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

petroleum reserves over 10,000 km 2 of the Takutu river basin. Although the opening
of discussions was reported in the Stabroek News of 15th. February 1999, I have
seen no subsequent reports, and the license appears never to have been awarded.
Exploration activities seem not to have commenced, and the company's web site
gives no mention of an interest in Guyana. Another proposed mining operation that
the region appears to have been spared is a gold option on slightly more than 100
km 2 around the source of the Kwitaro river. This river is an essential resource for the
major study village in this project and its neighbours, but a mining concession there
was nonetheless taken up by Guyanese company AMPA, and later optioned to foreign
mining interests (Canarc Resource Corporation 1997). AMPA's owner told me that
gold deposits on the river were insufficient to support a commercial mining operation,
and to date no mining operations have commenced, although the option remains
open.
3.1.5 Conservation Interest in the South Rupununi
Aside from Iwokrama and the Conservation International concession, several other
sites have at one time or another attracted attention as potential protected areas. Of
these, most concerted and active attention has been given to the Kanuku Mountains.
The first documented activity in this regard was a European Commission sponsored
consultancy, which unfortunately exemplified a notional and cosmetic approach to
community consultation. Boundaries suggested for this park encompassed much land
which, although not within Amerindian titles, provides important subsistence services
for the villages in the foothills of the mountains. While token reference was made to
the participation of local people, it was suggested that the same people be kept out
of these areas by armed patrols, but that local favour should be curried by naming
the project 'Kanuku Amerindian National Park'! (Agriconsulting 1993). Since this,
biological background data collected on expeditions sponsored by Conservation
International has confirmed the biotic richness of this area (Parker et al. 1993).
During 2000, following a request by Guyana’s government, CI organised a series of
consultations with communities in the vicinity of the mountains, a first step in
establishing the compatibility of a reserve with the needs of these people (Forte
2000). This process is ongoing, according to an article about developments in the
NPAS programme published in the Stabroek News of 4th March 2002.
Various other areas in and around the South Rupununi have been suggested as
possible conservation sites of various types (Ramdass and Hanif 1990), though I have
not observed any evidence of local consultation in relation to these proposals.