The Guianas - Conservation significance

The Guianas have their borders with Brazil and are part of the wider Amazon region. They contain the world’s highest percentage of intact tropical rainforest, with some 80 to 90% still in pristine condition. An estimated 40% of the flowering plant species in the Guianas are found only here. Scientific explorations of the area are still discovering species new to science.

Likewise, the freshwater systems of the Guianas, together with the Amazon River Basin, hold the greatest concentration of freshwater biodiversity in the world. The Guianas' coasts are also exceptional in their conservation importance. The mangrove forests of the Guianas are among the least degraded in the world.

Millions of migratory birds from North America winter along the coasts, while the beaches serve as nesting ground to four species of endangered marine turtles. The largest population of the Atlantic leatherback turtles in the world nests on the beaches of the Guianas.

However, since the Guianas are rich in natural resources, such as gold, diamond, and timber, large-scale threats to the forests and freshwaters of the region exist. For example, the rapid expansion of small-scale goldmining in the Guianas, with increasing use of mercury is of concern to WWF.

Mercury is known to contribute to the pollution of freshwaters thus impacting significantly on the lives of forest dwellers that rely on waterways for multiple purposes including food and recreation. Threats to forests also include ill-planned logging, unregulated or inadequately regulated species exploitation, and environmental pollution.

The WWF Guianas Program, established in 1998, seeks to promote partnerships among local communities, private and public sector institutions, NGOs, and funding organizations to improve the management of the natural environment of the forests and freshwaters.

WWF Guianas deliberately chooses to work with gold miners and logging companies in order to get acquainted with their social and economic needs. Only from that perspective WWF Guianas believes it can find ways to promote the sustainable use of the region’s natural resources, in order to mitigate the environmental and social impacts of these activities in the region.