Tackling environmental problems and fulfilling our obligations to the natural environment must be the responsibility of all of us, at all levels of society. Firstly, civil society is an autonomous and dynamic element which can monitor and keep governments in check. Universities and NGOs must contribute to increasing the visibility of environmental issues on the national level. NGOs, such as Fishermen and Friends of the Sea and The Rights Action Group, already take direct action by means of campaigns, protests and public-interest environmental litigation, encouraging increased public participation in decision-making.
Religious bodies are also joining the debate, with the Catholic Commission for Social Justice recently releasing a draft framework towards an archdiocesan environmental Policy which seeks to address the role of the church in environmental protection. Secondly, the formal education system is vital to fostering environmental citizenship among our youth. Many countries include a citizenship element in their formal curricula, with citizenship forming a compulsory element of the English secondary school curriculum since August 2002. But neither citizenship nor environmental education is recognised as a distinct element of the secondary school curriculum in T&T (with the exception of Environmental Science at CAPE level).
A look at the social studies and science syllabi reveals that the emphasis is on education about the environment, rather than awareness of crucial issues affecting the environment. The partnership between the Ministry of Education and the Canadian International Development Agency to train teachers in the field of education for democratic citizenship in the Caribbean is a step forward. This initiative aims to cultivate a stronger sense of participative democracy in the classroom, which will hopefully translate into a more active citizenry in the future. Government needs to lead by example reflected in their choice of development projects, and regulation of corporations and multinationals to inspire and achieve maximum public co-operation.
On a macro scale, a broad commitment to reducing the country's reliance on the petrochemical sector and greater emphasis on diversification of the economy by investing in non-energy intensive initiatives is needed. This change towards an environmentally aware population represents our greatest challenge as a country and is the most critical in determining the policies adopted at all levels of administration and in achieving longterm environmental sustainability and economic stability. Regional and international organisations also have a role to play. The well-established principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" in international environmental law has been invoked to highlight the role of developed countries in providing technical and financial assistance for improving environmental protection in the developing world and in fostering this sort of transformative change in attitudes towards the environment.
One such initiative is the proposed partnership between the US Department of Energy and the Government of T&T to provide "technical assistance and support" in establishing the Caribbean region's first Renewable Energy Research Centre, negotiations for which commenced in early 2010.