Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon announced on Wednesday that Cabinet has approved a US$100,000 ($20M) loan from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission to the Iwokrama Inter-national Centre for Rainforest Conserva-tion.
Iwokrama comprises a million acres of virgin forest intended as a template for sustainable forestry development. It has a variety of features including eco-tourism and sustainable forest harvesting.
According to GINA, Luncheon in-formed the media that the loan to Iwokrama will assist the centre in successfully implementing its 2015 financial plan. He cited the “current dire financial situation” of the centre which will be eased, with the monetary intervention.
“Cabinet’s assessment of the current situation is influenced by the continued lack of necessary financing support being provided to the centre by its partners. That has led to government’s decision to extend financial support to the centre”, Luncheon said. The centre was established in 1996 under a joint mandate from the Government of Guyana and the Com-monwealth Secretariat to manage Iwokrama. The project had its genesis in an offer made in 1989 by the late President Desmond Hoyte at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malaysia.
