United States
Environmental
Agency
Administration And
Policies, Lega Authorities,
And Structures For
Environmental
Management In
Trinidad And Tobago
Prepared for the Govern men of Trinidad and Tobago
Ministry of the Environment ;md National Service
Submitted by
C. Morgan Kinghorn, Jr.
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Adr linistration
and Resources Management
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Consultant to the
Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization
May 23, - June 2, 1989
Printed on Recycled Paper i
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LEGAL AUTHORITIES^
s FOR %
MANAGEMENT IN' ' ' "*•
AND TOBAGO
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Gcihsultaiit to-the
Amencan'Healfli: OrganM
UNEP-lnfoterra/USA Library
U.S. EPA
1200 Penn. Ave.. NW MC-3404T
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
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Policies, Legal Authorities and Structures
for Environmental Management in
Trinidad and Tobago
Chapter I
Introduction
Organization, Structure and
Purpose of the Consultation
Chapter II
Executive Summary
The State of the Environment in Trinidad and Tobago
The Current Status of Environmental
Management
The Legislative Basis >:br Action
Environmental Management
The Key Processes
An Approach to Environmental
Manage'ment
Environmental Action
'Chapter III
The State of the
Environment in
Trinidad and Tobago
The Environmental Framework
The Need to Define trm Problem
An Environmental Philosophy
The Importance of Prevention
The Role of the Public Sector
The Broader Regional ,and International Perspective
The Importance of Information.
Chapter IV
The Current Status of
Environmental
Management in
Trinidad and Tobago
Background
The Process of Analysis
An Environmental Management Consensus
Confusing Words with Deeds
Rationale for Continued Progress
*The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the view; of the United States Environmental Protection
Agency or PAHO/WHO. They are the views of the author. This Report is printed on recycled paper.
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Policies, Legal Authorities and Structures
for Environmental Management in
Trinidad and Tobago
Chapter V
The Legislative
Basis for Action
Statement of Policy
Administrative Structure
Prohibition of Pollution
Importance of the Acts
Conclusions
Chapter VI
Environmental
Management:
Choices
for the Future
Management or Consultation
Managing the Leadership Function
Building an Infrastructure
The Public at Large
Non governmental Groups
The Private Sector
The Press
The International Community
Environmental Health
Chapter VII
The Key Processes:
Creating the
Infrastructure
The Basic Foundation
Environmental Planning
Information and Data
Human Resources
Financing Environmental Management
Compliance Strategy
Chapter VIII
A Blueprint for
Environmental
Action
Traditional Environmental Management
New Industrial Development
The Control of Industrial Pollution
Environmental Action
A Management Structure
Appendices
Draft Prohibition and Control of Pollution Act
Draft Environmental Protection Policy Act
A-l
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~ 4
This consultation was under-
taken at the request of the Ministry of
Environment and National Service to
the Pan American Health Organiza-
tion/World Health Organization for
technical assistance to review the cur-
rent status of environmental manage-
ment in Trinidad and Tobago. The
consultation took place from May 22
to June 2,1989. The consultant was C.
Morgan Kinghom, Jr., Deputy Assis-
tant Administrator for Administration
and Resources Management at the
United States Environmental Protec-
tion Agency. The views and recom-
mendations expressed in this report
reflect those of the consultant and not
necessarily of any of the organizations
involved.
The primary focus of the
consultation was to assess the options
facing the recently established Minis-
try to begin to implement a govern-
mental structure for improving envi-
ronmental protection. In particular,
the author was requested to advise and
critique regarding the:
(a) The Development of
National Environmental Policy and
Legislation; and
(b) Organization plans
for the environmental portfolio of the
new Ministry;
The consultation wus spon-
sored by the Pan American Health
Organization/World Health Organiza-
tion . The author would like to thank the
generous support of Dr. Dorothy Blake,
PAHO/WHO Representaiive in
Trinidad and Tobago, for her leader-
ship and skill in organizing this; consul-
tation; and Terrence Thompson, Envi-
ronmental Engineer, PAHO, for his in
country support and assistance in the
consultation. While the consultation
lasted only fourteen days, an extensive
number of interviews and discussions
were held with a variety of governmen-
tal and non governmental officials in-
volved in environmental management.
The author wishes to express
his appreciation to the large number of
individuals who cooperated with the
consultation and who were generous
with their time as well as their com-
ments. The author hopes that the re-
sults of the consultation are taken as
suggestions and recommendations
with which to improve the process of
environmental management within the
Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. In
many ways, this consultation reiter-
ates some of the recommendations of
the recent past. Hopefully, its struc-
ture will provide a more consolidated
view by which to approach the subject
at hand.
