In 1996, the Government of Guyana passed national legislation (the Iwokrama Act) establishing the Iwokrama International Centre (IIC) for forest research and development and giving it responsibility for the management of the Iwokrama Forest, a 370 000 hectare forest area in the heart of Guyana. The Centre’s major goal is to demonstrate that tropical forests can be conserved while generating income through sustainable and equitable use. The Act required the division of the Iwokrama Forest into two zones of roughly equivalent size: a ‘Wilderness Preserve’ and a ‘Sustainable Utilisation Area’. is would ensure that large areas of relatively unmodified landscapes could be managed towards an objective of conserving nature and natural processes, while adjacent areas could be managed sustainably to produce goods and services for the benefit of local and national communities and the IIC. By necessity, the zoning process was embarked upon despite a paucity of knowledge about the forest. This article explains how - the successful approach to zoning Guyana’s Iwokrama Forest for conservation and sustainable use - offers a model for integrating a wide range of forest-based values in land-use allocation processes.

Type of Case
Printed publication (book, sourcebook, journal article…)

Publisher
Iwokrama International Centre

Region
Americas

Biome
Tropical

Forest Type
All forest types (natural and planted)

Primary Designated Function
Multiple use