Wai Wai village named among The Queen’s rainforest initiative

Guyana’s first and largest community-owned protected area, the Konashen Amerindian Protected Area in Region 9, was recently accredited to The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy (QQC), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Thursday.

The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy is an initiative to unite Commonwealth countries through a network of information sharing and forest conservation projects across the globe.

At approximately 700,000 hectares (almost 3,000 miles) and four times the size of London, the Konashen Protected Area is home to the Wai Wai people, houses virtually untouched forests, is part of the High Biodiversity Wilderness Area of Amazonia and a key section of the Guiana Shield corridor.

The origin of the Essequibo River can also be found in Konashen Protected Area.

“Guyana’s participation as a CARICOM country in this significant Commonwealth initiative will create tangible benefits for communities and the environment and will demonstrate the very great value of CARICOM nations working towards a global environmental objective,” Guyana’s High Commissioner to London, His Excellency Frederick Hamley Case, was quoted as saying in the Foreign Affairs release.

“We see this rather as a CARICOM dedication to forest conservation and to the lungs of the Earth,” the High Commissioner further added.

In 2004, the Wai Wai of Kanashen District received absolute title to the land and have since worked towards conservation and sustainable economic development.

In 2007, under the Part V, Section 58 of the Amerindian Act (2006), the Konashen District Council made the local declaration of the Konashen Community Owned Conservation Area (KCOCA).

The Konashen Protected Area was formally declared a protected area by the Protected Areas Commission in 2017. The Department of Environment, Ministry of the Presidency endorsed the move by the protected area to attain the accreditation from the QCC, the Ministry’s release noted.