THE ST ANN's community-based Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project (FACRP) has engaged private- and public-sector stakeholders for its second series of consultations to develop a comprehensive draft national bush and forest fire policy (DNBFF).
Earlier this month the FACRP, led by co-founder and executive director Akilah Jaramogi, hosted a workshop for a number of crucial stakeholders from the police and fire services, the Environmental Management Authority, the Ministry of Agriculture's Forestry Division and the Institute of Marine Affairs, among others.
It was staged in partnership with UWI's Institute of Gender and Development Studies (IGDS).
Technical director and environmentalist Kemba Jaramogi told Newsday the second of three workshops was designed "to (measure) how we're doing with this policy; where we're going; what can be done differently; what more needs to be added; and what type of work they (public stakeholders) are doing to complement the work we're suggesting or promoting in the policy.
"The original idea is that we wanted to set up a national fire management plan, and then, because the pandemic started, we had to switch gears and we thought, 'What better way to have that concrete, long-term impact?'"
Among the main goals of the draft policy are: to reduce the frequency, intensity and prevalence of bush and forest fires (BFF) in TT; improve co-ordination of BFF management resources, knowledge and skills among stakeholders; updating the legislative framework governing BFF; develop an integrated technology-enabled system for BFF monitoring and data-sharing; and increasing participation of the public in BFF management.
Although the FACRP wants to complete the draft policy by next July or August, Jaramogi is wary, knowing policies can and do sometimes take decades to be implemented.
And, apart from adopting a policy, Jaramogi said, there is the important matter of policing and enforcement, which has proven the biggest hurdles in preventing and combating forest and bush fires.
"In terms of looking at policing and holding people accountable, long-time you could've said, 'That's a man from the community,' and you hold him and carry him to the police station...
"Now (you have) a situation where there is so much disaggregation in communities; you don't have the gelling in communities like you used to. You have people moving out and moving in.
"In terms of policing, we really need the State to play an active role just because people are more careful for (their safety)."
Policy consultant Taresa Best explained the relationship between the FACRP and UWI's IGDS in developing the policy.
"One of our greatest challenges when it comes to all policies is the inability for us to conceptualise the different ways in which any issue affects men equally, differently and in (different) contexts.
"So what you found is that in the last ten years, the UN has made a point of implementing and promoting the implementation of policies from a gender-mainstreaming perspective.
"It's not about
