THE Saint Lucia National Trust (SLNT) is holding a five-day summer programme at the Vieux Fort Primary School focusing on the Marine Environment under the theme ‘Healthy Oceans-Healthy People’.
Forty young people between the ages of 9 to 17 are being involved in activities which will help them better appreciate how the quality of the marine ecosystem, particularly within the Pointe Sable Environmental Protection Area (PSEPA), affects the quality of our way life – including our diet; livelihood; recreation; education and our culture.
The five-day summer programme, which commenced on Monday, will have students involved in snorkeling trips to Scorpion Island, identifying different types of marine life (flora and fauna); learning about turtles, coral reefs and mangroves. Participants will also be engaged in craft making and drama, in keeping with this year’s theme.
The activity is organized to support education and outreach in a wider capacity building initiative for marine protected areas management in the OECS, administered by the UNEP-CEP Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) Programme and its Regional Activity Center (SPAW-RAC), and the Caribbean Marine Protected Areas Management Network (CaMPAM).
The initiative falls under the project ‘Climate Resilient Eastern Caribbean Marine Managed Areas Network (ECMMAN)’ led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB).