CEP Technical Report No. 36 1996

CEP Technical Report No. 36 1996: Status of Protected Area Systems in the Wider Caribbean Region
Country Profiles

IUCN MANAGEMENT CATEGORY	No. of Protected Areas (PAs)	PAs with Marine or Coastal Zones	Extension
Category I	0	0	0
Category II	0	0	0
Category III	0	0	0
Category IV	0	0	0
Category V	0	0	0
Categories VI-VIII	1	0	108,000
Biosphere Reserves	0	0	0
World Heritage Sites	0	0	0
Ramsar Sites	0	0	0
Total (1)	1	0	108,000

The first French settlement in the area currently known as French Guiana was established in 1604. The region became a French possession in 1643. On 19 March 1946 its status changed to an overseas department of France. In 1974 it became an administrative region. Therefore, the region is covered by French policy and legislation.

There is currently no specific environmental policy for the region (Hughes 1992). However, on a recent tour to French Guiana the French Environment Minister unveiled plans for the conservation and responsible development of the country. The plans split the country into three areas; the first, a coastal strip dedicated to economic development; the second, an inland band reserved for tourism and managed hunting; and the third, an inviolable sanctuary for forest wildlife and people in the remote interior (Lewis and Wood 1991).

A complete list of legislation concerning protected areas under French jurisdiction is given in Protected Areas of the World, Volume 2 (WCMC 1992). The first protected area within the region, La Mirande, was created by decree of 4 July 1942. Further legislation relevant to French Guiana's protected areas is contained within Law No. 76/629 concerning Nature Protection (Loi no. 76/629 rélative à la protection de la nature, (Annex I). Decrees Nos 77-1298 to 77-1301 of 25 November 1977 relate to the implementation of this Act. Law 76/629 provides, amongst other things, a definition of nature reserve (réserve naturelle), and allows for the preservation of biotopes of plant and animal species by means of prefectural orders called biotope protection orders (arrêtés de protection du biotope), which provide for a very low level of protection. Kaw Reserve was protected under Biotope Protection Order No. 1-964 ID/4B of 4 September 1989.

State biological reserves (réserves biologiques domaniales, RBD) were the subject of a convention between the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Forest Office. Two types of RBD are to be established: strict (intégrale) RDB, in which all human intervention is excluded, and managed (dirigée) RDB, in which conditions necessary for the survival of species in need of protection are maintained, while at the same time the areas may be inhabited and intervention by foresters is permitted. Zones currently proposed for establishment belong to the second category, but may include strictly protected zones (de Granville, pers. comm., 1992).

"Espaces du Conservatoire" are areas in which all forms of urbanisation are prohibited. They are open to the public, and management is undertaken with the co-operation of local collectives (de Granville, pers. comm., 1992).

Under the seventh title of the Forest Code Legislation and Regulations, in conformity with Article 73 of the French constitution, the Forest Code is applicable to overseas departments, subject to modifications and adaptations listed under this title. The first (legislative) section of the French Forest Code, given in Law No. 85-1273 of 4 December 1985, contains a clause (Article L. 172-1) which states that certain parts of this law are not applicable to French Guiana. Similarly, although most of the second (regulations) part of the Forest Code is relevant, Articles R. 172-1 to 172-5 and 562-1 list those parts which do not apply in this department of France.

The forest regime was first established under a law (arrêté) of 1926. Although the first forest service within the territory was not established until 7 February 1931. Under a law of 27 March 1931, the Bureau of Mines was responsible for the Forest Service as there was not yet an agent for the Water and Forests (Eaux et Forêts) department within the region. A further law of 2 June 1932 provided for the separation and reorganisation of the Mines department from that of Water and Forests. Following this, a law of 12 May 1934 provided for state forests (forêts domaniales) to be managed by the Water and Forest service, as well as for the establishment of state concessions and the duties of forest agents (Valeix and Mauperin 1990).

The legislative and regulations sections of the Forest Code both provide for the current responsibilities of the National Forest Office (Office National des Forêts).

Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (Cartagena Convention, 1983)

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES, 1973)

Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar, 1971)

Caribbean Environment Programme (CEP, 1981) and its Specially Protected Areas & Wildlife Programme (SPAW, 1990)

The French governmental body responsible for the establishment of parks and reserves (and setting hunting regulations) is the Department of Nature Protection (Direction de la Protection de la Nature), which was originally part of the Ministry of the Environment (Ministère de l'Environnement). Since 1991 the Ministry of the Environment has been represented in the region by a Regional Department for Architecture and the Environment (Direction Régionale de l'Architecture et de l'Environnement, DRAE), created in 1990, which has been responsible for proposing protected areas (de Granville, pers. comm., 1992; Girou, pers. comm., 1992).

