Civil engineer Jonathan Barcant talks about the partnerships needed to restore natural environments. Life-changing experiences while working in extractive industries brought him to a quest for green engineering solutions. Now, he is part of a growing army of champions for the restoration of nature. He talks with Anjani Ganase.
How did you get into this field?
I am a civil engineer, specialised in soils, water and environment. After leaving university, I took a job with a large engineering company in Canada, where the main projects I worked on were in the mining industry. Within a couple years, I realised that my work was contributing to degradation and loss. I found myself desperately searching for green engineering solutions. This lead me to vetiver grass and the Vetiver System (VS) as a very unique green infrastructure approach.
My company Vetiver TT Ecological Engineering Solutions Ltd specialises in the use of vetiver grass which can create livelihood opportunities for communities: from planting to making craft and specialty products. It completely captured me, and I became obsessed with it for a long time.
This eventually landed me in a large mining project in Panama in 2012, the construction of the second largest copper mine in the world, in the middle of the rainforest. I’d pushed to get there to promote vetiver grass as a regenerative solution. While I learned a lot and fell in love with the country, the destruction I saw first-hand in that project was more than I could bear. This drove me to shift my attention towards environmental and climate action, and land restoration. So after about seven years of doing this through my company Vetiver TT and the NGO IAMovement, I find myself in a position where I think I can contribute positively.
What is IAMovement?
IAMovement is a non-profit organisation founded in 2014 by a group of young professionals with the goal of effecting positive social and environmental change in Trinidad and Tobago. Since then, IAMovement has become one of the leading civil society organisations driving action on climate in TT through advocacy, education and awareness, and working with communities on the ground.
[caption id="attachment_895566" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Jonathan Barcant, second from left, managing director of IAMovement with Quarry Rehabilitation Champions (from left) Leann Lucas-Manick, Dianna Duprey-McKane and Lystra Dawn Johnson. -[/caption]
Our projects and activities to date have focused in two areas – climate mitigation, driving education and awareness on energy efficiency and renewables in a local context; and climate adaptation – using the VS and Vetiver Education and Empowerment Project (VEEP) model to build resilience in rural communities.
Can you share more about the current work IAMovement is doing with quarry rehabilitation?
The IWEco TT Rehabilitation of Quarries project in the Sangre Grande area has been an opportunity for a partnership involving NGOs, government, international agencies and private sector business, and communitie
