Saint Lucia’s push for eco-sustainability got a financial boost on Friday when the St Lucia Environmental and Agricultural Foundation received a grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme.
The EC$13,500 grant will support the design of a national project focused on sustainable agriculture and coastal zone management. The project will include research, consultation workshops, and help for the foundation in developing a business model.
After the design phase, the grant recipients will submit a full proposal to the GEF for a US$45,000 (EC$121,614.75) implementation grant. Giles Romulus, the project’s National Coordinator, told St Lucia Times that this is just the beginning of a larger effort. Once the grant was awarded, Romulus held a seminar to guide recipients on the next steps for developing the project.
“This is the beginning of a long relationship with this group, and we are hoping that because the group works all over Saint Lucia, they will demonstrate how to use resources sustainably and also build the capacity of other groups that have similar missions and visions for Saint Lucia,” he said.
Romulus also said the project supports the country’s goals for food security and sustainable agriculture.
“When you are small, you need to take care of what you have even more consciously and in a more rigorous, focused way,” he said. “Therefore, what they are trying to do is say, ‘Okay, we have limited space, we have limited land, we have limited soil. Let us find a way to use the soil in a sustainable way and to produce produce that has minimum or zero toxic chemicals in it’. This will not, for example, later down the road contribute to cancer cases in Saint Lucia and other morbidity issues. So, this project has both a food security and, in many respects, a nutritional security and health component. But most importantly, it is about taking care of what we have.”
Cherica Toussaint, president of the St Lucia Environmental and Agricultural Foundation, expressed gratitude for the grant opportunity.
“I stand here today with immense gratitude. We are very honoured in receiving these grants, and I hope that it serves as a powerful catalyst for a more sustainable Saint Lucia and a healthier environment.”
