• Programmes
  
  
• Thematic Programmes
  
  
  • Forests and livelihoods
    
    
• Forest and Livelihoods Regional Conference
  
  
• Improving policy and institutional capacity for participatory forest management
  
  
• Practices and policies that improve forest management and the livelihoods of the rural poor
  
  
• Building capacity for participatory forest management for good governance in the Caribbean region
  
  
• The sustainable forest management planning project
  
  
• Regional knowledge sharing initiative on improved governance and influencing policy for community forestry and sustainable forest-based livelihoods
  
  
• Capacity building for watershed management stakeholders in Trinidad and Tobago
  
  
• Technical Assistance Projects
  
  
• Coastal and marine governance and livelihoods
  
  
• Strategy Programmes
  
  
• Issue Programmes

FORESTS & LIVELIHOODS

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

• Project concept note
• 1-day national workshop report
• Capacity Assessment of groups participating in the project
• Capacity building for watershed management stakeholders in Trinidad and Tobago 1st. Training workshop
• 1st Communication workshop report
• 2nd Communication workshop report
• Community showcase report

Related News Releases

Press release: RBC promotes Watershed Conservation

Press release: RBC Blue Water Project grant for CANARI

Facebook

• We are all part of the watershed
• Stakeholders develop plans to improve their capacity
• Watershed groups sharpen communication skills in workshop
• Watershed groups prepare communication products
• We are all part of the watershed: Part 1 - Water in my life
• We are all part of the watershed: Part 2 - The waters of the Northern Range

• We are all part of the watershed: Part 3 - Who is the "we" in the watershed?

• We are all part of the watershed: Part 4 - Our role

YouTube

• Techniques in erosion control
• Capacity building for watershed managers
• Community action in our watersheds of Trinidad and Tobago
• Evaluation by project participants

For more information, contact:         Nicole Leotaud   -   [email protected]