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The Ministry with responsibility for the Environment in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Lands and Fisheries have launched the Grenada OECS Protected Areas and Associated Livelihoods Project (OPAAL). The project was launched last Thursday at the Ministry of Tourism Conference Room at the Ministerial Complex.

Its part of a sub-regional initiative which seeks to contribute to the conservation of bio-diversity of global importance in the participating countries of the OECS, by removing barriers to the effective management of protected areas, and increasing the involvement of civil society and the private sector in planning, management and sustainable use of these areas.

OECS Programme Officer and Co-ordinator of the project, Keith Nichols said the aims of the project can be achieved by strengthening national and regional capacities in the sound management of Protected Areas, as well as establishing or strengthening a number of demonstration Protected Areas, and involving communities, civil society and private sector in the participatory management of the Protected Areas.

According to Nichols the project will support the development of environmentally compatible sources of income for communities living in proximity to these sites by financing studies, training and community projects.
He pointed out that in order to involve all stakeholders (communities, NGOs, and private sector), the project will use a participatory planning and management methodology for PAs, and will increase public education and awareness of the importance of bio-diversity conservation and protected area management in the sustainable economic development of the OECS small island developing states (SIDS).

The project to be carried out until 2009, marks the first phase of a proposed 15 year programme. Under OPPAL, six OECS member states will benefit from this US 7.57 million dollars project, namely: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Nichols disclosed that funding for the project was secured from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the Fond Francais de l'Environment Mondial (FFEM) and the Organisation of American States (OAS). The GEF funds will be administered through the World Bank, while implementation would be through the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit of the OECS (OECS-ESDU) and the local Forestry Department.The site that is proposed to benefit from this project is located in Annandale, St. George's.

Nichols indicated that the ultimate goal of the 15 year programme is to create an integrated system of protected areas among the OECS member states, while creating sustainable livelihoods for communities in and around these protected areas.

"This regional system.... could also be used as a basis to promote regional eco-tourism based on multiple island visitations in the region rather than single visits fueled by inter-island competition", he said.

"While an ambitious vision, the present project represents a significant first step in fostering a number of critical common elements, which could evolve over time into an integrated regional system", he added.

Environmental Protection Officer in the Ministry of Health Christopher Joseph who spoke of behalf of the Minister of Health and the Environment Ann David-Antoine said the project "could not come at a better time, as we are attempting national rehabilitation and rebuilding." "I believe that we would be laying the foundation for long-term or the sustainability of our natural resources and the benefits they provide us", he remarked.

Joseph said that the Strategic objectives of the National Environmental Policy speaks to maintaining the diversity of ecosystems, to maintain and enhance the natural productivity of ecosystems and ecological processes, and to optimise the contribution of natural and environmental resources to the production and trade of economic goods and services, essentially a livelihood issue.

"I have every confidence that this project would contribute positively to achieving those objectives," he added. Joseph congratulated the OECS Environmental and Sustainable Development in St.Lucia for its efforts in successfully negotiating the implementation of the initiative.

A planning session was held after the launching ceremony, where environmental engineers shared ideas on the way forward.