1 Jul 2021

Covid-19 impacts on Indigenous food sovereignty, livelihoods and biodiversity, Guyana – the findings

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Our report presenting work from a Darwin Initiative Covid-19 Rapid Response grant that ran from January to March 2021 in the North Rupununi, Guyana is now available. Download it from here. With a long-term aim to enhance Indigenous food sovereignty and agroecological knowledge that sustains livelihoods, culture and biodiversity, we were interested in exploring how Indigenous communities have been impacted by and responded to the Covid-19 pandemic. More specifically, we looked at local livelihoods, leadership, and if/how farming activities changed, … Read More
2 Feb 2021

Guyana’s biodiversity global hotspot – the North Rupununi Wetlands

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  To celebrate the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands – World Wetlands Day 2021 we are highlighting one of the world’s least known but incredibly important wetland biodiversity hotspots, the North Rupununi Wetlands. This incredible wetland complex is found in the southern interior of Guyana, South America and contains more than 450 fish species, which in turn supply a food chain to endangered species such as the black caiman, giant river otter, giant river turtle, and recovering populations of the largest … Read More
26 Jan 2021

DETECT Capacity Building Programme

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For the last two months of my internship, my main focus has been to aid the development of the capacity building programme for the DETECT project. DETECT, which stands for Integrated Space Technology Vector Control aims to combat malaria within Indigenous communities in Guyana through community-based environmental monitoring. For this, communities are using a range of environmental data collection tools such as satellites, drones and ground-based data collection. Effectively using and making environmental management decisions with these technologies requires a … Read More
8 Sep 2020

Indigenous Heritage 2020: How they do it in Fair View Village, Rupununi

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Fair View Village is the only Indigenous settlement located within the protected area of the Iwokrama Rainforest Reserve. Fair View began as a family homestead when Arthur Andries requested permission to build his home on the left bank of the Essequibo River at Kurupukari. Arthur Andries was a punt driver, moving people and cattle across the Essequibo River during the Cattle Trail Days. Arthur and his extended family lived in the location even when the cattle trail closed in the … Read More
15 Jun 2020

Coping with Covid-19 in the North Rupununi

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It was the early part of March 2020, and we were in the midst of the national election season. All the communities were excited about who would be the next President. There was tension between the different political party supporters., and it was not long before we realised that there were issues with reporting the final results of the elections. And in all of this turmoil there came the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus otherwise known as Covid-19. The messages … Read More
1 Aug 2019

Bridging the north south divide

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There aren’t many opportunities for young people from the North and South Rupununi to meet, share information and spend time interacting with each other. In this article, we hear from Marshalla Perry from Maruranau Village in the South Rupununi, who spent three months as an intern on the Darwin traditional knowledge project, based at the NRDDB office in the North Rupununi. It has been with great pleasure that I had the opportunity to work with the NRDDB team through the … Read More
5 Jun 2019

A journey up the Rupununi River for fieldwork in Apoteri and Rewa Villages – Part 2

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Onwards to Rewa, through the eyes of Grace Albert, Cobra Collective Consultant, Darwin Project The next day, we were on our way to Rewa Village where we would repeat a similar process of working with the local community researchers (their names are Devon and Peggy). The focus of Rewa’s community owned solution (COS) video is ‘traditional farming’. Fortunately, the journey to this community was sunny, unlike our boat ride a week before. This allowed us to really enjoy the beautiful … Read More
4 Jun 2019

A journey up the Rupununi River for fieldwork in Apoteri and Rewa Villages – Part 1

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Working in Apoteri, through the eyes of Sean Mendonca, Policy & Technical Coordinator, Darwin Project It began with me jumping into a bus in Georgetown on a Monday afternoon. I arrived at my destination at about 8:30am – many hours later – the next morning in Annai Central. As I step out of the bus my excitement grows. It is a welcome break from my daily routine of sitting behind a computer screen in the office, and more importantly, I … Read More
16 Nov 2017

Getting Creative

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Videographic training at Bina Hill, North Rupununi, Guyana Claudia Nuzzo, participatory video expert from the Cobra Collective, joined the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB) Darwin Team at Bina Hill, North Rupununi to work on their video and editing techniques before they head into the communities to begin community research and build local capacity. The NRDDB Team, who previously worked on the COBRA Project, are using this opportunity to build their repertoire in how to edit more dynamic videos, as … Read More