Trinidad and Tobago is set to receive US$3.5 million over the next four years to mitigate land degradation.
This funding will come from the Global Environment Facility, for the project called ‘Nature based solutions for resilient landscapes in Trinidad and Tobago or BioResilience’.
The project will work towards nature positive development, while reducing ecosystem degradation by applying nature-based solutions to the food and tourism sectors.
The Planning Ministry says this will benefit the government’s drive towards increased food security, enhanced tourism and biodiversity management, while providing long term resilience against the effects of climate change at the national level.
The Planning Ministry will spearhead coordination and implementation collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization.
It is also being executed by UWI St. Augustine under the guidance of a multi-stakeholder steering committee incorporating government, civil society and non-government organisations.
According to the Ministry, the BioResilience Project is being undertaken as part of GEF’s Blue and Green Islands Integrated Programme in the Caribbean, which is aimed at supporting Small Island Developing States achieve the similar outcomes.
The main outcomes highlighted for Trinidad and Tobago include:
- Support to the rehabilitation of riversides in the Caroni watershed;
- Capacity strengthening to incorporate nature into the agricultural and tourism sectors;
- Support nature positive development and livelihood opportunities within the agro and ecotourism sectors with a gender perspective;
- Land cover and carbon assessment, valuation and accounting;
- Sustainable soil management (SSM) and soil recorbonisation;
- A roadmap for national capital accounting to support integrated national decision making.
