EMC Foundation students birdwatching from a boat on a Guyanese river

About the Foundation

Motivating action through greater environmental awareness and education in Guyana.

Our mission

The EMC Foundation was established by Mr. Shyam Nokta, winner of the 2022 Anthony N Sabga Award for Entrepreneurship. The Foundation works to support environmental awareness and education in Guyana by promoting activities which encourage a greater understanding of the environment, creating a network to connect like-minded persons, and providing opportunities to experience Guyana's rich natural environment.

The drive for the initiative was influenced by the evolution of environmental issues over the last three decades, and by how central those issues have become in today's national and global context.

Motivate action through greater environmental awareness and education.

By the numbers

67: Environmental Clubs
3: Annual Coordinators Connect
6: Regions Reached
2022: Founded

The team in action

Speaking at events, visiting clubs and out in the field with students.

Environmental club members gathered together at an EMC Foundation event in Guyana

Environmental clubs in action

Club members planting, recording and cleaning up across Regions 1 to 6.

Meet the team →

Meet our founder

Mr. Shyam Nokta has spent three decades working on Guyana's environment and climate policy. This profile tells the story behind the Foundation and what it set out to change.

Key focus areas

Environmental Education

Clubs, E-STEM sessions and classroom material that make the environment part of everyday learning.

Wildlife Conservation

Awareness and field work focused on Guyana's species, from giant river otters to shorebirds.

Community Engagement

Working with communities such as Mahaica and Saxacalli so conservation is led locally.

Research & Monitoring

Repeat biodiversity surveys that build long-term records of habitat health.

Three ways we work

Ollie the giant river otter, the EMC Foundation's field guide character, waving

Experience

Promote and facilitate activities that build a real understanding of the environment.

Arya the green sea turtle, the EMC Foundation's coastal navigator, illustrated in soft watercolour and gliding forward

Connect

Create a network that links people, schools and partners on environmental issues.

Act

Open doors for young people to get out into Guyana's natural environment and act.

Our story so far

2022
The Foundation is established
Mr. Shyam Nokta founds the EMC Foundation to support environmental awareness and education in Guyana, with a focus on youth, after three decades of watching environmental issues move to the centre of national life.
2023
Clubs, field trips and the first Connect
School environmental clubs come on board, field activities and scavenger hunts begin, and the first Environmental Club Coordinators Connect brings teacher coordinators together.
2024
E-STEM and public dialogue
The E-STEM program formalises environment-plus-science sessions, and Conservation Conversations begins bringing policymakers, scientists and students into the same room with the Protected Areas Trust.
2025
Signature installations
EMC Foundation Information Trees start appearing in schools and public institutions, and the clubs network keeps widening across Regions 1 to 6.
2026
Sixty-seven clubs and counting
Sixty-seven environmental clubs are active, the 3rd Annual Coordinators Connect hosts around 40 coordinators, the fifth Conservation Conversations features Rt Hon David Lammy MP, and interns join the team.

Impact stories

67 clubs

Sixty-seven clubs, six regions

What began with a handful of schools is now a network of 67 environmental clubs from Region 1 to Region 6, including Queen's College, The Bishop's High School, St. Stanislaus College, St. Rose's High and Marian Academy.

~40 coordinators

Coordinators who no longer work alone

At the 3rd Annual Coordinators Connect in August 2026, around 40 teacher coordinators shared what worked, swapped project plans and carried new material back to their schools.

6-week placement

A first internship, a first career step

Kitana Flores, a third-year Marine Biology student at the University of Guyana, completed a six-week placement building practical conservation experience across office and field work.

5 editions

Conversations that reach beyond the classroom

Conservation Conversations, hosted with the Protected Areas Trust, has put students in the room with policymakers, scientists and diplomats - including Rt Hon David Lammy MP at the fifth edition.