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The Nation needs to define the environment!! problems, listing in detail the environmental
issues facing Trinidad and Tobago.
Assess the issues in terms of source and nature of the pollutants.
Prioritization of the issues with some relationship to risk to human health, important ecosys-
tems, or critical environmental sources such us drinking water.
Trinidad and Tobago need to develop an underlying philosophy of dealing with environ-
mental issues on a preventive bases and dealing with the issues right the first time.
The public sector needs to take the lead and h-elp to establish a baseline for
environmental action.
A broader perspective, regional and international, needs to be taken in developing an
environmental management infrastructure.
A fundamental step is for the new Ministry to develop an accurate and
understandable information base for environmental pollution control.
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I
Chapter IV. The Current Status of Environmental Management in
Trinidad and Tobago
The draft environmental legislation should be enacted as expeditiously as possible
after time for public comment.
The National Environmental Authority, contained in the draft environmental acts, is the next key
element in establishing a long term structure for environmental protection. The National Environ-
mental Board with broad authority must act as a strong operating entity for that Authority and not
just in an advisory function.
Trinidad and Tobago should continue to lead the Caribbean community in enacting comprehensive
environmental legislation.
There is a growing competitive advantage with the international donor community for Nations with
strong environmental programs. Trinidad and Tobago should take advantage of this movement.
N
Chapter V. The Legislative Basis for Action
The new environmental legislation can provide a basis of "equity" upon which environmental control
can take place. The legislative authority will establish an equal framework for the private and public sector.
The new legislation with perhaps a few alterations, should proceed to public comment now and enactment
at the earliest possible date. There is no need to ensure complete integration with all other existing stat-
utes and authorities.
The National Environmental Board must be a strongly independent operating board with broad nationwide
composition and not simply an advisory group representative of sectoral interests.
Considerations should be given in the new statutes for
_ Determination of relative priority for environmental action based on some measure of risk to the
public or ecosystems that makes appropriate sense for Trinidad and Tobago.
• The control act as well as the policy act should promote waste minimization and recycling more
directly. There should be provisions for a variety of incentives where feasible for companies and
organizations using recycling and waste minimization techniques.
g The right of citizens and non governmental groups to petition the government and to bring court
action to compel certain kinds of environmental action would be a critical improvement to the acts.
• Public comments should include not only the opportunity for written comments but also for public
meetings in the specific area of development These public meetings should be a requirement of
the environmental impact assessment process under certain conditions.
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While coordination will be a primary function of the new Ministry, management implies some control
over resources, people, and processes. The Minis try must be given additional resources as it moves
into new areas of responsibility to build on its powers and authorities for coordination.
Major issues of national importance should be raised by the new Ministry to the highest levels of gov-
ernment discussion.
A Ministerial Working Group on the Environment should be established to discuss specific approaches
to key environmental policy issues.
A series of Inter-Ministry Working Groups, at the Permanent Secretary level and as needed at the tech
nical level, should be established to formulate specific means to implement the policy choices of the Cabi
net.
The new Ministry must define clearly its Mission and role in a very public way.
The Minister of the Environment and National Savice should build, from within, a new team involving
all of the key elements merged together.
The Ministry must engender national interest in environmental issues:
• Undertake a contest for a new "logo" for the Ministry among school age
children.
• Establish regional forums to discuss environmental issues.
| Expand media coverage within Trinidad and Tobago on specific
environmental issues in an in-depth manner.
The Ministry must undertake effort to develop an environmental infrastructure:
• Institute a vastly increased educational effort aimed at the youngest children.
| Work with international organizations and, through bi-lateral or other agreements with other
Nations to develop public information materials.
| Work with other Ministries to generate an institutional framework to promote the establishment
of environmental groups within Trinidad and Tobago.
H Discuss the possibility with existing international environmental organizations, such as the
Conservation Foundation, of obtaining their assistance in establishing local environmental
organizations.
H Utilize to the fullest and appropriate extent the expertise and information of the private sector.
| Establish at the Ministerial level, an Environmental Business Roundtable to meet regularly to
discuss specific environmental issues and their joint solution.
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Work with the national and local press — at the reporter and editorial levels, to develop a
deeper understanding of environmental issues.
Build on the current leadership of Trinidad and Tobago in regional environmental issues to
resolve as many in a regional manner as possible, thus sharing solutions as well as resources.
Cooperate with international and national organizations, such as PAHO/WHO and the
Ministry of Health, to continue to expand the concept of environmental health protection.
Utilize the growing concern on the part of donor organizations for a single spokesperson for
the environment to Trinidad and Tobago's best advantage.
