Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conservation And Development In A ...

market: exporters interviewed by Edwards suggest that only about 10 percent of
available habitat is exploited for live capture (Edwards 1992: 79), although local
population decline is a possibility. Illegal export of certain species may be a problem:
populations of Arapaima gigas and giant river turtles in the Rewa and Rupununi rivers
are reported to be seriously threatened by capture for export to Brazil, despite their
CITES-1 listing, as the means are simply not available in Guyana for enforcement of
this law.
The effectiveness of CITES in achieving any practical, rather than purely symbolic,
successes in conservation has been called into question (Trexler 1990), and the
Guyanese case supports this argument. Excessive attention and resources are
directed towards an issue of relatively minor importance in terms of national
conservation, at the expense of a country with limited means to fulfil the regulatory
obligations imposed upon it. Furthermore, there is a danger of the economic value of
Guyana's wildlife being reduced by hampering a trade which has the potential to
operate sustainably, and provides employment for Amerindian people within their
local areas and based upon local knowledge. One specific example is the wish of a
north Rupununi community to begin the harvesting of black caimans (Melanosuchus
niger) for meat and skins. Although the local abundance of this species is such that it
has reached pest status and represents a threat to human life, its CITES listing
precludes access to an export market for its products while doing nothing to protect
less numerous populations in other locations from unsustainable exploitation.
Aside from the trade in wild animals, a few species are also harvested for sale as
'bush meat' in restaurants in Georgetown and other coastal settlements. Species I
have noted on the menus in such establishments include laba (Agouti paca), lowland
tapir (Tapirus terrestris), both species of peccary (Tayassu tajacu and T. pecari),
agouti (Dasyprocta agouti), waatrash or capybara (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris), and
unspecified species of cervid (Most likely Odocoileus virginianus and/or Mazama
americana). Various species of fish found in watercourses in the interior also enter
the urban food chain by this route. No data has been collected on the source of these
meats, but as the harvest area involved is necessarily restricted to those areas within
relatively rapid travel distance of Georgetown the impact on animal populations is
likely to be local.
Several animal species native to Guyana have a demonstrated potential for
sustainable harvesting, and in some cases semi-domestication or other forms of
controlled management, which can under appropriate conditions provide an economic
incentive for conservation of their habitats (Werner 1991; Smythe 1991;