The researchers leading a recently completed Karaawaimin Taawa Biodiversity Assessment faced obstacles including challenging terrain, political and social complexities, and a lack of resources. Despite these obstacles, the team conducted a comprehensive biodiversity assessment, even identifying new frog and bat species.
The assessment was conducted by the South Rupununi District Council (SRDC) – a local organisation that legally represents 21 of the region’s Indigenous communities – and the Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme (SWM).
Thanks to additional collaboration with various local and international experts, the team set out to develop an inventory of species in the remote South Rupununi mountain range. While the resultant inventory is impressive, the story behind its development is perhaps even more so.
The project was initiated in response to concerns voiced by local Indigenous communities around environmental damage, in particular resulting from gold mining in Karaawaimin Taawa.
“A lot of Indigenous folks from the communities that we represent, and other communities out of our jurisdiction, depend on the area as a source of livelihoods, and large-scale mining activities contribute negatively towards the environment there,” SRDC Project Coordinator Timothy Williams said.
“What we’re trying to do is gain some kind of control over [what activities take place there], to be able to balance economic income generation and livelihoods with environmental protection,” Mr Williams said.
SRDC decided a biodiversity assessment combining Indigenous knowledge with Western science would provide a vital tool to help demonstrate the importance of the ecosystem, and potentially support the case for allowing the Indigenous people the right to monitor and manage the impact of mining activities on the land.
“I think without numbers, it’s hard to convince people,” Dr Nathalie van Vliet said. Dr van Vliet is an associate researcher at the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and site coordinator for the SWM Programme Guyana.
“If you can say things like ‘many new species were found’, or ‘that area is particularly important for these vulnerable species’, it’s easier to convince people that it needs protection, and there will be more international support for the conservation of that area,” she said.
The project was two years in the planning, with the assembled team ultimately transported to the remote area in which the work would be conducted.
Before work could commence, a team of trail openers and carpenters completed a three-week ‘pre-mission’. In the face of heavy rain, mud, long distances and even the risk of snake bites, they cut trails and built bridges to provide the research team with easier access. They also built four camps in the expansive study area, spanning its varied altitudes and ecosystems, as well as installing camera traps to support analysis.
The research team, which included ten locals, nine international scientists, nine ‘load men’, four cooks, four helpers, and one photographer, set out on this adventure in March 2022.
The journey to the study area took them across the savanna by motorbike and through creeks and marshes by foot, followed by a four-hour trek to the first camp.
During the expedition, the team focused specifically on beetles, bats, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals and fish, with local experts on each animal working alongside the international scientists.
The researchers camped in the forest for a total of three weeks, spending three to four days in a location before hiking to the next. To feed the group, the locals fished and hunted using bow and arrow.
Dr van Vliet said the entire process was an ideal opportunity for co-learning between local experts and scientists.
Meanwhile for Timothy Williams, a key outcome was the capacity built by the team.
“I’m confident that we can, on our own, execute other assessments across the territory. So that is something very positive that came out of this assessment,” Mr Williams said.
“What the community really wants to show is that they have the capacity to understand, to study, and to take care of that area,” Dr van Vliet said.
“They have been able to conserve this area over decades, and now they also have the biological expertise and the logistical know-how to study and monitor this area at a comparable level – or better – than what the government may be able to do.”
Well done and congratulations to this remarkable team, and all the other forest science researchers working around the world in challenging environment for the good of our planet’s forests.
“We openly share our findings with transparent real-time discussions across the whole team. Then we cross-evaluate and consolidate our research findings at the end. This is a brand-new way to do international collaborative forest research.”
Source: ForestsNews
