Local non-governmental organisation Policy Forum Guyana (PFG) has urged that village councils be vested with greater authority to control and manage rivers for the better protection of indigenous communities and the better preservation of the waterways.
“The need for a more robust legal regime for the protection of rivers is patently obvious. Moreover, since those whose lives are most bound up with clean, safe rivers are indigenous peoples, greater authority must be vested in Village Councils to control and manage rivers. Were that the case, the rights of indigenous communities to life, health and freedom of movement will be better protected and the integrity of the Upper Mazaruni River better preserved,” PFG said in a statement yesterday.