A nine million dollar plan to protect the southeast Caura River basin in Venezuela, with backing from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), has been approved by the Global Environment Facility of the World Bank. The Caura River rises from the Guyanese shield near the border with Brazil. It runs 745 kms south-north to empty out into the Orinoco, and its basin, some 45,000 sq kms, is home to at least 2,700 species of plants, 168 types of mammals, 475 varieties of birds, 23 species of reptiles, 13 species of amphibians, and hundreds of varieties of fish.

The Caura is one of the largest and most abundant rivers in Venezuela that is still free of dams. It crosses a pristine forest reserve.

Its waters provide a constant temptation to those wishing to top up the Caroni basin that feeds the Guri hydropower dam, which supplies electricity to almost the entire country and to the extreme northern portions of Brazil.