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Capacity building for watershed management stakeholders in Trinidad and Tobago

Title Capacity building for watershed management stakeholders in Trinidad and Tobago Location Trinidad and Tobago Year 2012 – 2014 Funded by Royal Bank of Canada under its RBC Blue Water Project Leadership Grant. Amount: USD 60,000 Project goal To improve the community-based management of watersheds in Trinidad and Tobago through building the capacity of community groups involved in watershed management to share lessons learned and best practices in watershed management among each other and to enhance their skills in communicating how their work contributes to clean, safe drinking water. Project objectives
  • To build capacity of community groups involved in watershed management in Trinidad and Tobago through sharing lessons learned and best practices on the protection and restoration of denuded watersheds among and with community groups;
  • To enhance the capacity of community groups involved in watershed management to communicate how their work contributes to improvement in freshwater quality and quantity;
  • To improve the effectiveness of community-based management systems in Trinidad and Tobago;
  • To enhance public education and awareness on watershed management in Trinidad and Tobago.
Background The impact of forest removal and the current and expected impacts of climate change compromise the availability and quality of freshwater, a critical resource in Trinidad and Tobago. The public must make the link between the intensity of these negative effects and the need for conservation of forested watersheds and availability of freshwater. Potable water availability and quality has been compromised and heavy siltation of rivers impacts on water treatment plants increasing downtime for maintenance and interrupting supplies to consumers. Low reservoir levels in the dry season translate into load-shedding arrangements and negatively impacts on human populations, human livelihoods and human productivity. Locally, there have been various initiatives to encourage water conservation and to protect and manage watersheds. These efforts have however not been able to sufficiently nor sustainably reverse nor reduce the causative issues which compromise freshwater quantity and quality. There is a need therefore to improve the systems which are in place for watershed protection while simultaneously encouraging public awareness and participation in water conservation. Project Activities Activity 1: 1-day national workshop Activity 2: Training workshops Three workshops will be offered to participants:
  • A two-day communication workshop
  • One-day training in techniques for watershed protection
  • One day training in organisational management for community stewardship
Activity 3: Production and dissemination of environmental awareness materials on watershed protection and access to clean and safe drinking water
  • Newspaper series on watershed protection
  • Video case studies of successful watershed protection programmes by community groups
  • Facilitating sharing among participants using social media
Activity 4: One-day community showcase Publications/documents Related News Releases Press release: RBC promotes Watershed Conservation Press release: RBC Blue Water Project grant for CANARI Facebook
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