Protecting our natural environment

NICOLE LEOTAUD, executive director, Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI)

Happy World Environment Day 2019 to all the civil society organisations in TT that are delivering positive results to protect our natural environment.

A recent study by the Ministry of Planning and Development identified 129 active civil society organisations in TT that are contributing to meeting the country’s environmental commitments to reduce pollution, address climate change, protect biodiversity, and develop sustainable livelihoods for rural communities and green businesses.
These organisations are working across the country and in communities, to implement awareness and education programmes, research, on the ground conservation and policy development.

Think about the work being done by Nature Seekers Inc and Grande Riviere Environmental Awareness Trust to protect nesting leatherback turtles on the north-east coast of Trinidad. The Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project is protecting the St Ann’s watershed from fires and doing research on climate-resilient tree species. The Environmental Research Institute of Charlotteville is empowering community climate change champions and restoring coral reefs. Environment Tobago is educating younger generations about the importance of biodiversity conservation and inputting into development plans and policies in Tobago.

Fishermen and Friends of the Sea is advocating on issues around oil spills and the impact on fishermen and human health, unsustainable shrimp trawling, and the impacts of roads and other physical development on natural ecosystems. The Alliance for Rural Communities of Trinidad and Tobago is helping rural communities develop financially independent, community-owned chocolate enterprises using rural resources, labour and creativity. The Green Market Santa Cruz provides a weekly venue for green and social enterprises.

So how can these and other organisations play an even bigger role in addressing the critical environmental problems that TT is facing?
The Planning Ministry is committed to working with civil society organisations to strengthen the role that they play in implementing multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), which are international agreements that TT signs committing it to deliver global targets and standards.

TT has signed over 14 MEAs, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Of course, TT has also signed on to deliver the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, which includes very specific environmental targets. In 2020, TT will be reporting to the United Nations on its progress with delivering the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) has launched an online platform for civil society to report on what role it is playing (see https://hub.canari.org/sdg/).

The ministry’s study was presented at consultations in TT and will be finalised soon. The study identified the need to focus on strengthening civil society organisations’ technical knowledge about MEAs so that they can more effectively align their work to supporting TT’s implementation of national MEA obligations.

The study also emphasised the need to support the organisational strengthening of civil society organisations to promote good governance, increase ability to access and manage financial and human resources, enhance efficiency and effectiveness in planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning systems and encourage strong communication and fostering of partnerships. It was recognised that in order to deliver strong technical environmental work, civil society organisations must strengthen their organisational capacity.

A key focus is enhancing civil society’s access to the Green Fund of TT so that they can help to deliver TT’s MEA obligations. Recommendations include enhancing the capacity of the Green Fund executing unit and conducting a comprehensive, independent, technical review of the Green Fund’s processes, procedures, policies, results and lessons learned to date.

One recommendation by civil society organisations inputting into the study was that a tiered grant-making process should be used, with differing application, review and reporting requirements depending on the size of grant. This would enhance the ability of smaller organisations to access smaller amounts of money, while ensuring higher levels of accountability for large grants.

Stakeholders also recommended that the Green Fund be more clearly aligned to the National Environment Policy, national MEA obligations and other key policies and plans. It should outline specific strategic areas and investment priorities, including targets and indicators by which the impacts of investments can be measured over a particular time frame (for example, five or ten years).
On this World Environment Day, CANARI congratulates the Ministry of Planning and Development for this initiative to strengthen the support provided to civil society organisations working to deliver environmental solutions for TT. Implementation of these recommendations will be critical to enhancing the role that civil society plays, including through partnerships with the government, to protect and manage the rich natural resources with which TT is blessed.

About CANARI:
CANARI is a regional technical institute which has been working for over 30 years catalysing participatory natural resources management in the Caribbean. For more information please contact us at info@canari.org or visit our website www.canari.org