Gone from Guyana

Guyana is such a world apart, it is tough getting back to my normal routine. I had a great time and heartily recommend it to all birders.

It was fun seeing an ecotourism industry in development. Not all the comforts of home were available, but then home doesn’t offer the spectacle of Guyana and its natural wonders.

Guyana is poised to be a poster-child for sustainable development. The government is very interested in ecotourism and in sustainable forestry. The unbroken forests of Guyana are a fabulous carbon sink, preventing untold amounts of greenhouse gas emissions that would cause a lot of global warming. Guyana would love to reap the rewards of storing all that carbon.

But another path is possible. All those forests could be logged, there are minerals that could be mined, and there are cattle that could be raised. Now is the time for the world to offer Guyana suitable rewards for maintaining its natural treasures.

My Guyana blogging is over, but I will have more to say in an article on Audubon Magazine Online: http://www.audubonmagazine.org/webExclusives.html. Plus, I promise to add some photos to the article! See you there!