Environmental Education

Environmental Education should not only be taught in the classroom, it should be taken OUTDOORS. This is a concept that, though introduced into the local educational system by the Trust many years ago, is still relatively "new" to our islands. Outdoor education is the extension of the learning experience beyond the four walls of the classroom, bringing the Written Word To Life. It is an attempt to bring the lives of children - particularly the urban child - the wonder of and intimacy with the out-of-doors. We believe that outdoor education offers children the chance to realize firsthand that they are surrounded by part of the eternal processes of life.

In 1979, the Trust initiated an environmental education programme with audio-visuals; the first to be taken into primary, secondary and senior comprehensive schools and community groups throughout Trinidad, and later on, in Tobago. In 1982, the 'hands on' field work at the Trust started and we initiated guided field trips for schools, scouts' and guides' groups to the Asa Wright nature centre, Toco and Matura. Through the years, the Trust provided general and specific activities. These are adapted to suit students' and teachers' needs and the subjects taught include audio-visual shows with inerpretation. Fieldwork at the Trust includes aquatic sampling, pond, leaf and feather labs, quadrat and tansect sampling. In our daily environmental education programmes, we teach about LINKAGES, we discuss all aspects of the natural environment and their interactions with and links to, human health and well-being, social and economic impacts, problems and solutions. We teach about wetland ecosystems, from forest to coral reefs and their links to people. Thus we have a holistic approach to teaching.

The Trust believes that 'hands on' experiences are invaluable to awakening a young child's senses andthat environmental education should be taken a step further, so, we launched a special programme for pre-schoolers with the concept of 'touch', 'feel', 'smell' and sometimes, 'taste'. This awakens tremendous wonder and interest in a child. The Trust also holds workshops to train schoolteachers and members of community-based organizations. Environmental education can and must be infused in every curriculum subject, whether English, Geography, History, Maths, Social Studies, Music, Art or Drama. Environmental Education must be included in the State's Teacher-training programmes. Out of a population of 1.4 million people, 21,600 visit Pointe-a-Pierre annually, of whom 16,000 are students.

The Trust's Environmental Education Programme

The Trust has long been involved with environmental education therapy for the physically and mentally challenged, the elderly, victims of substance abuse and battered women. We believe that in nature, one is uplifted and refreshed and that this bond can and does provide a valuable mental and spiritual boost and release for the handicapped and the ill, indeed for every one of us. As a result, we built a boardwalk along much of the Trust's first lake, the longest in Trinidad and Tobago, and probably in the Caribbean.

Advocacy

We initiate and sustain advocacy, together with other NGOs, to promote linkages and the sustainable utilization of our natural assets. This has resulted in the accession to the CITES convention (1984), the protection of our NATIONAL BIRD, THE SCARLET IBIS (1986/87), a 2-year hunting moratorium (1986/87), the protection of the Port-of-Spain (Mucurapo) wetlands (1989/1990), resulting in the formation of the Council of Presidents of the Environment (COPE). In 1993, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago acceded to the RAMSAR Convention, listing the NARIVA WETLANDS, as a Site of International Importance, a direct result of our active advocacy since 1990. In November 1996, the Government removed the illegal rice farmers from the protected area of the Native Wetlands and began an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which for the first time offered an economic valuation of that natural asset. Again, a direct result of our advocacy, the government ratified the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1996, another result of our persistent advocacy.