In Guyana, local actors mobilized to preserve the French Amazon

Covered with primary forest over more than 90% of its territory, Guyana has unique assets to make it a model of sustainable development that respects living things: ecotourism, nature reserves, identification and preservation of threatened species… This involves the European expanse with the highest biodiversity.

However, this French overseas department-region sees its natural balance undermined by human activities. Among them, illegal gold panning (search for gold) and its devastating effects on rivers and forests within the territory, galloping urbanization, intensive and illegal exploitation of marine resources. How then can we reconcile nature conservation and greater human pressure?

Ethologists, scientists, teacher-researchers, arborists and marine biologists are trying to provide an answer. These experienced actors carry out hard work on a daily basis to effectively preserve the natural wealth of this vast Amazonian territory and the populations it shelters, weakened by anthropogenic threats.

Conservation of fauna, limitation of interactions with humans, educational work, inventories, preservation and improvement of knowledge about flora… Spotlight on these guardians of the shadows who work, locally and very concretely, to calm the ardor of rapid development and trying to save the canopy.