Sharlene Rampersad
President Paula-Mae Weekes says it is time for T&T to join the global movement for environmental conservation.
Speaking at the official opening of the boardwalk for differently abled people at the Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust on Saturday, Weekes said Primary schools should prioritise visits to the trust in order to teach children the importance of conservation.
“Globally there has been greater awareness and enthusiasm for environmental conservation given the prominence in national political discourses of issues such as global warming and pollution. We in T&T must step into this movement, not only to attract visitors but also to enhance our own capacity for and interest in conservation,” she said.
Weekes said children need to be fully equipped and informed to deal with the challenges of environmental conservation.
Making reference to several cases where people were charged for hunting the national bird, the Scarlet Ibis, Weekes said awareness programmes by the trust should be extended to teach the national population that hunting our national birds is harmful to the country’s future.
“Perhaps the expansion of these programmes in the wider society might help us as a people to understand that the hunting of endangered species is unacceptable and inimical to future. For this reason, among others, it is my firm belief that primary schools across the nation should prioritise educational visits to this trust. My own first visit took place in August this year and when I was here, I met students who came to the trust in order to carry out fieldwork as part of their curriculum.”
She said teaching children to conserve the environment will bring greater opportunities for eco-tourism.