The preservation of Barbados’ beauty and natural resources are high on the National Conservation Commission’s (NCC) agenda this year.
Speaking during a presentation to winners of the NCC’s Christmas Sales Promotion, at its Codrington House, St. Michael headquarters yesterday, General Manager of the NCC, Keith Neblett, said the Commission intended to undertake and continue a number of initiatives to achieve this year.
Among those initiatives outlined by the General Manager were the development of an informational booklet for the public on the basic and cost effective things they could do to conserve their environment, an extension of the NCC’s photovoltaic project and the conservation of water at public beach facilities.
Mr. Neblett explained that the NCC would be looking to work with officials from the Ministry of Energy to extend its photovoltaic project to power the security lights at 11of its sites throughout the island.
??In addition, he said the Commission would also be looking to continue its water harvesting project which was launched last year and collects 10, 000 gallons of rain water for use in the watering of plants at the NCC.
"In times when things are so tight in the economy, we are doing our part in reducing the amount of water, and in reducing the amount of electricity. We are also hoping to deal with some of those people who go on the beaches from day-to-day and waste the water," the General Manager pointed out.
He lamented that there were people who spent 15 minutes with water running at full volume. "That is unacceptable in this day when Barbados is one of the most water scarce countries in the world. We have tried all systems and it hasn’t worked, so we have to work with moral suasion to encourage our public to conserve water," he said.
Meanwhile, there are also plans to plant approximately 5, 000 trees as the NCC continues its efforts to preserve and maintain Barbados’ natural resources.
He stressed that the NCC’s primary goal last year was to try to use the term "conservation" and develop a lot of its programmes.