Level of support for Iwokrama not yet quantified - Glover

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56523162

Level of support for Iwokrama not yet quantified - Glover
Sunday Stabroek, June 24th 2007

Edward Glover

The level of business support for the Iwokrama Rainforest Programme
following a reception hosted on Friday night by Patron the Prince of
Wales at his London residence, is yet to be quantified, according to
the Chairman of the Iwokrama Board of Trustees Edward Glover.

Glover told Stabroek News by email yesterday that, "It is not yet
possible to quantify the level of business support so far received, as
it has involved not only sponsorship but practical assistance and
expertise. Moreover, the process is continuing."

He went on to say, "We will be making a statement early next week about
the recent events in London, including The Prince of Wales's reception
yesterday [Friday], and the way forward in certain areas of Iwokrama's
activity."

The chairman reported that the event had been attended by, among
others, Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon; Baroness Valerie
Amos, the Leader of the House of Lords; representatives from HSBC - one
of the largest banking and financial institutions in the world ; Carbon
Capital; IFP; Triumph Group Inc; Shell International; KPMG
Inter-national; Climate Change Capital; Tate and Lyle; Caribbean
Airlines; Environ-mental Resource Manage-ment; the UK Department for
International Development; ABN-AMRO - a holding company with
subsidiaries involved in investment and commercial banking; the World
Wildlife Fund (WWF)-UK; Flora and Fauna International and the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office.

Glover is a former United Kingdom High Commis-sioner to Guyana,

It was reported that the purpose of the event was to highlight Iwokrama
and the progress of its 2006-2010 business plan and beyond.

Guyana was represented at the meeting by Minister of Amerindian Affairs
Carolyn Rodrigues, Guyana's High Commissioner to London Laleshwar Singh
and Sydney Allicock, representing local communities tied to Iwokrama.

Iwokrama, which covers an area of nearly one million acres (371,000
hectares), has its origins in an offer from the late President Desmond
Hoyte to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malaysia in
1989. It came into full operation in 1996 following an agreement the
year before between the Commonwealth and the Government of Guyana.

The programme has suffered from funding difficulties in more recent
times.