Our Approach
To protect the rainforest, we need to understand it.
Sophia Point is an opportunity to preserve a corner of some of the last intact rainforest on the planet. To study it, learn from it, and in doing so understand how better to protect the planet’s most precious resource. The first step in protecting that rainforest is to better understand it.
Sophia Point will serve as a training centre and field site for local and international researchers and a pillar of cutting edge science for the global community. By providing an accessible, low-cost site for students to study the health of Guyana’s ecosystems, Sophia Point can help equip a generation of Guyanese with the skills needed to protect and champion their rainforest.
We believe that no solution to climate change or biodiversity can be achieved without working with the indigenous peoples who continue to steward over 80% of biodiversity globally. Therefore, environmental justice is at the heart of everything Sophia Point does.
Sophia Point aims to offer a beacon of hope for biodiversity, changing the way we see, understand and work with our environment and those most vulnerable to its degradation.
Sophia Point’s mission is to transform education and conservation of Guyana’s incredible rainforests
Rooted in Guyana.
Sophia Point is first and foremost Guyanese.
We will provide an accessible research site, available for all university level students and researchers in Guyana to learn and apply field techniques in ecology, biodiversity, anthropology, hydrology and biological studies at low cost.
A site for the training and education of Guyana’s next generation of leaders.
This is not parachute science. Through partnerships with indigenous and local communities, Sophia Point will integrate local environmental expertise with cutting edge science to secure a sustainable, more equitable future for all.
Globally connected.
Sophia Point will connect Guyana to a global network of biodiversity, public health and climate change science experts and practitioners.
Bringing world leading institutions to Guyana to learn from and work with Guyanese to help craft the solutions which will deliver a better tomorrow. These partnerships will be built on the principle that it requires a diverse and global coalition to tackle our greatest challenges.
Sophia Point will introduce Guyana as a prime location for collaborative, interdisciplinary research in the tropics and build Guyana’s own domestic capacity through knowledge and skill transfers.
Driven to change.
This is not research for research’s sake, but a vision from co-founders, David and Nicola, of a world-leading centre of excellence for scientific discovery, education and communication with real world meaning.
Guyana remains a largely untouched frontier that promises significant interest from the global science community. But any relationship or science in Guyana must contribute to improving conditions and outlook for people and planet.
We will facilitate local environmental stewards working with international academics to deliver scientific advances vital in the fight against climate change, global pandemics and efforts to protect the rainforest.
