The savannas of French Guiana and Rupununi, in southern Guyana, share strong ecological similarities, Their conservation practices are still largely disconnected. With CORÉOM, the French Guiana Bird Study and Protection Group (GEPOG) and the South Rupununi Conservation Society (SRCS) have initiated a first regional collaboration around three themes: fire management, biodiversity monitoring, and environmental education. At the heart of this initiative lies a simple conviction: similar ecosystems and shared challenges offer numerous opportunities to learn from one another.
Savannas occupy a unique place in the landscapes of the Guianas. Rich in biodiversity, they face similar threats, such as fires and invasive species. Their conservation requires adapted methods to monitor environmental changes, observe species, and better understand the effects of fire. Yet, despite this ecological similarity, conservation stakeholders still largely work within their own national frameworks, and exchanges between territories remain underdeveloped.
It is precisely this pitfall that the Bird Study and Protection Group in French Guiana (GEPOG) and the South Rupununi Conservation Society (SRCS), Based in Guyana, they wanted to reduce [the impact]. Supported by CORÉOM, their project represents the first regional cooperation for GEPOG, specifically dedicated to savannas. The objective is not to transpose an already established method from one territory to another, but to [reduce the impact]. to compare two conservation experiences in order to build reciprocal learning.
The savannas, a common ground for cooperation
The project originated from a clear observation: both organizations work on similar ecosystems within their respective territories and may encounter common challenges (post-fire management, wildlife and plant monitoring, environmental education, and community engagement). However, their approaches to these challenges and the practices they develop to address them may differ, and it is precisely in this difference that the cooperation finds its value: not to impose a single model, but to compare complementary approaches.
There are many topics for dialogue; the project first and foremost opens a space for mutual questioning: In what ways do you observe your savannas? How do you monitor the effects of fire? How do you work with the local people? What can your experience teach us about our own territory?
In Guyana, learning to better monitor savannas after fires
After several postponements, GEPOG's first mission to Guyana with the SRCS can finally take place in January 2026. For the Guyanese teams, one of the main lessons learned concerns the ecological monitoring of savannas after fires.
The SRCS has significant experience with this issue. In the field, it presents GEPOG staff with different ways to characterize fires and adapt monitoring protocols according to the situation and time of year. For Marie Monrolin, savannah project manager at GEPOG, this contribution is particularly practical: the Guyanese association previously lacked such a structured method for addressing this matter.
Discussions also cover the monitoring of fauna and flora, birds, observation tools, and actions carried out with schools.
It is therefore not simply a matter of visiting a neighboring project. The field becomes a space for comparing professional practices. Seeing how others work allows us to question our own methods, to identify what could be adapted in French Guiana, and to open up new avenues for monitoring.
When Guyana comes to learn in French Guiana
A few months later, the situation reversed. Two representatives from the SRCS traveled to French Guiana and discovered the practices of GEPOG and its partners. The team presented them with methods used for monitoring savannas, certain ornithological approaches, and the use of drones to observe and document the environment.
The exchanges expand as the mission progresses.
The SRCS, for example, mentions the injured animals that communities in Guyana regularly entrust to them and their interest in better structuring their care. GEPOG can then connect them with Guyanese stakeholders who have experience in this area.
Other professionals are also taking an interest in the SRCS's activities, particularly those related to birds, jaguars, and species monitoring. The project is gradually moving beyond a simple exchange of techniques: It facilitates the exchange of knowledge and contacts between two professional conservation ecosystems.
«"We learned as much by going to their country as they did by coming here."»
Marie Monrolin (GEPOG)
This reciprocity is one of the project's main achievements for Marie Monrolin, and encapsulates a specific understanding of regional cooperation: GEPOG is not simply a French organization providing its expertise and resources to a foreign partner. SRCS itself possesses knowledge, methods, and field experience that GEPOG needs; and vice versa.
The two associations work in similar areas, but their respective experiences allow them to look at common problems differently. Cooperation thus becomes a peer-to-peer learning laboratory.
