At right: A villager makes his crab traps using bamboo culms.

Wetlands, or swamps, or marshes; the nomenclature is interchangeable but generally it is understood to be areas which remain submerged, can be partially submerged at times, or is in close proximity to rivers or lakes. What has never been questioned by those who derive a way of life from the resource, is that it is beneficial, of very great importance.

Of course there are the people who do not interact with the low level, muddy and pest filled areas, yet value them as primary assets . These groups can harbour interests detrimental to the welfare of the wetlands. At times for example, they require the land space, or even the waterways, as the first stage in a developmental thrust, and would justify the potential for damage as ‘foward thinking’, and as adding economic benefit to the wider population.

The rights of both groups of wetland ‘user’ are to be acknowledged. The former group, may be bound by tradition even poverty, and may only derive personal benefits from their activities within the confines of the swamp or its contiguous dependencies. The latter group may have gotten rights by virtue of purchase and feels privileged to convert the space into a built asset. Unfortunately it cannot end where the rights of one group overrides that of another.

Wetlands are multi- dimensional, as stated earlier. Those considerations go beyond what’s above in its treetops , what is on the land, and what is in the water. Wetlands are the sites of early mankind’s veritable toehold on earth. If a man ever stepped onto the land in a manner of speaking, it would have been in a wetland area. If eons afterward, migrant came to a new place, it would have been a wetland that drew them in as a safe haven, a source of food.

Mangroves eco-systems are home for many species. Some just visit for breeding, such as some seagoing fish and migrant birds

Nothing has changed. Wetlands still feed us all, if indirectly. To throttle the functions of the wetland as a short term solution to one groups problems will surely come back to haunt generations of other people; Our own children as it were. To forestall the unpleasant scenario, good management of the wetland resource is the key approach. Enter the wetland manager.

As important as the wetlands are for the food security of our islands, they have another intrinsic feature; that of habitat protection for land dweller. As irony would have it, man gravitated toward the wetlands as a source of food, and in the process also made his home there – Permanently. It does not bode well for the resource. The shortened prognosis is; man will encroach on wetlands in pursuit of his activities, and the loss of wetland will place man’s habitat at nature’s peril. Enter the wetland manager.

Certain situations prove the need of wetlands management. In Trinidad, illegally situated rice farmers almost got away with large scale expansion of paddies at the Nariva swamp lands in the late 1980’s. Subsequent to that there were efforts to drill for oil in the wooded lands adjacent to the same swamp by the oil interests.
In staving off the negative encroachment, the Nariva Swamp may be luckier than other T&T wetlands in that it has come under management. It’s one of the largest freshwater wetlands in the Caribbean, and has been on the List of Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention since 1993. The Bon Accord Lagoon in Tobago may not be so lucky.

If there is ever a need for a wetland management plan, the Tobago Bon Accord Lagoon and marsh can claim to it as a matter of utmost urgency. The home of a large part of the islands biodiversity stock, with a depth of life comparable to the hallowed Main Ridge Rainforest, it is under siege by a multitude of symptoms. The identified threats are no secret, and can be allocated to all user groups of the area and its environs. Obviously at Bon Accord it’s time for ‘organisation and coordination of activities in accordance with certain policies, and which achieves stated objectives’.

In all probability plans and management concepts exist for the Bon Accord Lagoon, as there has been no lack of attention given to it by the scientific community on one end, and by local community user groups on the other. Indeed suggestions have been made by consultants that a team comprising the stakeholder groups be mandated to serve all interests. To a point, because even such a body would need a focussed manager to work the plans.

Acquiring skills for managing wetlands is a tenuous path for the aspiring professional. It was not long ago when practitioners of the sciences dominated the line-up for jobs emanating in parks, reserves and conservation tracts. It holds true no longer. Other skills are needed to facilitate the management processes there, and among these are the typical proficiencies the business sector habitually cultivates.

Got Mangroves? Get involved through a local group. These are volunteers from the Unit Trust helping Environment Tobago to clear a wetland.

