–?? ?Dr. Graham Watkins is a ‘Special Person’  “Over the coming years, it will be important to effectively marry development and conservation interests in the Rupununi to ensure culturally, socially and ecologically sustainable development that builds on the unique natural and social capital of the area.”He puts it in the same league as the Galapagos, Serengeti and Ngorongoro, so it’s easy to see why the Rupununi is Guyana-born British biologist Dr Graham Watkins’ favourite place.Snuggling a giant otter and allowing it to “nibble” him is a good indication of his love affair with the Rupununi, for which he has just completed the book “Rupununi: Rediscovering a Lost World.”? It was first released in October 2010 by Earth in Focus Editions, the non-profit publishing arm of the International League of Conservation Photographers.Dr. Graham WatkinsOf the Rupununi, it’s the North – stretching from the Siparuni Rover to the Kanuku Mountains and from the Essequibo River to the Brazilian Border – that Dr. Watkins finds his fascination. He sees it as an extraordinary natural area that has been hidden from the public eye for too long.The area was well known in the 19th and?early 20th centuries, when it received visits from well-known explorers David Attenborough, Gerald Durrell, Evelyn Waugh and Charles Waterton.On this latest book, Watkins collaborated with?Pete Oxford and Rene??Bish. Oxford, a British biologist, is an internationally renowned,?award-winning nature photographer. Bish is a naturalist, conservationist, designer, sculptor,Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys, nurse and photographic partner.In getting the book out, Watkins believes he has given back to a place that has been very important for his own development and learning.Dr. Watkins has spent most of his life working in Guyana and Ecuador. He was the Executive Director of the Charles Darwin Foundation in Galapagos from 2005 to 2009 and prior to this, during 2003 and 2004, he was the Director General of the Iwokrama International Centre?for Rain Forest Conservation and Development in Guyana.His professional life includes more than 20 years of experience in ecological research, collaborative wildlife and fisheries management,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, and sustainable enterprise development in aquaculture, fisheries and tourism.Dr Watkins has worked in Guyana for over ten years to ensure the conservation of the North Rupununi Wetlands, and was again home recently to give his input in the creation of a Centre for Biodiversity Research at the University of Guyana.He holds a degree in Zoology from St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, in the UK and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Pennsylvania, USA, and has published more than 30 popular and technical articles and books.Watkins’ love of nature actually developed in Trinidad and Tobago – the homeland of his mother. He left Guyana at age three, and the place called home would be next to a lake full of Spectacled Caimans. And butterflies were “everywhere” too.Growing up then, there were plenty opportunities to head out to the middle of the lake to peep at nesting iguanas, but a lake full of caimans added exhilaration to trip.Over the past 20 years, Dr Watkins’ work has focused on demonstrating how the rainforest could be used in a sustainable way.While at Iwokrama, his task included documenting the wildlife in the one-million hectare forest, and so it is little wonder that his favourite pursuit in the Rupununi is the road running through the Iwokrama Forest. He wishes though that there were fewer minibuses traversing the road.The management plan he developed for the Iwokrama Forest is held up as the only management plan for any of the protected areas in Guyana.Caiman catching in the Rupununi (Graham Watkins photo)Watkins first went to the Rupununi when he started working with Iwokrama in 1996. His fascination with the area developed not only after observing the mix of extraordinary wildlife, but also how much the local Amerindian people understood the area they called home. After all, it is the Amerindians who have been the custodians of their land, and have kept in intact.As a result,NBA Jerseys From China, while in Guyana, Watkins worked to promote what some have called “citizen science,” sapping the wisdom of the Rupununi’s inhabitants and combining it with scientific thinking to craft the way forward in protecting the forests and what’s in them.That has led to the formation of several wildlife clubs, providing a platform for young Amerindians to do their own research and debate issues of survival and conservation.He began working with the Iwokrama International Centre in 1996 through a contract between the Iwokrama Project and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and his contract was in fact to survey the ver