Protect TT’s forests

TRADE MINISTER Ken Valley, yesterday appealed to citizens to protect the country’s forests in order to preserve a potable water supply for future generations. Valley made this appeal when he spoke at the end of a walkathon near the North Post Road Radio Station in the Northern Range. He warned there would be difficulties in providing water to the population if Trinidad and Tobago’s forests and watersheds are not protected. Valley noted the vital contribution that forests and watersheds made toward preserving the water supply and said all citizens must be conscious of their individual and collective roles in protecting these vital national assets.

Public Utilities and Environment Minister Pen-nelope Beckles shared Valley’s sentiments and spoke about the many dangers which threaten TT’s forests and what citizens could do to prevent them. Earlier in the day, Valley and Beckles joined hundreds on a walkathon from the Starlite Shopping Plaza in Diego Martin to the North Post Road Radio Station. Coordinator of the Forestry Division’s Fire Programme, Kenny Singh, told Newsday the walkathon, a collaborative effort between the Forestry Division and the North Post Road Neighbourhood Crime Watch Association, was the culmination of a series of activities in recent weeks to “create an awareness of the need to conserve all natural environments, particularly all forests, against destruction from forest fires.” Singh said the valleys of the Northern Range were particularly vulnerable to forest fires and the Forestry Division regularly partners with community groups across TT to spread its message of environmental protection.