More power to the EMA

Just weeks after the hasty construction of what the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) billed as a stage in the sea, what is actually more of an extension of the road is in danger of collapsing.

This potentially problematic engineering project proceeded in the face of notice from the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) that it had no certificate of environmental clearance. It remains to be seen what penalty can or will be imposed.

Last week, THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine announced at the World Travel Market that construction of a five-star hotel in the Kilgwyn Bay area is expected to begin in June 2023, as he touted, “Virgin land, virgin beach opportunities.”

Along with all this enthusiasm for development and creating showpieces, the THA must demonstrate more respect for the EMA’s legislatively mandated role in the sustainable development of Trinidad and Tobago’s landmass.

The authority has been working to reverse the perception that it is passive in defending the environment.

In August, the EMA stepped in to lead the clean-up of an oily substance in the Caroni Bird Sanctuary, removing three barrels of the black contaminant.

It is now engaged in a US$30 million pilot project funded by the Global Environment Facility through the UN to designate more than 3,200 hectares of the swamp an environmentally sensitive area (ESA).

This is expected to strengthen previous legal protection afforded to the ecologically sensitive swampland since 1954, when it became a prohibited area under the Forests Act. The swamp is also a game sanctuary under the Conservation of Wildlife Act and a Ramsar site, listed as a wetland of international importance.

But that hasn’t stopped poaching, illegal hunting, squatting and pollution through dumping.

Designating the swamp an ESA, deputy conservator of forests Ameer Roopnarinesingh believes this, “will strengthen the existing network of law enforcement for management of the site.”

But the gaps between what’s environmentally legal and what actually happens continue to be tested.

The EMA is before the Court of Appeal seeking to overturn a judge’s ruling that limits its ability to manage noise breaches by events. The court’s response will turn on legal nuance, but will prove instructive and is of interest and possibly concern to people who suffer the consequences of the flagrant breaches of noise variations commonplace during Carnival.

These are downplayed by masqueraders and partygoers, but can seriously affect the mental health of those who don’t want to fete or play mas – but are regularly subjected tooth-rattling noise until the small hours for the months of the Carnival season.

In these and other areas, the EMA has to lobby vigorously for stronger, better-defined powers to enforce its mandate to protect the environment. As that protection becomes increasingly important in the face of climate change and the need to mitigate its effects, parliamentarians on all sides should be willing to give the EMA the firmer hand it needs.