UPDATE: Jacksonville Zoo-Guyana Partnership

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25 August 2004

An Idea Becomes Reality

Since 1999, Iwokrama has been developing a model partnership involving the Government of Guyana, Jacksonville Zoo of Florida and Iwokrama. The vision for the programme is to directly link the "Range of the Jaguar" exhibit at Jacksonville Zoo to the management of wildlife in Guyana, and in particular, the Rupununi Wetlands and Iwokrama Forest.

This partnership has yielded some very promising results to date:

• The "Range of the Jaguar" exhibit has opened with strong emphasis on the Guyanese perspective of sustainable use, management and conservation of wildlife and, in particular, the work of Iwokrama. The exhibit opened in March 2004 and has been a resounding success. Over 200,000 people have learned about Guyana 's wildlife and its conservation efforts, and Guyanese crafts have been sold through the exhibit. Of particular benefit to Guyana is that the exhibit is generating substantial public relations interest in Guyana tourism.

• Jacksonville Zoo has provided US$84,000 to Iwokrama for wildlife management and research activities over three years. Included among these activities is support for work with Jaguars, Giant Otters, Arapaima, as well as environmental education. In addition, Iwokrama has worked with the EPA to support both accession to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and undertake consultations on new wildlife conservation and management legislation.

• Jacksonville Zoo has supported the purchases of Guyanese products including those from the communities of Rupununi, Santa Mission, and St. Cuthbert 's, and facilitated the shipping of a vehicle to Guyana for use by the local communities of the Rupununi.

• A Memorandum of Cooperation for the development of the partnership was signed between the Office of the President and Jacksonville Zoo in November 2002. The decision for the Office of the President to be the signatory arose after discussions within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the President and the Environmental Protection Agency. The Memorandum makes available to the Government of Guyana an initial US$35,000 to support wildlife policy and legislation, research and environmental education; funds which have yet to be expended.

• Discussions have also been initiated with the Environmental Protection Agency and National Parks Commission on the way forward for the programme. The aforementioned Memorandum of Cooperation makes clear reference to the need to develop new subsidiary agreements for any animal loans; agreements which are now being discussed. These loans will be for already captive animals (Jaguars, Giant Otters, and Harpy Eagles), and will be leased from Guyana to Jacksonville Zoo in return for financial and in-kind contributions to conservation research and education in Guyana.

• The model has been presented to the US Fish and Wildlife Service for approval; once agreements for animal loans are negotiated and finalised, the applications for the animals loans will be submitted to the Guyanese CITES* Scientific and Management Authorities for approval.

This work represents a substantial effort to develop model mechanisms for regularizing relationships between developing nations and zoos of the developed nations. Such relationships have already been developed by Brazil (Golden Lion Tamarin Project), Madagascar (Madagascar Faunal Group), and the Masoala National Park - Zoo Zurich linkage. Furthermore, this model is based on the recent transfer of Manatees to Odense Zoo (Denmark) from the National Park and Guyana Zoo.

As such, the work is consistent with Iwokrama's mission.

Continues...

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