PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is reporting progress in its bid to stem the incidents of river poisoning in the Rio Grande Valley, Portland, even as it admits that there are still hurdles to cross.

“Most of the communities perceive a reduction (in the practice of river poisoning) and view the project favourably,” said Kimberly John, the sustainable waters programme manager with TNC, referring to the preliminary results of a mid-project review.

She was speaking with Career & Education Tuesday, at a workshop to look at the status of national biodiversity strategies and action plans across the Caribbean .

It was in 2006 that TNC first brought to the public’s attention the fact that river poisoning was threatening the livelihood and health of farmers and other residents of the Rio Grande Valley, while announcing its implementation of the multimillion dollar project to help remedy the situation.

That project, dubbed ‘Waters for life: eliminating river poisoning in Jamaica ‘s Rio Grande Valley’, has seen the implementation of a public education campaign targeting local people. The campaign has seen TNC engaging the people through a series of community meetings and a variety of printed material, including brochures that illustrate how the use of damaging agents, such as bleach and other hazardous chemicals, undermine fish stock. A video illustrating the plight of farmers and their experience with river poisoning was also developed to broaden public awareness of the issue.

Beyond the public education campaign, TNC has also facilitated a workshop of other stakeholders, including judges and clerks of court, to help enhance the enforcement of regulations on river poisoning. That workshop was held between April and October this year, in collaboration with the Management Institute for National Development (MIND). MIND not only designed the training, but also certified it.

John noted that the calls now being received from outside communities in the Rio Grande Valley was testimony to the success of the programme, certainly as it concerns public awareness of the threat of poisoning to rivers.

“Now that we have a lot more information, we are getting calls from outside the project area (from people who want access to material and assistance),” she said, adding that the inquiries were coming from parishes like St Thomas and St Mary.

But the project, which cost US$94,000 to run in its first year of operation, and which is to cost US$96,000 in this its second and final year, is not without its challenges, including getting river wardens mobile. There has also been the failure, to date, to properly engage people who are consuming poisoned fish in the valley.

“Engagement with the demand side has not got off the ground yet,” admitted John. “This is something that we pretty much contracted the JCDT (Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust) to do and I feel that they have just had capacity issues to implement that part of it (the project).”

It is costing an estimated JA$78,000 to get that aspect of the project off the ground.

The TNC, meanwhile, has been looking to help people identify alternative livelihoods that would see them less reliant on fish for their economic survival. John said they would address this through partnership with the Jamaica Business Development Centre (JBDC).

“We have a clear idea of how to stimulate local entrepreneurship. We were able to work out with the JBDC how we could provide coaching and mentoring,” she said.

Against this background, they will host an expo inside the Rio Grande Valley within the next two weeks to bring people up to speed on a variety of entrepreneurship options available to them.

“(The expo will introduce people) to the kind of entrepreneurship skills and training to the residents of the Rio Grande ,” she said.

John added that alternatives include agro-processing on a local scale. Products that could be looked at, she said, include bananas, plantain and dasheen.

The expo is to be followed by two training sessions looking at business planning, product development and marketing, among other relevant areas.