Rupununi students visit Iwokrama for research project
Students from across the Rupununi, Region Nine (Upper Takatu-Upper Essequibo) visited the Iwokrama rainforest as part of a Grade Nine Integrated Science research project. This follows on the heels of another Lethem area school visit, Arapaima school.
Students of the St Ignatius Secondary School learning plant pressing techniques at Iwokrama
The 91 students attend the St Ignatius Secondary School. It is the only secondary school in Central Rupununi and attracts students as far away as Karasabai.
Forest Ecologist and Director of Resource Management and Training at Iwokrama, Dr Raquel Thomas, during the visit said the entity has had ongoing outreach activities to schools, universities and the general public.
“We have also had more schools coming from Georgetown as well. It is very important for children to learn about conservation and sustainable use of forests and for them to really see the natural beauty of Guyana,” she added.
The students’ science project focuses on the symbiotic relationships among plants, namely commensalism, parasitism, and mutualism. The task of the students included identifying, by name, the plants that share these relationships and to explain how plants affect and are affected by each other and other organisms in their environments. Another objective of the students’ assignment was to observe, describe and classify plants by their colour, size, shape of leaves and their habitat. The visit to Iwokrama afforded the students to actually see those relationships at work in the Iwokrama forest and also to collect samples for preservation.
Botanical surveys of the Iwokrama forest have found over 1250 species of plants but could well exceed 2000 species if those in the highland areas are taken into consideration.
The students and teachers observed the rainforest from the canopy walkway and also visited the Iwokrama River Lodge and Research Station at Kurupukari.
The Iwokrama International Centre (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”.
