Forest resources can provide lasting ecological, economic and social benefits to the people of Guyana and the world at large. GoG has said it expects the Centre to demonstrate how this can be done. Important issues are employment generation, increased capture of value from forest goods and services, revenues from new discoveries and inventions, and the empowerment of all stakeholders to participate equitably and effectively in forest planning and management processes.

The project focuses in the human development aspects of sustainable management of tropical rainforest and in particular the development of approaches for the empowerment of Amerindian communities to manage forests (through training, access to research and information) and to develop their capacity to participate effectively in decision-making. It also addresses key issues of livelihoods and facilitating the development of mechanisms to improve local access to services. In this way two key aspects of poverty are addressed: empowerment and improving access to services to support rural livelihoods in forest areas. These approaches will be used by the Centre as demonstrations of how it is possible to link the development of rural livelihoods with the productive use of forest resources, with the key to this being the development of communities empowered through skills and access to information to manage resources sustainably. Thus its outputs include elements of:

* education and technical training of Amerindian communities and individuals.

* technical training and development of forest resource management expertise nationally and regionally.

* applied research to identify new forest products and processes.

* applied research and monitoring in support of local capacity building for community-based planning, management, conservation and utilisation of forests, including the use and negotiation of community conservation contracts, all within a sustainable rural livelihoods framework.

* information support systems for Iwokrama's diverse local, national, regional and international stakeholders.

To promote the conservation and sustained, equitable use of tropical moist forests in a manner that leads to lasting ecological, economic and social benefits for the people of Guyana and the world in general.

To contribute to the wider programme of the Iwokrama Centre by helping stakeholders - staff, local people, governmental and non-governmental delivery agencies - to develop capacity to address complex issues related to forest management.

• Analytical tools developed for forest management, planning and monitoring.
• Systems and processes for sustainable rural livelihoods in forest areas developed and tested in communities in and around Iwokrama Forest.
• Iwokrama stakeholder capacity (skills) developed.
• Understanding developed for sustainable forest management (as a contribution to the sustainable management of the tropical rainforest programme.
• Information support systems developed for stakeholders.