Certainly in the small island states of the Caribbean , there is room for the person who wishes to be part of the stewardship process for wetlands and its outlying areas. No matter what background that person has, with wetland protection it’s the vision, not the hindsight that counts.

So it got lost in the shuffle if the signs are anything to go by. In spite of having the Memorandum of Understanding in their hands since then, the legal department of the Tobago House of Assembly has been very busy with other things, unfortunately for Kilgywn and ET.

Never in stasis, this resilient little group has come to terms with the realisation that a partnership is not what the THA wants. The signs are obvious. The Forestry Division of the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (DNRE) has been making overtures for the construction of ‘recreational facilities’ at the Kilgywn coast, and it’s very much an in-house affair.

In what’s now the typical approach, there has been no long-term planning, no community input, nor has it taken into account the varied nuances, the other factors which can impact the future user; like crime in the area. That the THA can disregard all the recommendations of the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) for the best use of the area justifies the old saw; "To the carpenter with a hammer in hand all problems are nails."

It may be that the THA feel they need to maximise resources. However, finding work for the DNRE workforce, most of whom are artisans (to judge from the excellent structures throughout Forestry’s domain), is not a good enough reason. The dry facts behind the matter of Kilgywn are these;

Kilgywn is not a fit place for the general public just yet . The IMA in its report ‘Guidelines for the Design of a Management Plan for Kilgwyn Swamp ‘ to the THA in 2007 stated "Levels of faecal coliforms found at the Kilgywn Swamp stations were above the USEPA standard for recreation purposes". It went on to add; "The levels were also above the limits of the Trinidad and Tobago Water Pollution Rules 2001 and could be considered polluted"

Aside from sewage waste, Kilgywn has exotic toxins derived from domestic or industrial sources from the time when it was actually the public dumpsite. The general use of the area prior to the creation of the Crown Point runway extension, was a repository for old fridges, stoves and TV and various metals.

The swamp waterways are largely landlocked due to the road constructed at the time for taking material for the runway. It gave rise to the resultant observation by the IMA, "Levels of phosphates found at Kilgywn stations were greater than the limit of the Water Pollution Rules 2001 of 0.1 mg/1 during the dry season." So it’s true, old batteries die hard.

Assuming the THA does not easily accept that its rash to arbitrarily create a public recreational zone at Kilgywn, there are other reasons which can help them to change their mindset. The short answer is Ramsar. Trinidad and Tobago is bound by law since their accession to the Convention on Wetlands in 1993. In that meeting the principles of wetlands policy were set out for national obligations to safeguard these ecosystems on a global level.

The Ramsar guidelines are well known but what may deflect the THA’s zeal in running out to create a few more huts in a valuable natural zone is the Government of the Republics own words as seen in their National Wetlands Policy document. The following statement gives an idea of the role that stakeholders will play at all stages of the planning process;

"The government of Trinidad and Tobago will promote awareness and understanding of the wetlands resources of Trinidad and Tobago and actively encourage participation of landowners, non-governmental organisations and institutions in wetland conservation." (National Wetland Committee 2002)

In attempting to slide out of the commitment, an eager beaver within the THA may opine that even though Kilgywn marsh may be a wetland as such, it is not a designated Ramsar site, as is the nearby Buccoo Reef and Bon Accord Lagoon Complex , or the Caroni and Nariva swamps across in Trinidad. If used in argument it will not hold water for long, since one of the main obligations of the contracted parties to the Convention is;

"..to formulate and implement planning so as to make ‘wise use’ of the wetlands, whether or not they are included in the List of (Ramsar sites) (Article 3.1); the Conference of Contracting Parties has approved guidelines on how to achieve wise use".

Adherence to Ramsar transparent governance standards is not the only strand in the web of Law which binds the THA. Similar obligations to incorporate stakeholder participation has been a common thread in other international conventions referred to in the above-mentioned National Wetlands policy. These include;
• The CITES Convention,
• Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean,
• Protocol for Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife,
• Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region .

To summarise therefore, the Tobago House of Assembly, while by virtue of Law (THA Act 40. of 1996, Section 25) they are the primary managers of state lands, marine and terrestrial parks and other Tobago assets, they are under the barrel of other guns. The criteria that constitute good governance includes respect for human rights and rule of law. These take in the right of the individual and the group, and for their security should comprise a framework for economic and social activity; This means Participation!

