study at the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF). Iwokrama was discussed in the context of the main “Barbados Programme of Action” (from the April/May 1994 Global Conference On The Sustainable Development Of Small Island Developing States), including the need to build and maintain human resource capacities in developing nations, addressing the involvement and rights of indigenous peoples, the need to access high value, low volume niche markets and the role of partnerships in people-centred development. Also representing Guyana at the Forum were Mr. George Talbot of the Permanent Mission of Guyana to the United Nations in New York, and Mr. James Singh, Commissioner of Guyana’s Forests and Iwokrama Trustee. Both Mr. Talbot and Commissioner Singh made additional critical contributions in support of Guyana’s and Iwokrama’s progress in Sustainable Forest Management.

Through Iwokrama’s participation in international fora such as UNFF conference and the international partnerships it has been cultivating such as with the Moore Foundation, CI, Jacksonville Zoo, and Audubon, Iwokrama is becoming increasingly recognised as an international leader in sustainable conservation. This is in turn leading to Iwokrama receiving an ever-increasing number of inquiries from curious representatives of the tourism, scientific, forest management, and environmental funding arenas.