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Guyana: Local Wisdom & Conservation

In Guyana: August 1 - 10, 2012 (tentative)
May need to add 1-2 days travel time
(Dates listed show course start and end date though it is strongly recommended to arrive the day before the course begins)
At Home or School: September - early December 2012 (Web-based Learning Community)
Credits: 7 graduate credits from Miami University; course can be applied to Global Field Program.
Institutional Partner: Institutional Partners: The Chicago Zoological Society, Iwokrama International, and the local communities of North Rupununi are primary partners in this program.
Course Cost: $1290 (in-country costs and Miami tuition inclusive) + airfare to Georgetown, Guyana + $440 additional internal course flights/transportation.

Earth Expeditions - Field Expeditons
Course Brochure

Guyana is a lush and remarkably intact country in northeastern South America. Covering an extraordinary 80% of the country, Guyana’s rain forests are part of the Guiana Shield considered one of the last four Frontier Forests in the world. Guyana is famous for its relative abundance of iconic Amazonian species such as jaguars, arapaima (a “living fossil” and one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world), harpy eagles, giant anteaters, giant river otter, and the giant water lily.

Guyana is also culturally and ethnically diverse and includes indigenous peoples such as the Arawak, Wai Wai, Carib, Akawaio, Arecuna, Patamona, Wapishana, Makushi, and Warao. We will be spending most of our time with the Makushi, the dominant group in the North Rupununi area, a group that has lived in these forests and savannas for thousands of years.

The Makushi and their lands face a striking transition as the forces of development provide new opportunities and challenges. Perhaps the greatest challenge is the rapid extinction of traditional knowledge and practices. Local Makushi leaders believe that both indigenous and outside perspectives must be considered to ensure a sustainable future that protects the ecology of their lands and the social integrity of their communities.

This course focuses on the traditional ecological knowledge of the Makushi and the potential of local wisdom to guide conservation initiatives. The Makushi have a long tradition of managing their resources creatively by proudly embracing their traditional culture. Conscious of the value of indigenous and non-indigenous knowledge, Guyana’s Makushi people are becoming masters of straddling both worlds.

The concept of local knowledge and wisdom applies to every community, a point we will explore as we consider our own role in place-based conservation and participatory education.

Prior to and following the field experience in Guyana, students will complete coursework via Dragonfly Workshops Web-based learning community as they apply experiences to their home institutions.

Course Themes

A typical Earth Expeditions day in Guyana is likely to include:

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[Click on an image to open it in a new window]

Planned Sites in Guyana

Iwokrama Forest

The Iwokrama International Centre (IIC), the largest environmental organization in Guyana, manages the nearly one-million-acre Iwokrama Forest. The Iwokrama Forest ecosystem is located at the juncture of Amazonian and Guianan flora and fauna. As a result, it contains high species richness and several species of animals that are threatened or extinct across most of their former geographic ranges. The Iwokrama Forest has the highest species richness for fish and bats for any area its size in the world. It also has extraordinarily high bird diversity.
Iwokrama builds partnerships with local communities, government, academic institutions, international agencies and the private sector, and evaluates the social, economic, and ecological changes that occur as a result of business development. Their goal is to become a model for business development that results in the worldwide conservation of tropical forests.

North Rupununi

Iwokrama International Centre (IIC) works closely with the North Rupununi Makushi communities, assisting with planning and coordination of education, development, cultural, and research programs. In a decade of collaborative work, IIC and the community leaders have been preparing young Makushis to manage natural resources effectively through innovative, grassroots enterprises.

Rupununi people still hunt, fish, and farm for a living, and recognize the importance of using local knowledge for research and management. Some have acquired technical skills in forestry, natural resource management, and agriculture at the Bina Hill Training Institute, an Amerindian institution “home sown and home grown”. Community conservation leaders, with support from IIC and village councils, have also joined wildlife clubs promoting environmental approaches that combine traditional knowledge and scientific techniques.

(Course locations are subject to change.)

Web-based Learning Community

Before departing for Guyana, students will join instructors and classmates in Project
Dragonfly's collaborative Web community to complete pre-trip assignments in preparation for the expedition. After returning to the United States, students will continue to work in their Web-based community from September through early December to develop projects initiated in the field, discuss assignments, and exchange ideas. All students should expect to spend two to three hours a week contributing to their learning community from their home or school computer. Navigating the Web community is easy--it's designed for people with no prior computer experience. To learn more about this unique Web experience, visit dragonflyworkshops.org.

Cost: $1290 + Airfare to Georgetown, Guyana + $440 additional internal course flights/transportation

Tuition for 7 graduate credits and all basic expenses in-country are covered in the $1290 course costs, including:

Course costs do not cover personal expenses, such as gifts, or some ancillary costs, such as passport fees and course texts.

*NOTE: The Guyana course carries a required extra charge of $440 to cover additional internal course flights/transportation as travel on the unpaved road to the interior is unreliable.

Financial Support

Because of support from Miami University and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, the course costs listed above are a fraction of actual program costs. Earth Expeditions recommends that accepted applicants to the program check with their school district or employer to see if professional development funds are available to further offset costs.

Click here for Grant Funding Tips.

Tuition costs:

Non-Miami University Participants

To support involvement by a broad range of individuals, Miami University currently offers a reduced tuition rate (included in the price above) for all Earth Expedition participants who are not full-time students at Miami University.

Miami University Students

Full-time Miami University undergraduate and graduate students pay tuition for five credit hours unless they have summer tuition waivers through a graduate assistantship or scholarship. Miami students receive an additional two credits when they complete the required Web-based follow-up.

Airfare:

To estimate fares to Georgetown, Guyana, applicants may wish to visit an online fare finder or call a travel agent. Bear in mind that airlines have seasonal fluctuations in fares.

More Information

For more information on the admissions process, physical requirements, and more, please visit Admissions and/or FAQs.