Environmental project to stabilize river banks in Mabouya Valley
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Contact: Claudia Monlouis
Monday, July 13, 2009 – A major environmental project which will see the planting of over one thousand trees along the four major rivers in the Mabouya valley has commenced and is set to continue over the next few months.
One of the initiators of the programme Neil Oculi hails from the Dennery community. He says he has long been aware that the rivers in the Fond D'or watershed are experiencing environmental degradation and are in need of attention.
“The overall objective of the project is to provide ownership of the watershed and its problems to the people of the Mabouya valley. The general idea is to stabilize four miles of river bank, by planting tree crop and forest plants especially mahogany in two of the rivers in the Mabouya valley. We are going to work with farmers to stabilize the area. We are planting some one thousand, seven hundred trees in collaboration with the Fair Trade Farmers.”
Under the project, efforts will be made to educate the local community—particularly youth groups and farmers—about the effects of deforestation as well as the community’s role in advocacy and action.
“Another component of the project is to educate young people on the environmental issues affecting the watershed. We are going to have a series of workshops and consultations with 35 students to provide training where they can engage in more experiential learning. Fundamentally, there are two components: one to work with the farmers and the other to work with young people.”
The river bank stabilization project is being funded to the tune of US ten thousand dollars from Project for Peace—an American based organisation. Oculi says he and two other fellow students from College of the Atlantic in Maine, USA, received the grant through the school.
Another grant of nineteen thousand EC dollars was provided by the Saint Lucia Social Development Fund, a unit of the Ministry of Social Transformation, to employ seven facilitators and students to work on the project until mid-August.
The project will take place with the support of several partners including Integrated Watershed and Coastal Areas Management (IW- CAM), the Mabouya Development Project, the Forestry Department, The Saint Lucia Social Development Fund and the Fair Trade Farmers in the Mabouya valley. |
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