Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter
Geina Sanguinetti (left), vice-president of the Jamaica Institute of Environmental Professionals (JIEP), and Peter Reeson (cente), president, look on as Marcia Creary, conference manager, announces plans for the upcoming JIEP national conference on the environment at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, yesterday. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE PORTLAND Environment Protection Association has received a grant of $2.1 million from the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ). This is to be used for rehabilitating the wildlife habitats in the parish which were destroyed by Hurricane Ivan last September.
The funds will be put toward the planting and protection of endemic and local plant species in Portland. The EFJ project will also restore and add to the in vivo germ bank, which is a genetic library of plants, located at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education, by replanting significant habitat for birds and dependent organisms, including feed trees.
A Biodiversity Education Programme will be developed to include in-school presentations, teacher training and biodiversity lesson plans. Tree-planting and seed collection will be conducted in schools and an instruction manual will be developed with lesson plans for biodiversity and conservation with a focus on species endemic to Jamaica.
The project will run for 18 months.
