Bio-diversity

As part of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) project, The Cropper Foundation, in partnership with the University of the West Indies (St.Augustine), The Environmental Management Authority, The Tropical Re-Leaf Foundation and the Trust for Sustainable Livelihoods, is conducting an ecological and socio-economic assessment of the Northern Range of Trinidad, one of the 25 sub-global sites selected in the MEA project. This assessment considers the forces that impact on the Northern Range as an ecosystem, and its capacity to continue to provide the goods and services on which its communities and the society as a whole depend. Three communities were consulted during this assessment, one of which was Bon Air North, Arouca. In a continuation of the Northern Range Assessment a sustainable living project has been initiated for Bon Air North in the Lopinot Valley. The project aims: To facilitate this community in its interest to actively participate in its own development To support the residents in exploring and creating livelihood opportunities, while improving the natural environment and building the community s sense of place, collective identity, and communal forms of governance To contribute to methodology and best practice for involving and supporting communities towards sustainable development that might be useful for application in other locations.

Trinidad and tobago