By Daryl George
With climate change becoming a reality as Antigua and Barbuda suffers from impacts such as rising sea levels and unsustainable warming, it becomes more and more important to encourage communities around Antigua and Barbuda to support environmental protection through environmental days such as Earth Day, which is held every year on April 22.
The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 after being proposed by peace activist John McConnell, and since then, Earth Day has become a focal point for rallying persons from around the globe for true environmental action.
This year, the theme for Earth Day is “Planet vs Plastics” which aims to encourage persons to significantly reduce and eventually eliminate the use of plastics. One project in Antigua and Barbuda working towards this is the “Building a Community Constituency for Conservation of Fitches Creek Bay and the North East Marine Management Area, Antigua and Barbuda” project.
This project, which is being implemented by the Fitches Creek Residents Association (FCRA), with funding from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) and Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) as regional implementation team, and in collaboration with Integrated Health Outreach (IHO), is taking a multi-faceted approach to encouraging community involvement in waste management and good environmental stewardship in Antigua and Barbuda.
This project focuses on the North East Marine Management Area, or NEMMA, and in particular the Fitches Creek Bay, which is one of the largest watersheds in Antigua and Barbuda.
The NEMMA is one of Antigua and Barbuda’s largest protected areas – containing a number of important land and marine based species. Fitches Creek, as a significant area within the NEMMA, is no exception – with a habitat that hosts a number of rare or endangered species such as the West Indian Whistling Duck and a number of sea turtle species. The area also contains a significant amount of mangrove forests, serving as a base for important fisheries.
However plastic pollution, and pollution in general, threaten this important and biodiverse ecosystem. This is because plastics pose a significant threat to both the natural environment and human health. Plastics can cause long-term pollution and crowd landfills, leading many persons to improperly dispose of these waste materials.
As plastics break down into microplastics, they also release toxic chemicals, negatively affecting the health of many species in the natural environment, and also directly and indirectly making their way into the food and water sources, affecting human health.
Not only are there cases of individuals disposing of garbage that makes its way into this critical watershed, but there are a number of cases of bulk waste being dumped directly into the mangrove ecosystem. The project will promote biodiversity conservation through actions such as mangrove tree planting, organising community clean-ups, and setting up cameras to catch and report illegal dumping.
All of this work will be spearheaded by the community members who call the Fitches Creek area home, with a focus on empowering and supporting community members to lead the way in protecting their community and surrounding environment.
Of great importance will also be the need to ensure that all community members are involved – including those persons living with disabilities and young persons. FCRA community members will be encouraged to take part in capacity building activities such as the fully funded conservation course being supported by the IHO.
Other organisations such as the IHO Nature Rangers and Good Humans 268 have also provided invaluable support on the project.
This work comes against the backdrop of Antigua and Barbuda hosting the upcoming fourth International Conference of Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) conference, raising awareness of the unique environmental challenges faced by small island states like Antigua and Barbuda.
According to Clement Samuel, Chairperson of the FCRA, “Community action for the conservation of biodiversity, such as the FCRA project, is critical to the fight in protecting our planet against plastics and other pollution”.
So what can we do for this Earth Day 2024? Don’t just be a spectator – take action!
- Join a clean-up
- Volunteer for a group or project such as the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG)
- Report anyone you see littering plastics or any other pollutants to the litter control and prevention hotline via phone call/WhatsApp at 727-2467.
So this year – let us all play our part in supporting the Planet vs Plastics, and make our communities cleaner and healthier for 2024.