IT STARTED with a big hype but is nowveering towards a rather unfortunatecollapse. A us $65-million experiment,which had the backing of theCommonwealth leaders, to save tropical rainforests in Guyana, is nowcoming apart as funds to sustain theprogramme have been difficult tocome by. The project began in 1989,after Desmond Hoyte, president ofGuyana, offered 360,000 ha ofvirgin forest - the lwokrama forest -to develop and arrive at conservation steps to save rainforests fromextinction.
The programme was started witha fund of US $5 million and the fieldcentre came up at Kurupukari inGuyana. it would have helped botanistsscout for medicinal plants, given aninsight to the foresters to harvest treesin a sustainble manner and also aidedthe development of ecologically soundmeans of mining gold and diamondreserves. Scientists manning the projectrecently quit the scene. But ConradGorinsky, co-author of the Common-wealth plan, believes that if the projectfails, the loggers will get their way inGuyana. They are already cutting downhuge areas of the forest.