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The cutting down of trees for decades has taken a serious toll on Saint Lucia’s rivers and authorities continue to grapple with urgent responses to drought, they are warning against further deforestation.
On March 22, the Government of Saint Lucia unveiled a 10-year forest protection plan, to coincide with the observance of World Forest Day activities.
“We have climate change and that’s a major challenge. We have to conserve biodiversity. Of course we have to protect the environmental services and we have to conserve them because they are strongly linked to sustainable development and that is why we developed this 10-year national forest strategy,” said Adams Toussaint, Chief Forestry Officer.
Saint Lucia’s Sustainable Development Minister Dr. James Fletcher said the world must wake up to the fact that forests play a vital role in poverty eradication, environmental sustainability and food security.
“The question of protecting our water supplies and it is so important that this activity falls the day after World Water Day and on World Forest Day, because without the forest there can be no water and without water there will be no forest either and climate change is really impacting on both in different ways,” he said.
Forestry officials describe the decade-long strategy as a detailed plan of action for management of the country’s forests that promotes a healthy, natural environment for a healthy and productive nation. It contains five major strategies: the maintenance of healthy ecosystems and thriving species; the sustainable flows of products that support both the economy and biodiversity conservation; the protection of water supplies, soils and coastal zones; the promotion of awareness, visitation and cultural enrichment; and organizational strengthening of the forestry department.
Saint Lucia’s forest reserve was severely damaged by Hurricane Thomas in 2010. More than 500 acres of forest reserve were lost to landslides. Fast forward to 2016 and despite some restoration work, it is clear that Saint Lucia can ill afford further land degradation.
With serious forest loss, drought, and its accompanying water crisis, forestry officials say the country needs this 10-year forest strategy.
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