Having been left out of the participatory process to a meaningful end, Environment Tobago, as a key NGO with a stellar track record of delivery to the community, and as a proven advocate of sustainable development, feel the THA current approach to Kilgywn is intrinsically flawed. Maybe the next step would be to translate the Vision 2020 for the THA managers to come back on track.

This on my blog to draw attention to the slow process governmental organisations employ befor edoing what they were paid to do. I sincerely believe when governments fall only then will humans leave earth inpeace

In an earlier publication about drought, the various terms given to the different types of the phenomenon were discussed briefly. There was talk of meteorological drought, agricultural drought, and a paragraph on the third level; hydrological drought. There’s one more stage to consider; Socioeconomic drought, a close relative to the fourth horseman of the apocalypse .

Socioeconomic drought (SED) is the term used to describe the hard times people suffer when any, or all, of the first three faces of the actual event has made its impact. In Trinidad and Tobago we know it as the ‘banga season’, ‘guava season’ even a ‘dry spell’.

If you are having diminished income as a result of crop failure, facing more expensive electricity bills, paying even more expensive fuel, blame it on drought. When the water dries, any process which depends on it becomes harder to – well process, and so do the costs attendant to those processes rise.

The supply of many key goods in a developing economy depend on weather, since people there must grow food to eat, process potable liquids, and manufacture objects. Such a society’s haste for a better quality of life carries potential for abuse to the resource, in this case water. Poor usage is a huge factor and leads to a spiralling cycle of increasing vulnerability and; socioeconomic drought .

Examples of behaviour that can lead to socioeconomic drought abound; Locally the sight of tanker lorries pumping fresh water into the Petrotrin Pointe-a-Pierre reservoir to ensure a supply of coolant for the various refineries there, carries with it a benign promise of a raised cost in the end product.

Other not so apparent projections of socioeconomic drought could be that S M Jaleel will raise the selling price of their ubiquitous ‘pop’ to cover stock and asset losses incurred by recent bushfires.
Further across the region Uruguay (1988-99) had to convert their power generation plants from hydropower to diesel fuel. The reason was drought-induced lowering of the river levels and an eventual diminished stream flow to the turbines. The cost then of importing petrol led to the perfect example of socioeconomic drought.

As an aside to the conversation but germane to the topic is the fact that our Government Ministry for Planning and the Environment has nothing substantial on land use since 1980. The image is a screenprint of their site.

In most cases of acute SED, the demand for economic goods is fuelled by greater demand which leads to bigger processes. This syndrome needs great care in the forward planning. While it’s arguable that we in TnT can feed ourselves indefinitely, we cannot if we lose the agricultural land to housing a growing population.

Nor can we reserve scarce water if we pursue larger plants to make consumables for larger countries. The demand on our natural assets by larger populations is not a sustainable consideration for us. Neither is the profligate increased usage of it for industry, given the need for water to purify and lubricate it all.

It does not end there. Socioeconomic drought is exacerbated by other factors beyond a lack of rain and bushfires and overdevelopment of finite resources. The real danger of attracting a terminal case of SED is to neglect the rate of change in the demand supply chain. If the demand is increasing more rapidly than the supply, then the vulnerability and the frequency of SED will increase as the trends converge.

The short answer Trinidad and Tobago of course is to make better use of our natural gifts. Environmentalists have said it many times, so did my parents; ‘Do more with less’, ‘Waste not want not’ and of course, ‘You never miss the water till the well runs dry’.

Drought is not a thing we know of down here, although we may have heard of it, or we may have seen its effects from a vantage point at the front of our televisions. The thing is, drought for us need not become the threat of our lifetime, heaven knows we have enough other things to worry about.

But what is drought really? We usually only see the images of dry desert in the equatorial regions. One easy definition of an arid area; ‘a place which contributes nothing to the waters of the ocean system’ puts Trinidad and Tobago ‘in the cool’ speaking figuratively.

