The Piton Management Area (PMA) recently hosted the closing ceremony for the UNESCO Participation Project.
On Nov. 1, the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development, along with the Piton Management Area office in Soufriere, held the closing ceremony for the project, which sought to utilize technology for the demarcation of the PMA, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Deborah Charlery, the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Department of Sustainable Development gave an overview of the project.
“This project was submitted through the Office of the Secretary General of the National Commission for UNESCO and was titled “Building Local Capacity in the Use of Science Technology and Innovation (STI), Demarcation and Sustainable Management of Protected Areas, Protected Areas Assets, Improvement and Development of Protected Area Monitoring and Public Education and Awareness Tools.”
Ms. Charlery noted that the approved cost for the project was US$26,000. US$18,000 came from the UNESCO Secretariat and US$8,000 from the Government of Saint Lucia through the Department of Sustainable Development which saw its importance to the PMA. The next phase of the project, she said, is for the engagement with the public through the project outputs.
“The PMA office is currently preparing to launch the project outputs, namely a PMA webpage and an online catalogue of PMA assets that will include an online journal, and an electronic map of geo-references of the existing natural historical and cultural assets of the PMA.”
Youth, schools, and the community was seen as key to the success of the project and students from schools in the south of the island were involved the implementation. The ceremony for the UNESCO participation project, was held at the Stonefield Estate in Soufriere which sits within the PMA, offering invitees one of the many spectacular views of what the area has to offer.
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