President: Environmental crisis is our greatest danger

PRESIDENT George Maxwell Richards said on Saturday night that deforestation was a major problem in Trinidad and Tobago, since it triggered off a range of adverse environmental impacts, notably soil erosion, silting and severe flooding of rivers and streams, flash flooding and clogging of water inlets.

As a result he felt the authorities should facilitate the development of policy, the formulation of programmes, the monitoring function “and as important as anything else, the raising of public awareness for, and participation in remedial environmental action.” President Richards was the focus of attention on Saturday night at the Rotary Club of Maraval’s Tenth Anniversary celebrations, held at the Anchorage Entertainment Centre in Chaguaramas. The impressive ceremony, was well attended by such personalities as the Canadian High Commis-sioner, Simon Wade and his wife. President Richards was made an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Maraval. Furthermore, he gave the feature address at the function. The President made it clear that he was given “carte blanche” by outgoing president Brenda Clarke to speak on the topic of his choice. So he chose to share with his captive audience what he regarded as “random thoughts on a subject which I regard as critical to our national development, and in which we should all take a strong interest — “The Important Question of the Environ-ment.”

President Richards said he was dealing with the subject in the hope that there will be a greater public awareness of the issues involved. “The fact that we are in the North Western Peninsula, an area threatened by environmental change, has also encouraged me to speak on this subject,” he added. President Richards stressed that the people of Trinidad and Tobago are not immune from the problems that beset the rest of the world, and are as imperilled as anywhere else by the global environmental crisis.” The President who is a former Prinicipal of the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, and who is well- respected for his academic achievements called for drastic action. He noted that the scientific community sees the problem as potentially very serious.

In his elaborative address, he noted that in Trinidad and Tobago,  there were problems of land degradation, damage to wet lands, sewage wastes, industrial wastes, fertilisation hazards, water pollution and fish growth, hazards of excessive use of pesticides and protection of the costal zone. The President noted: “Destruction of coastal wetlands, removal of mangrove areas and alteration of the coastline for coastal development, continue to occur in a largely unplanned, un-coordinated and disintegrated fashion. “Witness the North Coast peninsula,  — decisions are often made without taking into account, adverse ecological and economic consequences.” He referred especially to such activities as dredging and harbour construction, that change water patterns. President Richards stressed that the country forests represent a most important ecosystem in maintaining ecological balance. However, deforestation and degradation of these forests are major threats to their preservation. Then he noted: The major causes of such deforestation are expansion of agriculture through forest clearing, often by “slash and burn” methods, and unregulated building and settlement.

But President Richards observed that in spite of what was happening, “it is gratifying to note that, through the Environmental Management Authority and other organisations, such as the Institute of Marine Affairs, the institutional framework in relation to environmental issues was being strengthened. He warned that there was no greater danger that Trinidad and Tobago faced, as it enters the third millemmium, than the implications of the crisis of the environment.