Related External Links

• The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
• The University of the West Indies
• The Sustainable Development Network
  
• The Environmental Management Authority
• Caribbean Community Secretariat
• The United Nations Environment Programme
• The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute
• 2006 Public Lecture on the Environment
• 2007 Public Lecture on the Environment
• 2010 Public Lecture on the Environment

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THE NORTHERN RANGE ASSESSMENT (NRA)

Other capacity building activities were undertaken with residents within specific contexts and for clear outputs, including training in low input and backyard gardening; project management and institutional strengthening. In 2006, a Community Exchange was organized for the residents of Bon Air North to share their experiences with other communities, mainly others located in the Northern Range. This inter-community networking helped to raise public awareness of the issues relevant to the management of the Northern Range and to motivate other like-minded groups to participate in similar initiatives.

Towards the end of the project, the Bon Air North residents were assisted in the drafting of a proposal to implement aspects of its development plan. Like many of our other projects, a show of success does not come from what the Foundation has done. Rather, it is in the evidence of what someone else is now able to do. Our two years of work with this community was funded by the United Nations Development Programme
Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme (UNDP GEF/ SGP) through The Cropper Foundation. At the end of the two years, the Small Grants Programme decided to provide funding directly to Bon Air North for a follow-up initiative to be led and implemented by the community itself.

The Foundation has since embarked on another project of a much larger scale, “Implementation of Sustainable Farming Practices in Trinidad’s Northern Range Communities”. It focuses on agriculture as a driver of change while presenting an opportunity to address, in a participatory manner with stakeholders cross-cutting issues associated with integrated watershed management.

This project is being developed and implemented with key collaborators, including the farming communities of Caura/Tacarigua and Maracas/St. Joseph watersheds, relevant government agencies and local and international technical institutions. Through an ongoing process of workin with communities, there lies potential to create leadership, ownership and stewardship. These are necessary qualities for enhancing community-led initiatives in general. They become even more significant when the intention is to maximize potential for livelihoods while ensuring sustainable use of environmental assets. As we continue to monitor this specific effort, we look towards the long-term goal of contributing to the re-orientation of the national
development process with a keen focus on participatory community approaches.

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