Latest update April 17th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 02, 2010 News
– wants protection as unspoiled wilderness is under threat
An expedition to Rewa Head, Region Nine, which turned up unspoiled wilderness and mind-boggling biodiversity, is urging protection for that area.
The researchers, in just six weeks, stumbled on the world’s largest snake (anaconda), spider (the aptly named Goliath bird-eating spider), armadillo (the giant armadillo), anteater (the giant anteater), and otter (the giant otter), leading them to dub the area ‘the Land of the Giants’.
“During our brief survey we had encounters with wildlife that tropical biologists can spend years in the field waiting for.
On a single day we had two tapirs paddle alongside our boat; we were swooped on by a crested eagle and then later charged by a group of giant otters. I think that about sums the place up. There is little human disturbance in the Rewa Head and as a result, wildlife flourishes in blissful naivety,” one of the expedition members, Rob Pickles, said in a press statement.
Pickles, a PhD student studying giant river otters, teamed up with another PhD student, tapir-expert Niall McCann, to explore the area with the aid of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). Astonishingly the team encountered six anacondas during their expedition, four of which were over 16 feet long.
But it wasn’t just big species that the team recorded, but rare ones as well. Pickles and McCann recorded the presence of half of Guyana’s listed threatened species during their expedition, including crested and harpy eagles, as well as the little-seen bush dog.
“Visiting the Rewa Head felt like we were walking in the footsteps of Wallace and Bates, seeing South America with its natural density of wild animals as it would have appeared 150 years ago,” Pickles told mongabay.com in a recent interview regarding their expedition.
Despite the good news that Guyana has banned gold mining in the area, the Rewa Head remains threatened.
“[The area] currently lies in a logging concession. Unless Guyana is given alternative financial incentives, its government will be forced to lease its land to oil drillers, miners and loggers. One of the world’s last Edens is on the brink of destruction,” explains Niall McCann.
Currently, the US-owned company, Simon and Shock International, has a license to extract timber from 400,000 hectares, while oil drilling concessions cover 78 million hectares.
McCann and Pickles are working with ZSL conservationists to gain international support for the government of Guyana’s plan to conserve its vast forests as a carbon sink for financial returns.
According to the conservationists, the area is a perfect testing ground for projects like REDD+ (Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and Forest Degradation).
“Guyana is in an incredibly fortunate position in that it still retains 76 percent of its forest cover which constitutes some of the most carbon-rich forests of South America. As such, and with a president keen to offer his nation’s forests as part of the world’s carbon sink, Guyana should be embraced by the international community,” Pickles told mongabay.com.
In all, Pickles and McCann recorded 251 bird species and 33 large mammal species in Rewa Head.
“In the wake of Copenhagen and the build up to the Convention on Biological Diversity, reducing biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions are high on the political agenda. Protecting areas such as the Rewa Head through sustainable management is a positive strategy for addressing these key issues,” said Professor Jonathan Baillie, Director of Conservation at ZSL, adding that “global leaders need to recognize that real economic benefits are to be gained through the conservation, not destruction, of our world’s living things.”
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