Road Through Guyana To Brazilian Frontier Embodies Environmental Dilemma Nation Faces

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The road is a physical manifestation of these two poles. At one end are echoes of the nation’s colonial past, like cricket pitches and hackney carriages (taxis). Hindu temples, for the many Guyanese descended from laborers from the Indian subcontinent, dot Georgetown’s canalled streets. At the other end of the road, on the border with Brazil, every other conversation seems to be in Portuguese. Chinese merchants sell goods to traders, businessmen broker deals to lure Brazilian rice farmers and signs welcome Brazilians and their robust currency, the real, to this outback.

Between these two worlds lies a frontier: thick rain forest and empty savannas in one of the hemisphere’s poorest and most sparsely populated countries.

Environmentalists are especially concerned about the road’s potential impact on forests that are home to animals like river otters, the 400-pound arapaima fish, even jaguars that can be glimpsed at dusk along a stretch of the road through the protected Iwokrama rain forest. Studies show that more than two million acres of rain forest could be affected if the road is paved. “Asphalted roads in tropical areas cause deforestation, poaching and attract settlement, and this road happens to run through one of the most species-rich areas in the world,” said Graham Watkins, a biologist and resource management consultant in Georgetown.

Those arguing for the road to be paved acknowledge some upheaval will occur. But they also say the road could ease Guyana’s poverty, a legacy of isolationist economic policies. Forty-four years after Guyana gained independence, the country remains the poorest in South America, with a per capita income lower than Bolivia’s. Up and down the road, signs of daily struggle abound. Close to where the pavement ends, Dennis Williams, 42, an Arawak Indian, eked out a living in a downpour that stymied even vehicles with four-wheel drives. “Rain don’t humbug the coals,” said Mr. Williams, pointing to a lumpy bag at his feet. Translation: the rain doesn’t spoil the cooking charcoal that Mr. Williams harvests from trees around his village and sells for about $3 a bag to feed his children.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/world/americas/09guyana.html