The National Forest Office (Office National des Forêts, ONF), was first established in the region in 1965 for the establishment of paper industries. The ONF is under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture (Ministère d'Agriculture). The ONF is now responsible for managing forested land and land to be reforested (listed in Decree No. 86-154 of 30 January 1986), as well as state biological reserves (réserves biologiques domaniales) (de Granville, pers. comm., 1992). Since 1978 the ONF has undertaken an important experimental programme, the emphasis of which is on the protection and regeneration of natural forest, while at the same time establishing plantations of fast growing species (Groene 1990, Sarrailh 1990, Valeix and Mauperin 1990).

The Conservatory for the Littoral Zone (Conservatoire du Littoral), which is responsible for "espaces du conservatoire", has proposed to "buy" 13,000 ha of land between the rivers Counamama and Yiyi to create a protected zone (Wood, pers. comm., 1992). The space port at Kourou (CNES Centre National d'Etudes Spatiaux) proposes to close access to Malmanoury Creek, which will effectively create a reserve along 40 km of coast that belong to the space base, but still needs to negotiate with the Ministry of Marine Affairs so that a reserve can be created which would include the tidal mudflats (Wood, pers. comm., 1992).

The "Arrêté de Biotope", under which Kaw Reserve is gazetted, is a very weak measure and is little respected. Fires set in the marshes have led to several hundred hectares being burnt (Wood, pers. comm., 1992).

Located slightly north of the equator, French Guiana is the smallest and least populated territory in South America. The climate is equatorial and has two brief dry seasons. Annual mean precipitation is generally greater than 2000 mm, although in some areas it exceeds 8000 mm. Three ecosystems predominate: littoral, river corridors and rain forest. The littoral region is exceptional in comparison with other countries in northern South America, as it is the only coast where the granitic massif of the Guyanan plain reaches the sea. Mangroves occupy approximately 80% of the coast. Large (c. 200,000 ha) areas of swamp occupy the land immediately inland from the coast (de Granville and Sanité 1992).

More than 80% of the country is covered in rain forest, less than 5% of which is secondary forest. The country is characterised by a fairly high level of species diversity, the flora comprising an estimated 6,000 species. Currently, 12 species new to science, and 200 species new to French Guiana are described each year (de Granville and Sanité 1992). Also an estimated 10% of tree species remain to be described (Sabatier and Prévost 1989). In general, forest exploitation has not occurred more than 50 km from the coast (Groene 1990). However, in percentage terms there is as much destruction of primary forest as in the Amazon (Hughes 1992). Only the coastal alluvial strip, where most of the country's inhabitants live, is exploited agriculturally. The soils of the interior being too poor to support anything other than shifting agriculture (Wood, pers. comm., 1992).

Establishment of further protected areas has been discussed many times since 1967. In 1970, a proposal was made for a 5,000 ha reserve to be established along the estuary of the Cascades and Tonnégrande. This would have been partly a strict protected area and some areas would be open to the public. At the same time a proposal was made for a large reserve to be established inland, adjacent to the southern border. In 1972, SEPANRIT and SEPANGUY, with scientific help from ORSTOM and the Natural History Museum proposed establishment of two coastal bird reserves near Organabo and Sinnamary.

A year later development of a further bird reserve was proposed by ORSTOM, near Mana (de Granville and Sanité 1992). Under the auspices of the Ministry of the Environment and ORSTOM, from 1974-1975, an ecological study was made of coastal areas with a view to creating nature reserves. As a result of this study, classification of five protected zones was proposed (Condamin 1974, 1975; de Granville and Sanité 1992). In 1975 soon after this coastal areas project, a series of 15 reserves was proposed comprising inland forested sites as well as the previously proposed five coastal areas.

In 1976, following a visit by the Secretary of State for the Environment, the need to upgrade reserves to national park status was acknowledged. Priority was given to Basse Mana, Sinnamary-Iracouba, Saul and Kaw. Later, the Regional Delegate for the Environment made a case for all of the southern part of the country to be established as a national park. Followed, in 1979, by similar cases being made for Basse Mana and Sinnamary Iracouba being established as nature reserves (de Granville 1986).

