‘TT in need of major reafforestation programme’

According to President George Maxwell Richards Trinidad and Tobago is in dire need of a massive reafforestation programme in order to alleviate land slippage which, in some instances, contributes to flooding. Speaking at the launch of the Environmental Commission’s Informational Material yesterday at Crowne Plaza Hotel, President Richards said while TT must continue on the path of hydro-carbon development in the near future, such economic activities had to be balanced by implementing sound ecological practices. He said one useful practice was the utilisation of oil and natural gas rents to be ploughed back into global cooling activities.

“The most effective one being reafforestation as proposed by the Tropical Re-Leaf Foundation,” he said. The President stated that the bio-diversity of the tropical forest is specially equipped for taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and energy-based companies had to be encouraged to establish carbon offset plantations. He also questioned whether Trinidad and Tobago benefited in any way from participating in and from decisions made at the Kyoto and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) conferences.

“The answer is that we have not, primarily because of the reluctance of developed countries to fund environmental action plans in the developing world,” he said. His Excellency stated while TT, unlike other countries, had been spared the worst of nature’s wrath within recent times, disaster still lurked as the country’s Dry Season begins to take effect. “As we plunge into the Dry Season and the vegetation of the Northern Range becomes tinder for those who callously set forest fires in their own selfish interest, the consequences will be even more landslides, soil erosion and flooding.”