This year marks 250 years since the establishment of Tobago’s Main Ridge Forest Reserve—the oldest protected forest in the Western Hemisphere.
Chairman of the Main Ridge Committee, Beehmal Ramlogan, says the reserve’s preservation was groundbreaking, setting a global standard that continues to influence environmental policy today.
“We have a forest that is 250 years, and is recognized as the oldest protected forest in the entire Western Hemisphere,” he said.
“While the rest of the world was looking at finding new land, to shop down trees and to plant sugar cane, instead Tobago took a very different path, and this path shaped what global policy is on environmentalism hundreds of years later,” Ramlogan added.
The Main Ridge Forest Reserve was established in 1776.
Covering the mountainous spine of Tobago along the northeast coast, the reserve spans about 2,500 hectares of tropical rainforest.
It is home to hundreds of plant and animal species, including endemic birds like the Tobago Emerald Hummingbird, and the White-tailed Sabrewing.