By 1983 none of these proposals had got past the planning stage. In 1985 the regional department of the National Forest Office, with technical assistance from ORSTOM, developed a project for the creation of eight state biological reserves to cover 213,665 ha. These included the eight most threatened of the fifteen reserves proposed in 1975, in the northern part of the country, with the proposed reserve at Kaw being extended to include part of Kaw Mountain.

The category of state biological reserve had been the subject of a recent convention between the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Forest Office (de Granville 1986). However, permission for development of the reserves was refused as the land was deemed necessary for economic development (Valeix, n.d.).

The most recent propositions concerning protected areas were presented in a "Schéma d'Aménagement Régional" (Girou, pers. comm., 1992). These comprise the establishment of 16 nature reserves, a national park in the south, three newly-proposed state biological reserves in the north, and a coastal regional nature park (parc naturel régional) in the north (de Granville, pers. comm., 1992).

Although various sources (see below) indicate that the French Guianan protected area system is being enlarged, the information available indicates that there is only one area legally established which is the 108,000 ha Monts lucifers et Dekou Dekou State Biological Reserve.

All of France's main national research institutes have projects and stations in Guiana and scientific research there has been widespread and long-standing. However, little or no pressure for a conservation policy has been exerted by scientists (Hughes 1992). ORSTOM, the French Scientific Research Institute for Development through Co-operation (Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération), recently secured the creation of the first two nature reserves. However, the government is proceeding slowly with future plans for national park development due to concern for its present programme of economic development (Lewis and Wood 1991).

SEPANRIT, the Society for the Study, Protection and Management of Nature in Inter-Tropical Regions (Société pour l'Etude, la Protection et l'Aménagement de la Nature dans les Régions Inter-Tropicales), and SEPANGUY, the Society for the Study of Protection and Management of Nature in Guyana (Société d'Etude de Protection et d'Aménagement de la Nature en Guyane), are very active locally (de Granville, pers. comm., 1992).The universities of Paris, Montpellier, the French Antilles and French Guiana and the Paris Museum of Natural History are active in conservation (research includes fauna and flora, marine resources, and pollution).

Until Kaw Reserve was gazetted in 1989, the only protected area was one forest reserve, Mirande, classified as a nature reserve in 1942 (de Granville 1975, 1985). This was transferred to the state forest domain in 1967 (de Granville and Sanité 1992). Legislation has been drawn up for Grand Connétable Nature Reserve and awaits signature for passage into Law. The documentation has already been accepted in practice by the local municipality and General and Regional Consul (de Granville and Sanité 1992). Six other reserves are due to be established in 1992 (de Granville, pers. comm., 1992).

Threats to the proposed protected areas system come from numerous sources. According to Lewis and Wood (1991), much of the current environmental degradation has been financed by French money which has poured into the country during the past 20 years during the establishment of the Kourou space base. Development of the new launch-pad has led to areas of forest being flattened, and the waste products of test-launching have been dumped indiscriminately.

The French authorities are currently constructing a large dam on the River Sinnamary to generate electricity for Kourou. This will flood 310 km2 of dense unbroken rain forest. Although this is in direct contradiction to official government support for forest protection. Three other dam projects are planned. No environmental impact assessments have been made for any of the projects (Anon. 1992, Hughes 1992, Pearce 1991).

New roads are opening up the country in all directions. A new coastal road through mangroves is likely to precipitate an influx of Brazilian slash-and-burn colonists. A new centralised capital is planned at Saul, previously an isolated town of 56 inhabitants, in the heart of the rain forest. A new road will also link it to the coast.

From 1865-1940 state-sanctioned gold mining was responsible for mercury pouring into the rivers. Fortunately this now seems to be under control. However, mining still remains an indirect problem due to hunting practised by gold miners around their camps. This has led to the local extinction of many forms of wildlife. In general, extensive hunting occurs throughout the country (aided by outboard motors, generators, freezers and the growing road network) and is encouraged by a booming population (Hughes 1992, Kempf 1991; Wood, pers. comm., 1992). There is little enforcement of hunting regulations. In 1991 the Guianese Regional Environment Congress reported a 50% drop in numbers of bird species, and it concluded that hunting was already depleting wildlife to such an extent as to endanger the whole ecosystems (Lewis and Wood 1991).

