Building Capacity for Biodiversity Management - GIS Training Workshop

After the conclusion of the CONABIO workshop in November, 2013 on biodiversity information management, the need for building the capacity of the Environmental Policy and Planning Division (EPPD) in the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) was identified. GIS will be an important tool for managing and reporting on data related to hunting, forestry, protected areas and biodiversity.

As a result, the expertise of  Dr. Bheshem Ramlal, Head of the Department of  the Geomatics Engineering and Land Management at the University of the West Indies (UWI) was enlisted to conduct a training with technical staff of the EPPD. Dr. Bheshem Ramlal has many years of experience designing and developing GIS solutions for government ministries and agencies, international organisations and private sector companies.

The GIS Training Workshop was held at the Department of Geomatics, Engineering and Land Management at the  University of the West Indies (UWI), one day a week over a four (4) week period (June 5th, 11th, 26th, July 16 and 17th, 2014) from 8: 3:0 a.m.- 4 p.m.  Participants in the GIS training included officers from the Environmental Policy and  Planning  Division (EPPD) specifically; Ms. Candace  Amoroso, Mr. Julius Smith, Dr. Floyd Homer, Dr. David Persaud,  Mr. Javed Lakhan,  Ms. Anastasia Gordon, Ms. Candace Leung Woo - Gabriel  and Ms. Leolean Calix-Francis. 

Two (2) officers from the Forestry Division's Mapping Unit; Ms Sheila Elcock and Mr. Rakesh Baijoo as well as Ms. Karisa Koping from the Caribbean Forest Conservation Association (CFCA) also attended the GIS Training Workshop.

Group photo of the participants and facilitators of the GIS Workshop

 

 

Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for POPs in the Caribbean

The Town Meeting for the Global Environmental Facility/ United Nations Industrial Development Organization (GEF/ UNIDO) Project entitled “Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for Persistent Organic  Pollutants (POPs) in the Caribbean” was held on Thursday 10^th July, 2014 at the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources’ Conference Room, Tower D, International Waterfront Complex, Port of Spain.

 

The Project was approved by the GEF Council in November, 2013 and is being coordinated by the Basel Convention Regional Centre for the Caribbean (BCRC-Caribbean). It seeks to enable the  region to reduce and/ or eliminate the threat of POPs as part of the obligations under the Stockholm convention, within the context and realities of eight (8) Caribbean countries, inclusive of Trinidad and Tobago.

  

As part of the Project Preparation Phase, one of the associated activities was the hosting of a Town Meeting, for liaising with the relevant stakeholders in an attempt to refine and solidify their roles and responsibilities at this phase as well as to garner preliminary information for preparation of the full sized project document. In attendance at this Town Meeting were a wide cross-section of representatives from government, public sector, private entities, NGOs and academia.

Participants at the Town Meeting for the GEF/UNIDO Project:

 Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism 

for POPs; July 10th, 2014.

The Meeting was opened by the Permanent Secretary, Ms. Vidiah Ramkhelawan, who provided some brief introductory remarks. Following which, the Regional Consultant, Ms. Camille Roopnarine spearheaded the session by providing presentations on the  Project and then engaging participants eliciting their feedback on the relevant project Components for the country.  The Town Meeting coordinator, Ms. Keima Gardiner (Environmental Engineering Specialist, Environmental Policy Planning Division) then brought the meeting to close with a vote of thanks.