Conservation International removes head of Guyana operations

Conservational International (CI) has removed Dr David Singh as Executive Director in Guyana, the leading environment organisation has confirmed.

“David Singh graciously agreed to step aside as Country Director,” Jenny Parker McCloskey, Vice President of Media at Conservational International said in a statement to the News Room.

“Guyana is moving into a new era.

“As the nation faces new and different challenges, our program there requires a different kind of skill set,” McCloskey, added.

She said Conservation International was “deeply grateful” for Dr Sing’s generous and hard work.”

Dr Singh confirmed his departure from the organisation.

“I have agreed to step aside as Country Director of CI-Guyana.

“I am deeply grateful and proud of my 11 years of work with the organization,” he told the News Room in an invited comment.

Dr Singh joined Conservation International after a stint as Director General of the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation.

The organisation’s latest work in Guyana came in for criticism after it accepted US$10 million from the ExxonMobil Foundation.

The Foundation in July said it was contributing US$10 million to a new collaboration with Conservation International and the University of Guyana to train Guyanese for sustainable job opportunities and to expand community-supported conservation.

Dr Singh’s last major public engagement with the organisation was the launch of a US$3 million project with the Global Environment Facility towards mercury-free gold mining in Guyana.

In his Linked in profile, Dr Singh credits himself as a natural resource management specialist with over ten years of senior management and conservation experience and over twenty years of experience in scientific environmental policy and research.

Over the three decades it has been in operation, the organisation said it has helped support 1,200 protected areas and interventions across 77 countries, protecting more than 601 million hectares of land, marine and coastal areas.