Please save Aripo

ARIPO SAVANNAH, a prohibited area by law, needs to be saved from the illegal quarrying operations and squatting that is destroying its rare flora and fauna. However, according to an informed source, the State does not seem to be interested in preserving the Aripo Savannah because it has been “dragging its feet” and not cracking down on these environmental offenders. “Although a high-ranking forestry officer told me that an investigation into this situation would be starting soon, I don’t believe that anything would be coming out of it,” said the source. In his opinion, the only way that the Aripo Savannah could be saved, was for a writ of Mandamus to be executed on these high-ranking Government officials.

“This Mandamus Order is the crux of the whole matter. However, it cannot be prepared by anyone working for the Government. Therefore, the officers concerned about the survival of the Aripo Savannah are calling on  the country’s environmentalists and environmental organisations to apply to the Registrar of the Supreme Court through prominent lawyers to represent them in the legal proceedings. “We are calling on the Asa Wright Nature Centre, the University of the West Indies (UWI) Herbarium staff, the Orchid Society, Gary Aboud of Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS), Dr Richard Ffrench, Dr Colin Clubb, Dr Michael Oatham, Molly Gaskin and the students of the Eastern Caribbean Institute of Agriculture and Forestry.” He said a Mandamus Order is “an order from the courts commanding a Public Servant to do what he is supposed to do, such as signing the demolition and eviction notices for the squatters at Aripo Savannahs — a job that falls under the authority of the Director of Surveys. Concerning the quarrying operations, that matter would have to be taken up by the Quarries Advisory Committee.”

He said  the Quarries Advisory Committee is a Government body authorised to oversee the quarrying operations in the country. The source alleged that an official in the Ministry of Agriculture ignored the verbal instructions of a magistrate in the Sangre Grande Magistrates’ Court. He said the magistrate gave verbal instructions that eviction and demolition notices had to be placed on the squatters’ houses. “Furthermore, the magistrate also instructed that the squatters were to be given two weeks to vacate the premises within the prohibited area. However, since 1998, this has not been done.” The source said that the Aripo River was being illegally dredged which was changing its course.