Science tells of three types of drought; Meteorological, Agricultural and Hydrological. These are dry terms for what is essentially the bane of civilizations. While it is accepted that drought is a normal phenomenon, part of natural climate variability, understanding the process can help us stave off its negative effects to some extent.

A insidious aspect of the process of drought is the length of time it takes to show its face. When it’s finally recognised, usually it’s too late for the community where it occurred. At first the symptoms will just be a little less rain, for shorter periods, and in lessening amounts.

At that initial stage expect higher temperatures, greater sunshine, less cloud cover and high winds. Of course the effects of each are already familiar to the people of Trinidad and Tobago – there’s talk of reduced water collection in the reservoirs and the aquifers. There’s been some mention of the high rate of evaporation over the lakes and the ponds. It seems we were introduced to the early days of drought. Or as science would say, Meteorological drought.

The other stage is Agricultural drought. This is where other known factors exacerbate what was the foretelling of ‘Met drought’. Agricultural drought is the period where farming communities will experience a severe loss of moisture in the soils. They will witness stressed plants, reduced growth, and will suffer smaller yields.

When the third stage of drought, Hydrological drought is apparent, then the television is no longer needed, the view is outside the window. The signs are everywhere at that point. Rivers are dry, or almost empty, wetlands are dry, and wildlife has migrated or died.

Drought has its teeth in its very insidiousness. It comes slowly, it affects no one person, it affects all communities and it takes in large geographic plots. There are not enough written laws to protect us from its ravages, nor is enough press given to it – it’s not news until it’s identified by the face of a starving child.

The thing to do is first recognise its onslaught. In Trinidad and Tobago the first time the word was used in context on the local paper, the article headlined; ‘It’s official, T&T now in drought’. In hindsight if enough media was used before the dry periods came then the public’s awareness may have been apprised.

There’s enough material on the symptoms of drought. Bushfire is one topic that comes to mind. These days are all about sirens and shortages on the news. Someone’s house burns in a wildfire and the reporting is sure to gain the media company some impressive figures for viewership or what passes for ratings.

Bushfires are what has prompted this article. Bushfires are the first stage of drought. And bushfires are not what should hold our entire attention since it’s the advance guard of a much bigger problem. Let’s make the slow burn our focus here.   
Here’s more on drought..

[For more of what communities can do about the economic, social and environmental impacts of drought contact Environment Tobago or COPE in Trinidad  ]                               

I really think we’ve been hoodwinked into acquiring a ton of stuff that really is not germane to the situation here in our little developing state populated by my third world peers. When do we get to see our spouses, or they us,  as nature intended? And when we do get around to do what nature intended, was it as a result of strategy, stage dressing or otherwise?

I know I know; I’m using the press even now, but a man can think can he not?  Well my mind struck a particular tangent on natural sex appeal, and the tools the ‘moderns’ must employ to get a rise out of the opposite sex. I’ve been lucky I guess. In my time I got to examine to some depth the subject matter on which I speak, but naked women doing things as nature intended certainly is less of an imposition/impossibility for the rural lass than it is for the city girls.

For the brief period of time today I was virtually in the wilds of the tropical rainforest looking on as the village girls strutted their stuff under the guise of going about everyday business. It was – well stimulating , for want of a better word. But I came back quickly to real life after the pleasant mental stroll taking in the sights of a typical forest settlement.

I took my return journey by route of the local hairdressers shop, and watched unobtrusively as the belles of my time and place prepared for an evening of seduction, or maybe just for their self-upliftment as civilized jargon terms these behaviors. Man, but it looked to be a lot of work, and money.

My point is, Really! Sometimes the simple route is the better one in truth.  I think next time I’ll linger in the forest a bit more and look at my wife or whoever else is getting on without all the layers . Who needs, or wants to spend all that time hitting the bars and the malls in search of coquetry? Chutney and soca is more interesting than  opera any day but then that’s  only in my opinion.

And, in the event some wiseacre asks  - hose to bucket to tree. This is because since being told. we bathe with only the one bucket now. He should have just said of course, ‘Save water, bathe with a friend!’