Region Two youths benefit from environmental workshop
DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Several youths from Region Two are eager to utilise the knowledge gained following an environmental management workshop hosted at Mainstay and Whyaka.
The two-day workshop, which was held over the weekend at the Mainstay Multipurpose Hall, was aimed to empower the indigenous youths from Mainstay and Whyaka, Capoey, Lima Sands and Tapakuma to tackle issues of sustainable development and environmental management.
Anasha Hendricks, from Capoey Lake, said she has learnt a lot of practices she will incorporate in her life. “There were a lot of things I was unaware of. For instance, I didn’t know that you cannot go into someone’s community and catch parrots and sell them outside of that community. I’ve learnt a lot of things about the environment and I’m very passionate about the environment. So, this workshop has been very informative.”
Emroy Pearson, from Mainstay Lake, said the exercise has changed his perspective about the environment. “One of the main concerns looked at was the actual trapping of animals for personal use. We need to have a license for some sort of control over the animal.”
The sessions were facilitated by the World Wildlife Fund Guyana (WWF), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Guyana Wildlife Conservation and Management Commission.
Facilitator, Leisa Mercurius said the programme was held to kick-start the establishment of environmental clubs within the community. She added that the sessions focused on addressing confrontations between residents and jaguars in the communities.
“Our focus is the human-jaguar conflict highlighting mitigation measures they can take, how they can manage and assist the communities. They (communities) had many reports of jaguars taking their pets and coming into the communities. So, we will take the complaints to the office and officers will come out and assess the situation. We also we gave an introduction and overview of the wildlife local and international trade,” Mercurius explained.
According to the facilitator, the participants were very receptive and are looking forward to the hosting of similar workshops.
The workshop was funded by WWF in collaboration with the National Toshaos Council (NTC).
By: Ranetta La Fleur.