Forty-Third Annual General Meeting of the Saint Lucia National Trust Report of the Chairperson, Alison King PROGRAMME REPORTS CONSERVATION The Conservation Department continues to maintain and monitor our sites. Tree risk assessments and management exercises were done at Pigeon Island and Morne Pavillon to improve overall forest health and visitor safety. Tools and equipment were procured and maintained regularly to improve on productivity. A new trail was created at the PINL from the Signal Peak train to the Two Gun Battery. This project was fully funded by LUCELEC. Built Heritage: Listing of Buildings The Register of Historic Buildings produced in 2014 was updated as part of a summer internship programme with seven students from Sir Arthur Lewis Community College- Division of Technical Education and Management Studies. Other collaborators on this initiative were the Department of Surveys and the Land Registry in the Ministry of Physical Development. These agencies provided much needed support to help address the data gaps that existed from the initial Assessment. Their support for this activity resulted in completion of the current dataset of Historic Building in Saint Lucia. Further support for this initiative was provided by Fauna and Flora International (FFI), with a donation of smart phones equipped with the open source software called Cyber tracker, to assist in collating data for the assessments of historic buildings island wide. A focus group comprising stakeholders from local cultural heritage organizations and the legal officer in the Department of Physical Development met to review the draft legislation for the conservation of historic buildings, objects and sites. This work is continuing. Married Women’s Quarters The Office of the Prime Minister requested support from a friendly government to provide funding to undertake an engineering assessment at the Married Women’s Quarters, to make recommendations for remedial measures to address the structural damage to the building and to develop architectural and engineering plans for its restoration. This will be the next step in fulfilment of our mandate to convert the property into a national museum. Fort Rodney Restoration - In 2016 the south east corner of Fort Rodney collapsed. Mr. John Martin, a Trust member from the UK and a master craftsman in the restoration of historic buildings volunteered his services to restore the fort. We tried unsuccessfully to get the building technology faculty and students from the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College engaged in this project to develop skills in lime mortar technology. However, two local masons and staff of the Trust worked along with Mr Martin, so some skills transfer was achieved. Mr Martin also visited the St Mary’s College, the Catholic Church and a first generation sugar mill at Ti-Tou in Laborie to examine the structures and make recommendations to correct structural deficiencies. Of the Week This initiative was implemented to foster appreciation and awareness of our heritage. It took the form of weekly postings of images and descriptions of our cultural heritage on Instagram and Facebook. The feedback was quite encouraging. Oral Mobile History and Photo Voice The Conservation and Advocacy departments participated in a project titled “Community Elicitation through Oral Mobile and Photo Voice”, implemented by the Cultural Development Foundation with sponsorship provided by the Organization of American States (OAS). This project seeks to protect and promote the cultural heritage of Saint Lucia. The general topic for the activity was entitled “Wooden Treasures”. Ten youngsters from the communities of Soufriere and Choiseul conducted audio-visual interviews and recorded community appreciation of distinctive aspects of Saint Lucia's built heritage. The information gathered will be exhibited and thereafter shared with the Ministry of Tourism to promote sites with historic assets. Walcott Place Regular tours have resumed at Walcott House following the January 2019 Nobel Laureate Festival activities. The Castries Constituency Council continues to support our efforts to maintain the building and to keep it open, but with the apparent disappearance of the funds which was under government’s management, to support this project, our continued investments in this initiative may have to be revisited. The Julia and Edward Parris Scholarship is still offered to student from the Grass Street Community. The Trust is working with the Grass Street Development Association to identify new applicants for the Programme annually. Unfortunately, there was, and continue to be political influences on the Committee which make it all but dysfunctional. Natural Heritage: Fer-de-Lance Snake (Bothrops caribbaeus) Although this project is completed, we continue to receive requests for training in Snake Bite Safety, which we provide in collaboration with the Forestry Department. Additional Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for snakebite safety was handed over to the Forestry Department for use when handling the species. White Breasted Thrasher As we reported last year, the Trust continued to work with the Lorax Club from Dennery in initiatives to protect this species. During this year we conducted training sessions with the Club members, developed brochures and produced exercise books promoting White Breasted Thrasher conservation and constructed models of the bird for display. We also entered into a partnership with Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Forestry and Lands Department to implement communications and outreach under a Betty Petersen Conservation funded project which will be implemented by Durrell. PSEPA Management Plan Implementation The Saint Lucia National Trust provided technical support to the Au Picon Charcoal and Agricultural Producers Group to implement two donor funded projects. The first was funded by the Global Environment Facility/Small Grants Programme (GEF/SGP) and sought to build the capacity of charcoal producers to propagate seedlings for replanting. Eighteen charcoal farmers participated in the training. The second initiative provided support to the same group to build capacity in Apiculture. It was funded by the Direct Aid Programme from the Government of Australia. These initiatives added new skills and livelihood opportunities for the farmers operating within the Ma Kote Mangrove. Species Conservation The Trust received grant funding from the Organisation of American States (OAS) under their Reef Check programme to implement a Marine Turtle Conservation Programme. Project activities included marine turtle awareness, marine turtle nesting and hatching data collection, policy review on the management of marine turtles, rapid sea food assessment survey, and CARICOM networking for improved marine turtle conservation. Saint Lucia Coalition of Civil Society Organisations: During this period, project implementation continued with the CSO mentorship training programme conducted along with the production of a Public Outreach and Communication plan. Additional activities included a review of the National NGO Act, and training in Human Rights reporting. Training - Staff within the Conservation Department received training in the following areas: • Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) for improved conservation and mapping of trends • National Environmental Information Systems under the GEF funded Multilateral Environmental Agreements Project – contribution of environmental data to national data for monitoring of MEAs; Scenario Planning for Environmental Management • BIOPAMA Protected Areas Management Effectiveness Training (PAME) – improve monitoring and management of protected areas • Doing Work Well training Grant Proposal Writing: Four grant proposals were written seeking international major donor funding in the following areas: • Mexican Embassy Heritage Conservation and associated livelihoods project • Caribbean Biodiversity Fund Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) facility Proposal – PINL and PSEPA • Mohammed Fund Proposal – for the protection of the White Breasted Thrasher Project proposal for the development of the married Women’s Quarters COMMUNICATIONS & ADVOCACY Conservation Talk On February 12, 2019, seven members from Corinth Secondary School Environmental Club received a Talk on the Trust’s natural heritage conservation and advocacy work as well as a guided tour of Pigeon Island National Landmark by one of our Customer Service and Safety Representatives. Advocacy Support – Raising Awareness about Ocean Conservation We provided support to the National Conservation Authority (NCA) to carry out the ‘Protecting Paradise: A Beach Education & Action Campaign’ from February 26, 2019 – April 8, 2019. On February 26, 2019 one hundred and twenty-six (126) students participated in a movie screening of Our Blue Planet at the Caribbean Cinema. This BBC documentary highlighted human impacts on the oceans worldwide and introduced some of the scientists and innovators working to protect our ocean resources. Thereafter, there was a Questions & Answer Session with resource persons from various agencies including the Trust. The participating schools were: Marchand Combined, Corinth Secondary, Gros Islet Secondary, Dennery Primary, Leon Hess Comprehensive and Piaye Secondary. A Beach Education Day was staged on March 7th at Vigie Beach. There were 53 students from the Marchand Combined, Corinth Secondary and Gros Islet Secondary schools. They spent 2 hours at Vigie Beach learning about the issues facing beach