Time for a park ranger service

Such action demonstrates how far away we are from a structured orderly society.

Garbage collection is not an action for individuals to have their media moments. It is a responsibility of the Government, especially local government.

The presence of large mounds of garbage anywhere demonstrates a failure of Government to manage communities and provide one of the most basic services to communities. It also demonstrates our inability to enforce the laws we create.

Littering is against the law and there are huge fines for illegally dumping litter. At our beaches and parks there continues to be a disregard for littering, mainly because of poor infrastructure and ineffective administrative structure.

In areas like Caura, where weekend camping and cooking is common, there are inadequate toilet facilities, inadequate portable drinking water, few garbage collection containers and, most importantly, an absence of park rangers.

I have been clamouring for over 15 years for a park ranger service.

Many of or youths and people currently employed in Cepep and URP can be trained to be park rangers.

These individuals can be trained in areas like first aid, forest fire prevention, location and destruction of nesting sites for locusts and recognising and destroying illegal crops.

Their responsibility can be to patrol our beaches to provide security and to ensure that the public facilities are not vandalised.

Additionally, they can prevent squatting on State lands, the larceny of crops and provide safe patrol for hikers and campers. They can be the officers responsible for enforcing the laws with regard to hunting.

This new group of employees will immediately improve our tourism package, provide permanent employment for hundreds of community personnel and reduce criminal activity nationwide.

Funding for this initiative can come indirectly from the improved tourism package and directly from parking fees, admission fees and permits for hikers and campers. This must be in conjunction with a new governance model that must start with local government reform and a serious effort to restructure the way we manage our nation.

Steve Alvarez via email