Minister Hosein and Minister Al-Rawi partner for Disaster Mitigation Project in commemoration of World Environment Day

Minister Hosein and Minister Al-Rawi partner for Disaster Mitigation Project in commemoration of World Environment Day

Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday 1st June, 2022), the Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Senator the Honourable Kazim Hosein presented 550 fruit plants to the Minister of Rural Development and Local Government, the Honourable Faris Al-Rawi, to assist with a Disaster Mitigation project across the Municipal Corporations.

In an effort to safeguard vulnerable communities from the adverse impacts of soil erosion and climate change, both Ministries have partnered in this initiative that will culminate this Sunday, with a tree-planting exercise scheduled to coincide with the international observance of World Environment Day.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries through its Agricultural Services Division arranged for the donation of these fruit saplings of various varieties, which took place at its Chaguanas Head Office. This project which is aimed at preventing landslides in hilly terrain; reducing soil erosion; limiting landslide run-off distance across affected areas and; mitigating the overall effects of climate change, will impact a community facility, parks, recreational grounds and a river bank, across a total of seven (7) Municipal Corporations throughout Trinidad. These include:

1) Fanny Village (Point Fortin Borough Corporation;

2) San Fernando Hill (San Fernando City Corporation);

3) Cunupia River Bank (Chaguanas Borough Corporation);

4) Flamboyant Play Park, Concorde Park and Croton Park (Arima Borough Corporation);

5) St. Julien Recreation Park, Inverness Recreation Ground and Apollo Recreation Ground (Princes Town Regional Corporation);

6) Manmohansingh Park, Erwin Park and Station Beach (Siparia Regional Corporation); and

7) Mickey Trotman Recreation Ground, Bon Air West Community Facility and Dabadie Recreation Ground (Tunapuna / Piarco Regional Corporation).

Also in attendance at this brief handover event were; Ministers in the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Senator the Hon. Avinash Singh and Senator the Hon. Nigel de Freitas, Permanent Secretary of MALF – Ms Susan Shurland, Permanent Secretary of MoRDLG – Ms. Desdra Bascombe along with representatives from the Chaguanas Disaster Management Unit and other support staff from the respective Ministries.