CASTRIES, ST. LUCIA, 8 May 2024- St. Lucia has hosted a validation workshop on May 07, 2024, on actions to be implemented within the three (3) Intervention. Thirty-seven (37) local stakeholders, including farmers, policymakers, and environmental advocates participated in the workshop. The workshop is part of the Caribbean Small Island Developing States (CSIDS) Multi-country Soil Management Initiative for Integrated Landscape Restoration and Climate Resilient Food Systems (SOILCARE, Phase 1), implemented by the Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management (PISLM). It was executed in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development.
Participants were exposed to the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework, which guides the identification of appropriate management responses and facilitates ecosystem-based assessments for the intervention sites in St. Lucia. The objectives of the workshop were: to brief stakeholders on DPSIR analysis; present findings on land capability and soil fertility in each assessment unit in the intervention sites; discuss the planned SSM/SLM strategies for each intervention site; and draft a Procurement plan for intervention actions. The three (3) intervention sites Darban, Agri-Entrepreneurship and Climate Smart Agriculture Department Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, Mabouya Valley, Dennery , and Roseau will directly benefit from SOILCARE interventions.
Project Manager for the Soil Care Phase 1 Project Trevor Thompson, said this workshop gave the organisation, “The approval needed to begin activities in the intervention sites, which include procurement of materials and equipment that will help and promote sustainable soil and land management, while at the same time improving the livelihoods of St. Lucian farmers.”
Describing the workshop as a significant step in the shared regional journey towards more sustainable land management systems, Minister Hon. Alfred Prospere- Chairman of the Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management (PISLM) and Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development Division of Forests and Land Resources Development of St. Lucia explained, “ The project is timely and critical for us as a country, considering the focus and emphasis on food security.”
“The DSIR recommendations will help shape a better St. Lucia for us all; given the focus on food and food security as we will not be able to survive if we cannot address the low productivity of our soils,” he added.
The workshop is a significant step towards a more sustainable and resilient future for St. Lucia. Through strategic interventions, the project aims to restore 29,000 hectares of land and 26,000 hectares of landscape under improved practices in the 7 of the participating countries. Consequently, the project will target approximately 3000 hectares of land in St. Lucia under Component 3 and 1500 hectares under Component 4. This entails the application of appropriate soil and land management practices to improve soil health, increase crop production and reverse land degradation in the identified intervention sites. The Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management will continue to work with Caribbean SIDS including St. Lucia to assist them with achieving Land Degradation Neutrality LDN and Climate Resilience.
