By Theresa Goodwin
The concept used to transform the historic Wallings Reservoir area into the country’s first ever community-led national park that has attracted regional and international attention, could be replicated elsewhere outside of Antigua and Barbuda.
This following a declaration from the Executive Director of the Wallings Nature Reserve, Refica Attwood, who declared on Monday: “I am no longer interested in the development of the Wallings Forestry area and I say this without water in my mouth and without fear or favour. I have done enough”.
While indicating that she is considering relocating to another country where her talents and expertise would be better appreciated, Attwood added that the future of the Wallings Nature Reserve Incorporated, which manages the development at Wallings, would not be affected by this decision, because the company is “not tied to the Wallings Forestry area; we were doing the government a favour to do a community tourism project. So, even if we move from Wallings that will not shut down the company”.
Atwood indicated that the current situation stems from a back and forth between the company and the Ministry of Agriculture regarding the permanent use of the facility which falls under the ministry’s purview.
The Wallings Nature Reserve Incorporated had a temporary arrangement with the ministry; however, Atwood said they have been working for quite some time to get something more permanent.
The matter resurfaced recently triggering this latest response from Attwood.
In a social media post on the weekend, she shared that a newly installed legal officer at the ministry reached out to her via WhatsApp to discuss the Wallings project.
On Monday, she claimed that the official went as far as to contact one of the project’s donors requesting information about the relationship with the Wallings Nature Reserve.
“The area that we are operating on is on Crown land and the matter that took the cake was them wanting to bring a suit against doing reforestation at Signal Hill. The ministry that is in charge of food security has a problem with reforestation,” Attwood said.
When Observer media reached out to the Ministry of Agriculture for comment, an official there confirmed that the longstanding issue over the project at Wallings is being handled by the department’s legal team.