Iwokrama among 24 recognised by FAO for driving progress on forests

The Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development was among 24 nominees honoured by the Forestry Division of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) at the FAO Global Technical Recognition ceremony, held at FAO headquarters in Rome on October 15.
The Iwokrama Centre was recognised by the organisation for sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation and practices.

According to the FAO, as part of the celebrations to mark the 80th anniversary of FAO, the ceremony paid tribute to best practices and innovative approaches from around the world that are driving progress in global food security, sustainable development, and agrifood systems transformation across six technical areas.
In the area of sustainable forest production and protection, which, the FAO noted, called for nominations across four historical periods and ten themes, the Iwokrama International Centre was among more than 340 nominations from nearly 100 countries.
The Centre was among the final 24 chosen to be recognised for their exemplary achievements in advancing sustainable forest production and protection to promote “the FAO’s Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.”
This year’s ceremony highlighted how cross-border, cross-sector and cross-generational collaboration remains essential to achieving global sustainability objectives, the FAO stated, noting too that the event underscored its enduring leadership in connecting science, policy and practice.
From its founding in 1945, the FAO has been at the forefront of global efforts to promote sustainable forest management, renewable resource use, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation.
Forests currently cover some 31 per cent of the world’s land area, providing billions of people with food, income and shelter, while hosting up to 80 per cent of terrestrial biodiversity.
The Iwokrama International Centre (IIC) is a not-for-profit organisation that was established in 1996 to manage the Iwokrama forest, a 371,000-hectare rainforest reserve.
With a joint mandate from the Government of Guyana and the Commonwealth Secretariat and governed by an international board of trustees, the IIC is managed by a professional team of around 70 permanent staff in Georgetown and the Iwokrama River Lodge and Research Centre at Kurupukari.
For more information on the nominees and Iwokrama, visit fao.org or the Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development Facebook page.
Along with the FAO’s Forestry Division’s recipients, recognition was also given to exemplary initiatives in sustainable livestock transformation; South-South and Triangular Cooperation; land, soil and water resource management; sustainable aquatic food systems; and sustainable plant production and protection.