National Trust gets US$200,000 grant

The National Trust has received a grant of US$200,000, or nearly $1.4 million, from the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) 20th Anniversary Partnership Program.

The money will be used for a project titled a “Collaborative Investigation of Climate Change Solutions for Endangered Cultural Heritage in Trinidad and Tobago,” and will be carried out in partnership with the University of Florida’s Historic Preservation Program, the National Trust said in a media release on Tuesday.

Trust chairman Margaret McDowall said the assistance and funding will enable the trust to undertake a complex conservation project that could also have an impact other sectors of Trinidad and Tobago’s economy.

She said in the media release on Tuesday afternoon: “Using heritage sites in downtown Port of Spain and Nelson Island as the focal areas, the project includes a scientific assessment of potential risks for the locations to be adversely affected by climate change issues and rising sea levels."

She explained that because hese heritage sites are close to human habitat and commercial operations, any adverse sea-level changes can have national implications.

With the funding, McDowell said the National Trust, would be able to accomplish its goals, which included developing a model framework for conserving and adapting heritage sites across TT and the region; a public and stakeholder engagement strategy for enhancing awareness of climate change and sea-level rise and their impacts on heritage places; creating digital documentation and coastal hazard risk assessments of downtown Port of Spain and Nelson Island; and conservation and adaptation management plans with recommendations for preserving and maintaining the two sites.

The project which is scheduled to start in January, will also give local academics, students and communities a chance to benefit from training and exposure to the technology being used, and conservation management strategies.

US chargé d’affaires Shante Moore, said, “This a tremendous achievement for TT as it is the only English-speaking country in the Western Hemisphere to be awarded a prestigious and highly competitive AFCP grant in 2021.

“The embassy is pleased to support this project as we celebrate the anniversary of two decades’ worth of American leadership, co-operation, and support for the preservation of cultural heritage around the world, including in TT, through the AFCP.

He said the National Trust’s proposal was among 32 selected from 172 concept notes submitted to the US Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.