This report entitled 'Guyana: Consolidated report of the legal, ecological and socio-economic baseline studies' is part of the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme technical report series. The SWM Programme in Guyana was started in 2017 with the aim of improving the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife. It empowers resident communities to exercise traditional rights of access and long-term use of wildlife resources as a source of food and livelihood, without depleting them. The SWM Programme in Guyana seeks to ensure that the Rupununi region (administrative Region 9) can continue to offer sustainable options for food security and livelihoods in accordance with traditional lifestyles. Simultaneously, it aims to maintain healthy wildlife populations through integrated sustainable co-management models. The SWM Programme is an initiative of the Organization of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) funded by the European Union and co-financed by the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) and the French Development Agency (AFD). This seven-year programme (2017–2024) is being implemented in 15 OACPS member countries by a consortium of partners including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Centre for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD), the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). In Guyana, the SWM Programme is being implemented by CIFOR in collaboration with the Guyana Wildlife Conservation and Management Commission.

Wildlife and People in the Rupununi is a book consisting of a collection of engaging articles on the technical and scientific work completed by the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme in Region 9 between 2018 and 2023. [Author] The SWM Programme is a major international initiative that aims to reconcile food security with wildlife conservation concerns through sustainable and legal exploitation of resilient animal populations by Indigenous and rural populations while increasing or diversifying the supply of alternative sources of protein. [Author] It is funded by the European Union with co-funding from the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) and the French Development Agency (AFD). [Author] Projects are being piloted and tested with governments, national partners and communities in 16 participating countries. [Author] The initiative is coordinated by a dynamic consortium of four partners, namely the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). [Author]

The meat of wild species, referred to in this report as ‘wild meat’, is an essential source of protein and a generator of income for millions of forest-living communities in tropical and subtropical regions. However, unsustainable harvest rates currently

Biologically, New Ireland is one of the least biologically studied regions of Papua New Guinea—its mountainous southern zone has long been considered both a high priority for biodiversity conservation and a major "scientific unknown." Conservation International agreed to organize a rapid assessment of the forests and wildlife of southern New Ireland. The purpose of the rapid assessment exercise was threefold: to assess the biodiversity of southern New Ireland, to field-test rapid-survey methodology in Papua New Guinea, and to share expertise and methodologies with staff scientists from Papua New Guinea's Department of Environment and Conservation.

The global use of wild animals for meat is now the primary illegal activity in many protected areas, and growing human populations and a lack of livelihood options suggest that demand for wild meat is likely to continue to rise. This Occasional Paper contains the background information presented to participants at a workshop jointly organized by IUCN, FAO and TRAFFIC in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The workshop aimed to forge functional links among the various stakeholders concerned with the unsustainable use of wild fauna for food, and it contains the communiqué and a summary of the discussions related to problems and solutions.

The central aim of this publication is to consider the key elements of a modern, comprehensive, and effective legal framework for successful management of protected areas. They provide practical guidance for all those involved in developing, improving, or reviewing national legislation on protected areas, be they legal drafters and practitioners, protected area managers, interested NGOs, or scholars. These guidelines include fifteen case studies, eight dealing with the protected area legislation of individual countries and six cases dealing with specific sites providing fundamental solutions that stand the test of time.