VI environment to benefit from EU fund

The BVI National Parks Trust on Tuesday signed a contract with the European Union , making the Virgin Islands one of three territories to benefit from an environmental programme backed by the Ninth European Development Fund.

The VI will receive about $780,000 from the European Commission to help promote sustainable development, according to NPT Director Joseph Smith-Abbott.

“The overall objective of the project is to fulfill international environmental agreements and in so doing support sustainable development in the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands,” Mr. Smith-Abbott said.

The project will be implemented here though a grant contract with the NPT, he explained.

The initiative has two main prongs: protecting endangered ecosystems and encouraging low-impact types of economic development.

In the VI, the project will focus on areas including Copper Mine Point, Gorda Peak and The Baths on Virgin Gorda; the Iguana Headstart Facility on Anegada; and Sage Mountain on Tortola, according to the director.

 

See tomorrow’s edition for full coverage.