Coral Reefs and COP-26: Coral Bleaching Alert in Tobago
: Coral bleaching has been observed in Pillar corals found in the shallow areas of Buccoo and Plymouth Reefs. Photo courtesy Lanya Fanovich, Environmental Research Institute of Charlotteville...
The Great Conservation Story of the Leatherback Turtle in Trinidad and Tobago: Collaboration, Community and Conservation
It is 10 pm and the moonlight is beaming in the horizon and the waves are crashing onto the shores of the North East Coast of Trinidad. There in the distance, what looks like a rock in the water, is not a rock at all but an ancient gentle giant of the sea – a female leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)- slowly making her way up the beach to begin digging a hole to lay her eggs. As this majestic creature lays her eggs, I will continue the great conservation story about the leatherback turtle in Trinidad and Tobago. As mentioned in Part One of...
UN Decade on Biodiversity (2011-2020) and Our Oceans: Where are we?
In 2010, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly declared the period 2011-2020, as the UN Decade on Biodiversity to promote the implementation of a strategic plan on biodiversity, and its overall vision of living in harmony with nature. The goal was to mainstream and integrate biodiversity conservation in all sectoral plans and policies on a global scale. As we have come to the end of the Decade of Biodiversity, what does this mean for Trinidad and Tobago? It means that Legislative and Policy Reform is now imperative for the following: *Protection of critical fish nursery habitats *Restoration of degraded coastal areas *Conservation of marine ecosystems (coral...
Our Solutions Lie in Nature
Attish Kanhai, Research Officer Institute of Marine Affairs In 1970, Theodor Geisel was fighting to save some Eucalyptus trees around his house from being cleared in order to make way for a suburban development. His idea was to write a children’s book about conservation that was not boring but entertaining. However, writer’s block got the better of him and upon his wife’s suggestion he travelled to Mount Kenya Safari Club where he was able to watch the animals along Kenya’s Laikipia plateau. Theodor Geisel was a children’s author of some repute, he could ill afford to have his work be substandard, and such an important message of...