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The tiny country of Guyana, located on the northern tip of South America, has launched an unusual experiment to see if it can prevent the destruction of its still relatively pristine rain forests. Guyana, like most of the countries on the equatorial belt where rain forests are located, is cash poor. It has one of the highest external debts per capita in the world; and since the rain forest is one of its most valuable natural resources, the forest is ripe for exploitation. The conservation dilemma arises from the need to use the resources at hand for income while not destroying that resource. Unfortunately, the most common form of exploitation to date has been timber and mining companies who come in, often from abroad, take what they can from the forests, and leave—providing little beyond short-term jobs. Eighty-three percent of Guyana's total land area is covered with forests and woodlands, and foreign investors are increasingly seeking concessions to log in those forests.

Guyana's rain forest is typical in that it houses a huge variety of plant and animal species. "Five percent of the earth is covered in this type of forest," says Iwokrama's director general, David Cassells, an Australian forester on loan from the World Bank. "Ninety percent of all species occur in these forest types. A very large proportion of terrestrial carbon is stored in forests like this. So, how we manage them will matter to the whole world." Rain forests take out from the atmosphere a substantial portion of the carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming. One idea for preserving the rain forests so they can perform this essential task is the "carbon bond" scheme in which companies that produce greenhouse gases pay poor countries to preserve their forests. The companies, then, would avoid paying penalties for pollution. Navan Chandrapal, the Science and Technology adviser to the president of Guyana believes, "If the thinking globally is that 'you have so much value here,' then respond to that value. Let us have initiatives that will compensate for that value. It's not simply to tell us that, 'look, these things are valuable—don't touch them.' If they are so valuable then, we must have adequate compensation for not utilizing them in another manner. That's all we ask."

In two years, scientists have identified nearly 900 species of mammals, birds, fishes, snakes, lizards, and frogs in the Iwokrama forest. It is estimated that 1,500-2,000 plant species may grow there. While the rain forest hasn't "provided a cure for cancer yet," says David Cassells, this vast habitat contains undiscovered species—and it is a potential reservoir of biological and economic riches. Iwokrama is home to populations of pumas, jaguars, tapirs, and Giant River Turtles, to name just a few of the larger species. But outside of the reserve, there are few controls to regulate hunters and poachers who prey on endangered species, says Graham Watkins, wildlife biologist for Iwokrama.

Iwokrama is a noble experiment with a potentially large payoff for the entire world. It also buys time for the rapidly disappearing rain forests, says Cassells. "I've seen attitudes change enormously in two years. Three years ago people didn't believe there was any alternative to standard timber harvesting. Iwokrama gives us a chance to look at the full range of uses." As Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth explains, "It is very important for the world community that the lungs of the world—the tropical rain forest—should be saved. If they are to be saved, then the countries who own them and who depend on them for the economic survival must be helped to make a success of their sustainable exploitation."

This summer, the men in the community were preparing a guest house to lodge "ecotourists" beginning this fall. The main structure was finished, and the men were making the furniture by hand from products in the forest. A number of the younger men have worked in the Iwokrama Preserve training to become rangers and guides for the tourists. The women want to expand their farming from subsistence-type agriculture to raising produce that could be sold in the market and in cities. They need more than their traditional hand tools, however, and are trying to raise funds for a small tractor.

Sidney Alicock recognizes that there are positive and negative aspects to economic development. They don't want to live like the people in Georgetown, the capital, he says; but "I'd like to see us more economically strong, more independent, given more power to decide our future.... I know we've been left years behind (in development). But then the tables are being turned. The old people used to say 'leave the forest. That's where you have life. If you destroy it, you destroy yourself.' That's what we all have to understand."