Jamaican communities are to be the beneficiaries of an “Environmental Education Manual” prepared by the St Ann Environmental Protection Association (STAEPA) with support from the Coastal Water Quality Improvement Project (CWIP).

Dr Scott McCormick, chief of party of CWIP, presented the manuals last week to Gina Sanguinette, director of the Secretariat for the National Environmental Education Committee (NEEC) set up by NEPA to promote environmental education in Jamaica.

CWIP is a project funded jointly by the United States Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Government of Jamaica’s National Environment & Planning Agency (NEPA). It has, since 1998, been working with a number of local agencies to improve the quality of key natural resources in areas that are both environmentally and economically significant by supporting watershed, coastal waters and solid waste management initiatives.

STAEPA is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation that seeks to promote the protection and responsible use of resources in Jamaica, and particularly in St Ann, through education, advocacy and environmental conservation activities. The agency is particularly well known in the area of environmental education and has worked extensively with community groups in areas such as environmental monitoring and reporting, wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, advocacy and conservation action. The Discovery Bay Marine Lab (DBML) assisted CWIP administer the grant to produce the manual.

The manual provides practical tools for increasing awareness of sustainable development, coastal zone management, improving water quality, land use and watershed protection, waste management, marine resource conservation and environmental management systems.

Dr Scott McCormick described the Environmental Education Manual as “a catalyst for successful community-based initiatives which have direct positive impact on water quality, operate according to sound business management strategies, and lead to improved coastal water quality and sustainable development in the communities.”

“The manual prepared by STAEPA, will ensure that appropriate environmental education programmes complement the community efforts,” he said.

STAEPA Executive Director Wendy Lee noted that the manual was prepared following an intensive four-phase programme.

In phases one and two, the agency focused on researching and writing the draft manual, preparing its members to present the material and testing it with specially targeted groups.

The third and fourth phases, Lee explained, focused on review and rewriting, more training of presenters and presentations to wider target groups. “The final product,” she said, “has been tried and tested and should be a tremendous help to communities in developing programmes to preserve and protect their environment”.