2010 - Glover
Stabroek News, March 30, 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p
The investment arrangement struck with Canopy Capital could see
Iwokrama financially independent in another two years, its board
chairman said yesterday.
The agreement between Iwokrama and Canopy Capital was made public on
March 27 at the world's first Biodiversity and Finance Conference in
New York. It opens the way for financial markets to price the 'utility
value' of the Iwokrama rainforests.
The forest and its services and eco-system would be put to dollar
value after a process of assessment and valuation. Canopy Capital is
injecting funding into the preservation and sustainable utilisation of
Iwokrama's forests in exchange for a share of the rights to eco-system
services it provides.
According to its website, Canopy Capital was established in 2007 to
drive capital to the rainforest canopy. It said that 20 per cent of
the company is held by the Global Canopy Programme, a UK charity
dedicated to the research and preservation of tropical forests. The
remaining 80 per cent is funded by a dozen international investors,
including the Waterloo Foundation.
"First of all I want to make it clear that the agreement with Canopy
Capital is not about carbon trading. That is not what Iwokrama wants
to do. What the agreement is about is measuring and then seeking to
place a value in the market place on the ecosystem services of
Iwokrama to humanity," Edward Glover, Chairman of the Iwokrama Board
of Trustees, said.
Glover said such services include rainfall and biodiversity. He said
the agreement will be creating additional income for Iwokrama to help
make the organisation financially independent of donors by 2010 and
this will be in accordance with Iwokrama's business plan. He said the
injection will help meet research obligations and continue to help the
local communities all of whom depend on the resources of the Iwokrama
forest for their livelihoods.
Glover said this was consistent with Iwokrama's role as a test bed,
having been established to test that conservation and economic
activity could be harmonious without destroying the environment.
He said Iwokrama would continue to do its very important research and
to measure and place a value on the services provided.
"This is a very important aspect. Humanity depends on rainfall and
biodiversity. This is just the kind of research opportunity that
Iwokrama will pursue in collaboration with other agencies in Guyana
and beyond," Glover said.
But he said that it will take time to advance the agreement. The
process of measuring was the first step, he added, and "we welcome the
help of Canopy Capital to enable Iwokrama to take this important work
forward over the weeks and months ahead."
Iwokrama on solid ground
Glover said Iwokrama's operational costs have fallen significantly as
a result of ruthless cost-cutting after facing reduction on donor
funding. The organisation's operational budget is between US$1.2M and
US$1.4M per annum.
He said business revenues have increased from 23 per cent in 2005 to
80 per cent in 2007 and further growth was forecast this year. Glover
was hesitant to disclose the amount of resources expected from the
Canopy Capital deal, but said it should steer the organisation out of
financial dependency by 2010.
After the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, and the death and
destruction of the South East Asia Tsunami in 2004 and other natural
disasters, funding that once propped up organisations that focused on
the environment was diverted. When this happened, Iwokrama, which had
encountered hard times even before 2001, saw further reductions in
funding and has been struggling in the midst of instituting radical
cost-cutting measures.
Glover said ever since he took over as Chairman of the Iwokrama Board
of Trustees he made it clear that as a research institution "we are
ready to work with other agencies in Guyana to advance the knowledge
of sustainable management of the forests. We will continue to work
with all concerned in the months ahead in light of the agreement."
He said Iwokrama would be happy to work with organisations of any
description beyond Guyana in the months and years ahead. "We want to
show what is possible with Iwokrama," he said.
The Iwokrama project arose out of an offer in 1989 by then President
Desmond Hoyte at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia to have a million acres of virgin forests in the
centre of Guyana set aside for sustainable forestry studies.
The Chairman said implementation of the agreement between Iwokrama
and Canopy Capital and the preparation of the measuring phase of the
work was underway, but these preparations would take some time, since
they would be detailed measurements and analyses. "We are keen to get
a move on, but as we make progress we will have [more to report]," he
said.
He said the agreement would not interfere in any way with the other
areas of Iwokrama's business, namely sustainable forestry,
eco-tourism, forest management training and services.
Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, Minister of Agriculture Robert
Persaud welcomed the initiative and said it had the support of
government. "We recognise that Guyana and even Iwokrama [need
expertise] to market these resources," Persaud said. He said
government expects that the deal will give Guyana an opportunity to
ratchet up international support in seeking out eventual carbon
trading opportunities.
"We see this is as a catalyst [in our thrust against climate
change]," he said. He said government would have lent support to the
initial negotiations through its seat on the Board of Governors of
Iwokrama. The minister said that there continues to be ongoing
discussions between Government of Guyana and a number of parties
internationally, as a follow up to the recent Bali summit and
President Bharrat Jagdeo's offer to the world of Guyana's rainforests.
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