Save the Date - International Coastal Clean-up 2013

The International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) is a worldwide annual one-day volunteer event coordinated by the Ocean Conservancy geared toward pollution clean-up and pollution prevention.  

Since 1985, this event has become the world’s largest volunteer effort for ocean health. Nearly nine million volunteers from 152 countries and locations have cleaned 145 million pounds of trash from the shores of lakes, streams, rivers, and the ocean on just one day each year. 

Trinidad and Tobago has historically supported the International Coastal Clean-up endeavour of the Ocean Conservancy for many years, with the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources being a major sponsor. The date for this year’s event is Saturday September 21st, 2013. Stay tuned for further information on the various sites and partners who will be at several beaches and rivers throughout Trinidad and Tobago on this date.

IDB Beach Clean-up

On Friday 24 May. 2013 the staff members of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Country Office and the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) partnered together on the IDB's Day of Volunteerism to clean-up the Grand Riviere Beach, one of the nesting sites for leatherback turtles on Trinidad's North coast.

Source: http://www.turtlevillagetrust.org/turtle-watching.htm

The MEWR was represented by members of the EPPD, Green Fund Executing Unit, Drainage Division, Forestry Division as well as its agencies the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) and the Water and Sewage Authority (WASA). Students from the Grand  Riviere A.C. Primary School were also present to participate in this important exercise that reinforced the non-governmental and governmental co-management approach to improving the state of the environment.

The day’s activity proved to be very fulfilling to all who participated. Though we were in one of the country’s most pristine and beautiful areas, we were all cognisant in knowing that we assisted in maintaining the accessibility of the leatherback turtle to the beach to lay their eggs.  In addition, we helped a community that generates a large portion of their livelihoods from the turtles presence on the beach.

 

The Government of Mexico help in Managing Biodiversity Information

From April 8 - 13, 2013 the Environmental Policy and Planning Division (EPPD) of the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) undertook a technical mission to Mexico. This mission was facilitated by the Government of Mexico through its Program for International Cooperation for Development. 

Dr. David Persaud (Environmental Manager) and Dr. Floyd Homer (Biodiversity Specialist) participated in the 5 day visit to the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) in Mexico City. They received an orientation on the work of CONABIO and their information system for managing biodiversity called BIOTICA.

The Biodiversity Information Management System allows for data capture and handling of curatorial, nomenclatural, geographical, and ecological bibliographic as well as custom report generation and validation and can also display the information through GIS (Geographic Information System).

Front row: L-R: Dr. Homer and Dr. Persaud listening to the orientation lecture given by Dr. Jose Sarukhan, National Coordinator, CONABIO

The MEWR is desirous of setting a National Biodiversity Information System (NBIS) and will receive technical assistance from CONABIO. A technical team from CONABIO will visit Trinidad and Tobago later this year to provide further guidance on the establishment of the NBIS.