North Rupununi
The North Rupununi District in located in south-west
wetlands ecosystems and is considered one of the most diverse areas in South America. Located on the eastern margin of the larger savannah system which extends into Brazil and is separated by the Ireng and Takutu rivers that come together to form the Rio Branco. The Guyana Rupununi system is divided into the North and South Rupununi by the Kanuku Mountains
.
Geology
The North Rupununi is situated on the
plutonic, volcanic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks and various rifting, uplifting, sedimentation and erosion events. The geology of the North Rupununi is critical because it fundamentally defines the topography, soils, hydrology
and ultimately the economy of the area.
The North Rupununi is part of a Mesozoic graben, the Takutu Basin. The basin is 280 kilometers long and 40 kilometers wide, is over 7 kilometers deep, and covers more than 11,200 square kilometers in Guyana and Brazil.[1]
The people
The 2001 population data indicates that approximately 9000 people live within the 8000km2 in the north Rupununi in twenty seven different villages. The North Rupununi Wetland catchment is the traditional home of the Makushi people. Although the Makushi are still the primary
subsistence
activity.
Indigenous peoples in Guyana
Officially, Guyana is home to 9
industrial development in the interior has tended to by-pass Amerindian populations, and rarely been designed to cater for their needs [La Rose 1994]. Though this situation is being remedied with a greater focus on consultation with Amerindians in current development programmes [e.g. Bishop 1996], the problem of ensuring their full participation in and benefit from the changes that are taking place in Guyana remains. The need for this is compelling - though no comprehensive economic surveys have been performed, conventional economic indicators suggest that Amerindian poverty
is a continuing phenomenon [Forte 1993: 6-8].
Economics and livelihood
The
governmental organizations. Recently, the Government has entertained the idea of large scale agricultural initiatives and small scale industrial development in Lethem. The establishment and strengthening of the Georgetown
-Lethem road is designed to support increased access to the area.
Aside from subsistence and
legal title
to some of their traditional lands, all of the communities currently practice customary user rights to their surrounding land and resources.
The North Rupununi may have a historical comparative advantage in
product development and marketing history than the North Rupununi. Although the impacts of the communities on biodiversity have been relatively low, there are several growing threats to biodiversity and to the integrity of the area. Notably the construction of the cross border Takutu River Bridge to Brazil, improvement of the Lethem-Georgetown Road which runs near the Kanuku Mountains and through the Rupununi savannahs, allowing increased access to natural resources, increased population growth
in Lethem, the nearest town to the Kanukus, fire, over-harvesting of wildlife for sale to Brazil, and illegal wildlife trade.
References
- ^ Geology of the North Rupununi
- S2CID 155034939.
- doi:10.3390/f6010133.
- ^ Yde 1960: 84, Mentore 1995: 20
- ^ Farabee 1918: 4
External links
- Website celebrating the extraordinary North Rupununi
- Report on the Atrocities Committed in the Rupununi Region og Guyana in January 1969.
- http://rupununilearners.org Website of Rupununi Learners Foundation (US) and Rupununi Learners Incorporated (Guyana)
- http://www.parowe.com/rupununi Photographs of the Rupununi region by Mark Holford.