Parker/Gentry Award Celebration

Join us to celebrate the environmental conservation achievements of the South Rupununi Conservation Society (SRCS) at the 28th Parker/Gentry Award ceremony for their outstanding efforts to preserve wildlife, engage young people, and support traditional livelihoods in the Rupununi region of Guyana. A delegation from SRCS will be at the Field Museum to receive the award in person. 

SRCS is a leading conservation group in the megadiverse South American country of Guyana. Originally founded in 1998 by a group of friends eager to reverse the decline of certain species native to the area, SRCS’s work is firmly rooted in the forests, savannas, and wetlands of Guyana’s Rupununi. This globally-celebrated biodiversity hotspot is home to a large number of Indigenous communities, many of which lend their expertise to the Society’s conservation goals. The experts who staff and currently lead SRCS come from all walks of life—from tour guides and teachers to business leaders and scientists. Since 2002, its mission is to preserve the wildlife, environment, and culture of the Rupununi region of Southern Guyana through community-based conservation, environmental education, and research. 

SRCS projects to date include population studies of globally threatened birds such as the Endangered Red Siskin (Spinus cucullatus), Vulnerable Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), environmental education and traditional knowledge programs in Indigenous communities, habitat preservation and restoration, and work to restore populations of globally Vulnerable Yellow-spotted River Turtles (Podocnemis unifilis).