Peace Corps/Jamaica Contributes To Earth Day Celebration Through Its Environmental Awareness Programme
Peace Corps/Jamaica Contributes To Earth Day Celebration Through Its Environmental Awareness Programme
Peace Corps collaborates with government, non-governmental and international organisations to reduce environmental degradation and to promote sustainable and prudent natural resource management practices.
In pursuit of these goals Peace Corps Volunteers have served with dedication and excellence in two declared National Parks: Blue John Crow Mountains and the Montego Bay Marine Park, during their embryonic stages. Pioneering service was also rendered to the Portland Environmental Protection Association (PEPA), St. Thomas Environmental Protection Association (STEPA) and the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT) among others.
Most recently Peace Corps has collaborated with 4H Jamaica in their Central and Eastern regions, promoting environmental awareness, vermicomposting and organic gardening. The 4H organization has incorporated environmental projects into their achievement programme and hopefully it will become a national event in the near future.
The Highgate Park Environmental Education Centre in Sligoville, offering nature tourism, environment education, camping facilities and organic farming, is a demonstration of a Peace Corps/Community collaboration. The schools for the Environment Project (SEP) jointly organized by JCDT and the Jamaica Environmental Trust (JET) implemented in over 270 educational institutions, has been supported by Peace Corps. This project involves over 100,000 teachers and students in the "greening" of their school surroundings, appropriate waste management practices, research and outreach programmes.
The Peace Corps environmental sector is growing and it is planned to have volunteers engaged in community initiated environmental projects as well as activities which support the United States AID/NEPA Ridge to Reef project.
