Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 14, 2014 News
A two-month preliminary birding programme which was supported by the Deutsche
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) , also referred to as the German Agency for International Cooperation, and the Caribbean Public Health Agency ( CARPHA), was recently concluded with the certification of 16 residents from the coastal communities of Victoria, Belfield, Hope Beach and Greenfield.
The programme which was endorsed by the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, was also supported by the Guyana Tourism Authority and the Tourism Hospitality Association of Guyana. The initial activity was a one-day field tour to familiarize and network the trainees with the various Ministries and Agencies, including the Protected Areas Commission, which plays a vital role in tourism. Staff at each location gave presentations on their agency’s mandate and also answered questions.
The training was also provided by Iwokrama, which utilized its wide range of skilled trainers, such as professional birding guides, tour operators and leadership trainers, to ensure delivery of a well-rounded package of skills to the trainees.
As the focus was on coastal birding in mangrove ecosystems, the field training was conducted at Hope Beach, which is identified as a national birding site, and at Felicity, one of the sites that benefited from mangrove restoration efforts.
Classroom sessions for the trainees consisted of various elements of tourism such as tour guiding techniques and communication and leadership skills.
A round-table session by representatives from Wilderness Explorers, Shell Beach Adventures and Tarantula Tours exposed the trainees to a wide range of industry issues such as itinerary development, dealing with challenging clients and ensuring client satisfaction.
Wilderness Explorers provided sterling support, and not only did they provide the group with additional equipment and books at the beginning of the course, but they also afforded one of the trainees with a trip to Kaieteur and Orinduik Falls during the training. Additionally, three trainees benefitted by receiving internships upon completion.
One of the interns and another trainee will also be accompanying a group of art students from the Rhode Island College of Design, USA, to Karanambu to complete a six-credit course that will see them exploring the role of biodiversity in society, using Guyana as an example.
At the end of the birding course, five other participants were also selected to visit the Iwokrama Field Station and Canopy Walkway, as well as Surama Eco Lodge, where they gave presentations on the mangrove restoration project and their fledgling mangrove reserve horse-cart tour.
At Surama Eco Lodge, not only did the trainees witness first-hand the ingredients contributing to what is considered ‘Guyana’s premiere community-owned and managed eco tourism product,’ but they were also exposed to the cultural aspects of Surama’s tourism package.
They were treated to presentations by the vibrant indigenous Makushi dance and music groups who provided the visitors with a genuine example of how they could enhance their birding tours by expanding on elements of the rich natural heritage existing in their coastal communities.
The local programme coordinator, Mrs. Annette Arjoon-Martins, expressed deep gratitude to GIZ, whose invaluable support, she explained, enabled the achievement such as the creation of a cadre of local tour-guides, equipped with preliminary birding skills, to support the development of birding tours at Hope Beach.
“The next steps are for the participants to put this training to use by offering complimentary birding tours which will commence at 06: 00hours at Hope Beach during the last two Saturdays in December of this year.”
On another note, Mrs. Arjoon-Martins in her advocacy of forest and wildlife conservation pointed to a new and effective form of promoting conservation. She noted, “This is so effective,” in the fight to preserve the natural environment.
For the past few weeks, the conservationist has sought to promote wildlife preservation, especially with the upcoming Christmas season when homes will be providing the customary pepperpot for plentiful consumption. It is during this period, especially, that the demand for the meat of wild animals such as deer, tapir and the white-lipped peccary increase significantly.
She said too that the ‘bushmeat’ trade is threatening the survival of several species in Guyana, and strategies such as the National Wildlife Regulations enable programmes to address these and other relevant wildlife issues, and in some protected areas such as the Iwokrama Reserve and the Shell Beach Protected Area, ongoing anti-poaching checks have already yielded results.
Arjoon-Martins had pointed out also that these ongoing conservation action and awareness programmes were to help in the protection of at-risk wildlife populations in particular.
She explained however that there is a new method of getting the message across, which she believes would give a clear a picture of the damage that is being caused in the destruction of the forest and its inhabitants.
She pointed to Demilked – an online design, art, and photography magazine which uses shocking print advertisements to show the horrible effects of deforestation.
Demilked says that “social ads that concern animal issues are meant to shock us, and perhaps even convince us to change our destructive ways of life. This is what creative and art director Ganesh Prasad Acharya and copywriter Kaushik Katty Roy did with their arresting ads for Sanctuary Asia, India’s first and one of its foremost environmental news magazines”.
It was stated that the ads are meant to encourage people to see the destruction of wildlife habitats as nothing less than the murder of its entire native fauna.
In one of the ads created, a slogan read ‘When the wood go, wildlife goes’. The message complements already disturbing images of trees, cut down together with the heads of any animals that happened to be residing on them.
Though the graphic message does take aim at mainly companies whose destructive activities threaten the lives of the various animal species, its most important target is the common population, the site said. “If regular people change their minds and their habits, they can also make a difference.”
(Zena Henry)
JAGDEO ADDING MORE DANGER TO GUYANA AND THE REGION
Apr 18, 2024
SportsMax – West Indies captain Hayley Matthews has been named Wisden’s leading Twenty20 Cricketer for 2023, as she topped all and sundry, including her male counterparts. Alan Gardner looks...Kaieteur News – Compliments of the Ministry of Education, our secondary school children are being treated to a stage... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]