In a bold step towards sustainable forest management and eco-tourism, the Sophia Point Rainforest Research Centre has been commissioned, positioning Guyana as a leader in green entrepreneurship and environmental conservation.
This new centre, located at River’s View in Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice), would serve as a hub for research, education, and training aimed at empowering stakeholders in the global fight against climate change.
President Dr Irfaan Ali along with British High Commissioner Jane Miller at the Sophia Point Rainforest Research Centre
President Dr Irfaan Ali, in his address at the opening of this facility on Wednesday, highlighted the centre’s potential as an educational and economic engine, and
tasked UK Parliamentarian David Lammy, co-founder of the centre, along with his wife Nicola Green, to devise a plan that would expand the centre into a full-fledged nature tourism facility. Mr Lammy is of Guyanese heritage.
What the President envisions is a sustainable business model that demonstrates how economic growth can emerge from preserving the natural environment.
“I want to challenge in the innovative aspect of what you do here, to be a bit different, to build out a business model out of nature, that would teach people how you can earn, how you can develop economic prosperity from nature itself. And you have an excellent start point…We should not only train persons on science and research, but as we get these students coming in, we have to let them know that nature as it is has in it entrepreneurial opportunities,” President Ali said as he articulated his vision.
“How do we identify those entrepreneurial and livelihood opportunities? And how do we develop a programme here that will teach them about these opportunities, and that will help them to develop plans?” the President asked, as he further articulated his vision.
Plans are already in place for students of the University of Guyana (UG) and other young environmentalists to benefit from development and capacity-building education at the centre.
However, with a broader vision in mind, President Ali emphasized the unique opportunity to merge conservation with business innovation, encouraging the center to attract international students, especially during summer breaks, to experience immersive research and survival training in Guyana’s rainforests.
“So, it is also important to Sophia Point, in this biodiversity and nature story, to build in it the business ecosystem that will allow persons to understand that nature can be kept, and, on the contrary, offers you opportunity in livelihood,” the President continued.
“It is also important, I think, that now that we have this piece of asset here, that, by itself, is a pullback for the community to get involved in the building out of a nature tourism facility, where we can target students from the UK, from environmental schools, to come here during the summer break. Or to use this community as community research and learning area that is connected to survival” he added.
The Sophia Point Rainforest Research Centre includes a multi-purpose lecture theatre and lab space, internet access, basic lab equipment, and basic accommodation for up to 24 persons; with free-standing washroom facilities, a kitchen and a dining space.
It also possesses an expanded pontoon and jetty that would facilitate the arrival of larger boats and operate as a site for sampling and water quality assessments; while a canopy access platform aims to support canopy level and meteorological measurements.
President Ali had, in August 2024, announced the inauguration of the centre as he spoke about Guyana’s environmental conservation efforts.