Of the 600 or so rain forest species in Guiana 70 are exploitable commercially. Management has led to non-commercial tree species being killed chemically. A process which causes more forest damage than logging. A new and intensive rice field programme in the lowlands has engulfed over-wintering grounds of numerous migrant bird species. The EDF (Eléctricité de France) is already prospecting sites for a second dam, either on the River Mana, the Approuage, or the Oyapock (Wood, pers. comm., 1992).

Centre ORSTOM de Cayenne, BP 165, 97323 CAYENNE Cedex (Tel: 594 302785; Tlx: 910608 FG; Fax: 594 319855)

Direction Regionale à l'Architecture et à l'Environnement (DRAE), 28 Boulevard Jubelin, BP 411, 97300 CAYENNE (Tel: 594 378982; Fax: 594 378981)

Direction de l'Agriculture et de la Forêt (L'Ingénieur en Chef du Génie Rural des Eaux et des Forêts), BP 5002, 97305 CAYENNE (Tel: 594 302905; Tlx: 910576F; Fax: 594 302939)

SEPANGUY (Société d'Etude de Protection et d'Aménagement de la Nature en Guyane), BP 411, 97307 CAYENNE

Behra, O. (1990) Kaw Swamp becomes a black caiman sanctuary. Crocodile Specialist Group Newsletter 9:14.

Condamin, M. (1974) Etude écologique du littoral guyanais en vue de la création de réserves naturelles. Rapport de situation et d'étude. ORSTOM, Cayenne. 73 pp. (Unseen)

Condamin, M. (1975). Projets de réserves naturelles sur le littoral guyanais. ORSTOM, Cayenne. 95 pp. (Unseen)

Granville, J.J. de (1975) Projets de réserves botaniques et forestières en Guyane. ORSTOM, Cayenne. 29 pp.

Granville, J.J. de (1986) Le projet de réserve biologique domaniale de Kaw. pp. 161-178. In: Le Littoral Guyanais Fragilité de l'Environnement, 1er Congrès Régional de la Sepanguy, Xe Colloque Sepanrit Cayenne 27-29 avril 1985.

Granville, J.J. de (1989) Priority conservation areas in French Guiana. ORSTOM, Cayenne. 24 pp.

Granville, J.J. de and Sanité, L.P. (1992) Areas protegídas y actividades humanas en Guyana Francesa. In: Amend, S. and T. (Eds.), Espacios sin habitantes? Parques nacionales de América del Sur. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. p.262-p.287.

Groene, D. (1990) La forêt et le milieu naturel et human de la guyane française. Bois et forêts des tropiques 219: 7-12.

Hughes, S. (1992) France under pressure to conserve Guiana rainforest. New Scientist 1805:21.

Johnson, T.H. (1988) Biodiversity and conservation in the Caribbean: Profiles of selected islands. ICBP Monograph 1. International Council for Bird Preservation, Cambridge, UK. 144 pp.

Lewis, D. and Wood, K. (1991) Cayman à l'Orange. Geographical Magazine 65(6):17-20.

Pearce, F. (1991) Rainforest wrecked for satellite launches. New Scientist 1791:9.

Sabatier, D. and Prévost, M.F. (1989) Quelques données sur la composition floristique et la diversité des peuplements forestiers de guyane française.

Sarrailh, J. (1990) Mise en valeur de l'ecosystème forestier guyanais. Opération ECEREX. INRA, Paris and CTFT, Nogent-sur-Marne. 273 pp.

Valeix, M. (n.d.) Les réserves forestières. Rapport national sur l'aménagement des forêts naturelles tropicales humides en Amerique Latine. Unpublished FAO report. p.38.

Valeix, M. and Mauperin, M. (1990) Cinq siècles de l'histoire d'une parcelle de forêt domaniale de la terre ferme d'amérique du sud. Bois et Forêts du Tropiques 219:13-29.

Definitions of protected area designations, as legislated, together with authorities responsible for their administration.

Brief description: Provides definition of nature reserve, including biotope protection order.

Biotope Protection Order (Arrêté de protection de biotope) Intended to protect the habitat of endangered species of flora and fauna. Individual orders are declared by the prefect after consultation with the farmers' professional organisation (Chambre départmentale d'agriculture). Regulations vary but typically restrict human activities, particularly agricultural practices such as the use of pesticides and the burning of vegetation.

Name of area	IUCN & National Mgmt. Categories		Presence of Marine or Coastal Zones	Area ha	Year Established
Monts lucifers et Dekou Dekou	VIII	SBR	1	108,000	n.d.