CEPEP gets ready to clean coastline

Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) workers will soon be seen in sea craft, called weedos, cleaning coastlines around T&T. Workers yesterday gave a demonstration on the north western coastline behind La Soufriere Maritime on the Western Main Road in Chaguaramas after the launch of CEPEP Marine. CEPEP chairman Adesh Deonarine said the two weedos (used in the Everglades in Florida) were imported but pirogues and other flatbottomed would also be used by the workers. In his address at the launch of the new programme, Deonarine said CEPEP Marine was created to clean and maintain marine spaces, wetlands and waterways.

A pilot project was started on December 15 last year with three contracting companies, Rima Environmental Solutions, Precision Point and Marine Mechanix. Contractors are receiving less than $200,000 a month and the contracts run for a year and were renewable, he said. Already, CEPEP Marine has removed solid waste from marine spaces in Central, North West and South West Trinidad. Housing and the Environment Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal said the emergence of CEPEP Marine was another example of how the Government has extended the reach and scope of CEPEP. He said rivers fell under the purview of the Ministries of Local Government and Works but he was challenging CEPEP to work with them to clean these inland watercourses, as well.

Moonilal said CEPEP Marine would become an important contributor to the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) of T&T and contribute effectively in the management of the critical services required for the protection of our coastal zone. “The ICZM is a dynamic process that addresses the sustainable development and protection of coastal areas,” he said. Moonilal said improper dumping at coastal sites often conflicts with the perception of Caribbean islands as clean, green, serene spaces with sandy beaches and crystal clear, blue waters. He said the issue of hazardous waste management, in particular, is an increasingly critical one for Caribbean states.

Only last week the steering committee of the Basel Convention Regional Centre for the Caribbean Region, which falls under his Ministry, held its first meeting, he said. The centre is to be a training and technology transfer institution on the management of waste matters in the Caribbean region. Waste Management Rules are also in the making, the Minister said. Further, the Environmental Management Authority was in the final stages of preparing the Beverage Container Recovery and Recycling Bill to bring to Parliament.