Category: Cove Estate

In search of a Kilgywn management plan

April 4, 2010 by Bertrand Bhikarry

 It was just a few years ago. In 2007 Environment Tobago (ET) was  mobilising towards active participation with the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) in a vaunted co-management deal for the Kilgywn marsh. It would have been a big deal for everyone. Co-management was very much in the news at the time, and the NGO would have been on the cutting edge of environmental stewardship, as far as RAMSAR guidelines went. 

So it got lost in the shuffle if the signs are anything to go by. In spite of having the Memorandum of Understanding  in their hands since then, the legal department of the Tobago House  of Assembly has been very busy with other things, unfortunately for Kilgywn and ET.

Never in stasis, this resilient little group has come to terms with the realisation that a partnership is not what the THA wants. The signs are obvious. The Forestry Division of the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (DNRE) has been making overtures for the construction of 'recreational facilities' at the Kilgywn coast, and it's very much an in-house affair.

In what's now the typical approach, there has been no long-term planning, no community input, nor has it taken into account the varied nuances, the other factors which can impact the future user; like crime in the area. That the THA can disregard all the recommendations of the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) for the best use of the area justifies the old saw; "To the man with a hammer all problems are nails."   {Read more}