Iwokrama benefits from $50M grant from ExxonMobil

…to address loopholes in forest management

The Iwokrama International Centre (IIC) on Friday received a whopping $50 million from ExxonMobil Guyana, for the implementation of a five-year science strategy that will also fund key investments to help protect Guyana’s tropical forests.
In a statement, the Centre indicated that this funding came at a time when it was challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic and an increase in illegal mining activities prompted by rising gold prices.
To combat illegal gold mining operations in the protected rainforest, the Centre has planned to invest in a drone to provide aerial maps of the forest cover, allowing enforcement teams to identify gaps.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dane Gobin has stated, “COVID-19 has permanently changed the way forest managers manage their forests. Safety protocols have made logistics very expensive and inconvenient…Forest managers need to now adjust to this ‘new normal’ if they are to continue to protect the forest and we hope to use some of this funding to help with that.”
The IIC is also adding virtual reality platforms that will allow scientists, students and researchers to stay connected remotely while a third project will allow direct sponsorship of the Iwokrama Forest through a fundraising mechanism.
The new additions will complement ongoing work of the centre in the areas of climate and hydrology, biodiversity and community education. Some major outputs from the science programme include the installation of a new Iwokrama Science Committee (ISC), outreach activities, capacity building and awareness programmes for the local communities, the production of Guyana’s “legal field guide for natural resource practitioners” and the development of the country’s  first 3D map of a community – Fair View village.
Since 2017, ExxonMobil has been a significant supporter of the Iwokrama Science Programme and has injected more than $180 million into these initiatives.
The IIC was established in 1996 under a joint mandate from the Government of Guyana and the Commonwealth Secretariat to manage the Iwokrama forest, a unique reserve of 371,000 hectares of rainforest “in a manner that will lead to lasting ecological, economic, and social benefits to the people of Guyana and to the world in general” .
The Centre, guided by an international Board of Trustees is unique, providing a dedicated well-managed and researched forest environment. The forest is zoned into a Sustainable Utilisation Area (SUA) and a Wilderness Preserve (WP) in which to test the concept of a truly sustainable forest where conservation, environmental balance, and economic use can be mutually reinforcing.
The IIC collaborates with the Guyana Government, the Commonwealth and other international partners and donors to develop new approaches and forest management models to enable countries with rainforests to market their ecosystem services while carefully managing their resources through innovative and creative conservation practices.
Some 20 local communities are shareholders and participants in the IIC’s sustainable timber, tourism, research operations, and forest management activities through complex co-management and benefit sharing arrangements.