SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SARD)

BALATA FIGURINES FROM NAPPI
VILLAGE - IN GUYANA’S RUPUNUNI SAVANNAHS

In 1993 when Conservation International (CI), an international NGO which works with local people to help in nature conservation, visited Nappi Village, near to Guyana’s north-central Rupununi Savannahs, their main interest was in conducting a biological survey of the Kanuku Mountain which is home to the Harpy Eagle. However, after completing the survey, CI responded to residents’s requests for information and the relationship evolved into one of collaboration between the Nappi community (whose residents are Amerindians of the Macushi tribe) and the Guyana-based arm of CI. Two other agencies were also involved in this project to produce and market balata figurines, Aid to Artisans (a US-based NGO) and Liana Cane Interiors (Guyana-based furniture manufacturer)

Many readers may not have heard about this non-timber forest product called balata, which is the name of the sap/latex which oozes from a cut bulletwood tree (Manilkara bidentata). The sap, which hardens on exposure to sunlight, had previously been harvested by Amerindian communities for export for rubber manufacturing. With the advent of petroleum-derived substitutes, however, balata production was no longer required by industry. Residents survived mainly from fishing, hunting and cultivating crops such as cassava, banana, corn, yam and fruit trees.

With the implementation of the project, however, the production of balata figurines represented not only an opportunity for several householders of Nappi, to earn income, but also to add value to a primary product found in their community while simultaneously avoiding forest destruction. The 18 balata craft producers base the design of their figurines on scenes from their village and plants and animals found in the surrounding forests.

CI and the residents of Nappi also collaborated on the construction of a Community and Heritage Centre. Residents had been involved at all stages of construction of the centre and deciding on its use. The multi-purpose centre serves as a place for community meetings, as a visitor’s centre, as a place for the exhibition of artifacts and craft, as a repository for books, videos and other educational material, thus promoting Macushi culture within Nappi Village and in nearby Macushi Villages, Hiowa and Parashara.

The collaboration between the Nappi community and the various agencies demonstrates that, for sustainability (and for realisation of maximum potential), it is imperative that direct beneficiaries participate in the planning, development and management of any Protected Area or Reserve in their immediate environment.