~~Adz:Left~~ Basseterre, St. Kitts (January 30, 2008): Residents of Old Road and nearby communities are being invited to an OECS Protected Areas and Alternative Livelihoods (OPAAL) outreach consultation where income earners for the Central Forest Reserve area will be on the agenda.
Job opportunities may be tourism-related and can include rainforest tours, craft and food vending, trail maintaining and security.
The public discussion takes place Monday, February 4 at the Old Road Community Centre at 7:00 p.m. Officials from the Department of Physical Planning and Environment will be investigating the range of business opportunities as well as other areas of importance pertaining to the Central Forest Reserve (CFR) area of St. Kitts.
The CFR is all lands above the 1,000 feet contour mark and includes the three volcanic ranges and the range of hills extending from Mount Liamigua in the North West through Verchilds Mountain in the middle range to Olivees Mountain in the South East. The area covers a land space of approximately 50 km2 or 12,500 acres, almost a quarter of the entire landmass of St. Kitts.
St. Kitts and Nevis was the first of the six participating OECS counties countries to have its CFR site gazetted. This took place October 4, 2007.
The overall OPAAL project has the objective of contributing to the conservation of biodiversity of global importance in the OECS region by removing barriers to the effective management of protected areas. It also encourages the involvement of civil society and the private sector in the planning, management and sustainable use of protected areas. The project also has an objective of contributing to the economic development in the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the OECS region.
The benefits of OPAAL include local community participation in managing protected areas, rural poverty reduction, and livelihood opportunities for those associated with protected areas improved.~~Adz:Right~~
The OPAAL Community Outreach Consultation scheduled for Monday, February 04 falls under information dissemination aspect of the project.
An official of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Environment explained to SKNIS that Old Road may be the first location in a series of consultations, depending on the public’s response. Five other communities where OPAAL could have a direct impact are Newton Ground and St. Paul’s, Dieppe Bay and Parsons, Saddlers, Halfway Tree and Middle Island.