Fire monitoring as a shared issue
This complementarity is particularly visible in the area of fire management.
In the savannas, fire is not just a one-off event: it influences habitats, vegetation, and the species that live there. Understanding its effects requires being able to observe what happens after it has passed, over time. In Guyana, the SRCS already has extensive experience in fire monitoring, which has allowed GEPOG to enrich its own analysis for French Guiana. However, the partnership has also highlighted the realities on the ground, and in particular the SRCS's material needs.
During the project planning phase, some expenses were initially considered for observation and first aid equipment. Further discussions between the teams ultimately revealed a priority need: strengthening the rangers' equipment, particularly to enable them to better respond to fires. The budget was therefore adjusted to address this need.
Beyond the sharing of scientific protocols, this development illustrates an essential aspect of cooperation: Getting to know your partner better also allows you to adapt the resources available to them more appropriately.
Protecting the savannas also means working with the communities
Another area of exchange concerns environmental education. Both organizations work with residents and children, but in different contexts.
Originally founded by local communities, the SRCS is deeply rooted in southern Rupununi. Observing how it works with schools and communities allows GEPOG to discover other ways of transmitting knowledge about the savannas and their biodiversity. During the SRCS's visit to French Guiana, the exchanges once again flow in both directions.
Scientific knowledge is therefore not isolated from the social dimensions of the project: Understanding, monitoring and protecting the savannas also means creating a relationship between the inhabitants and their environment.
A cooperation put to the test
Despite largely shared conservation challenges, organizing cooperation between the two territories remains a real challenge.
To reach Rupununi from Cayenne, the team had to travel through Suriname, taking numerous taxis, crossing the river by dugout canoe, flying, and then continuing on to their partners by 4x4. Having left on Saturday morning, the GEPOG members didn't arrive at their partners' location until Sunday evening. Difficulties also arose concerning visas, passports, bank transfers, and changes to their itinerary.
The experience thus reveals a paradox of the Guiana Shield: Ecosystems do not recognize administrative boundaries, but those who seek to protect them must constantly cross them.
Creating the conditions for these encounters is therefore a challenge in itself. This reality reinforces the importance of mechanisms that allow stakeholders to have the time and resources necessary to build lasting partnerships, share their practices, and foster reciprocal cooperation.
Towards a South American network centered around the savannas?
As the missions progressed, a broader perspective began to emerge. Exchanges with researchers and professionals raised a question: while spaces for dialogue already exist around African savannas or certain themes of ecological restoration, why not imagine, in the long term, a an event dedicated to the savannas of South America ?
This idea is still under development, but it demonstrates the momentum generated by the project. Initially conceived to allow two associations to compare their practices, the cooperation is gradually fostering the emergence of a broader network: the partners are identifying common challenges, meeting new stakeholders, and forging new collaborations.
Gradually, the scope of reflection is expanding. From French Guiana and Guyana, the exchanges are opening up to a regional ambition: to create a space for dialogue and knowledge sharing around the savannas of South America.
Sharing knowledge to better protect a shared heritage
With CORÉOM, GEPOG and SRCS did more than just organize two exchange missions. The two organizations laid the foundations for lasting cooperation between two territories which, despite their differences, share the same conservation challenges, initiating the creation of a cross-border community of practice focused on savannah protection.
Through these meetings, each woman discovered in the other's experience a source of inspiration to develop her own practices: a monitoring protocol developed in Guyana can enrich the methods implemented in French Guiana; a technology used in French Guiana fosters new perspectives in Guyana; an environmental education approach inspires new ways of working with communities.
The value of cooperation lies precisely in this circulation of knowledge, practices and experiences.. Faced with fires, biodiversity loss and other conservation challenges, ecosystems do not recognize administrative boundaries.
They show us that learning from each other is an essential lever for strengthening conservation actions and that better protecting savannas may simply begin with learning to look at them together.