1
Chapter VII. The Key Processes — Creating the Infrastructure
The two draft statutes should be enacted as quickly as possible after wide opportunity for public
comment.
The new Ministry should play a major role in the environmental impact assessment process includ
ing the power of veto on certain types of major projects defined by size or potential impact to the
environment.
The Ministry should lake a sa fundamental duty the establishment of a useful information
base on environmental problems.
The existing Institute for Marine Affairs should be renamed and appropriately restructured as the
Institute for Environmental Affairs and become the key repository of environmental information
for policy decision making.
The Ministry should use the resources of the existing Institute for Marine Affairs, the Solid Waste
Management Company, and the Forestry Division as the key environmental management units
and bring them more closely aligned to reach newly defined and common environmental goals.
The Ministry should undertake, with appropriate technical assistance, a process of environmental
assessment lead by the Institute.
The public needs access to environmental information and the Ministry should be careful to limit
the situations in which information can be withheld from the public.
While much can be done with existing resources and improved coordination, the new Ministry
will undoubtedly need additional human and financial resources. The Ministry should define the
specific resource issues — assuming enactment of thenew legislation in the next six months —
and push for their resolution.
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The Ministry should promote the use of a variety of innovative financing mechanisms with which
to assist in the operation of the Ministry or the Envi ronmental Authority under the new Act. The
choices range from environmental taxes on production to environmental fees including the
establishment of an environmental trust fund
Environmental compliance on existing authorities will continue to be the responsibility of the
particular Ministry. One option for consideration would be to provide the new Ministry with a
minimal core of oversight inspectors to ensure the re is indeed compliance on the most critical
forms of potential pollution.
On new industrial pollution control, the emphasis will have to rely primarily on self compliance.
However, there will need to be established an environmental inspectorate to ensure that the
largest industrial sources do indeed comply with the regulations agreed to in the negotiation
process.
Chapter VIII. A Blueprint for Environmental Action
The Ministry should consider a three pronged approach to environmental management:
I For traditional environmental issues ie., those currently managed through existing
authorities and Ministries not under the authority of the new Ministry, coordination and
integration should be the main focus.
• For new development activities, the new Ministry should work closely with the Division
of Town and Country Planning and becomu an active participant in the environmental
impact assessment process. On certain types of development activities, the new Minis-
try should be given the dominant authority.
g For the control of industrial pollution not ye t part of the legal framework of* Trinidad and
Tobago, the new Ministry needs to build a larger expertise. This would include its own
Industrial Pollution Inspectorate to ensure compliance as well as additional resources for
the Environmental Institute.
The Ministry needs a specific plan for environmental action items that focus the atten-
tion of the public on the action of the Ministry rathjr than continuing — albeit critical —
resource and organizational issues.
• Establishment of an environmental trust fund.
• The use of the concept of national service to activate the public on environmental action.
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The consideration of control of lead in gasoline, a"winable" issue that would generate
public support for the new Ministry and its mission.
An assessment and action plan to protect the Northern Range.
Involve the public and private sectors in an ongoing dialogue on environmental manage-
ment issues. Establish the Environmental Business Roundtable. Create a widely repre-
sentative Environmental Advisory Council.
Utilize extensive media coverage to gain the attention of the public.
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The Environmental
Framework
Any discussion of environ-
mental management must essentially
flow from an analysis of the environ-
mental problems facing Trinidad and
Tobago. Among those individuals who
are most environmentally active, two
phrases define the environmental is-
sues: (1) pollution is uncontrolled and
(2) there is a nearly total lack of a
national concern over that pollution.
Regardless of the specific types of pol-
ution or their causes, these two over-
riding issues must be dealt with when
an environmental management scheme
is constructed. In essence, Trinidad
and Tobago must decide where to start
Irst and how to generate the public
support to do so. The discussion that
follows is designed to place the envi-
ronmental management issues in a
broader framework. These ideas sug-
gest that there should be some overrid-
ng environmental objectives based on
the specific issues in Trinidad and To-
bago.
Defining the Problem
There have been a number of
surveys completed to help define the
environmental problems facing Trinidad
and Tobago. The first task is a broad
listing of environmental issues. That
listing has been done numerous times
with relatively similar results. Most
analyses of the environme ntal issues in
Trinidad and Tobago have centered
upon:
| Liquid and solid- waste man-
agement (including serious sewage is-
sues);
I Destruction of important wa-
tershed resources from def< >restation and
uncontrolled development;
B Hazardous waste management
— managing the waste stream and dis-
posal;
| Industrial pollution affecting
both air and water bodies, ultimately the
ocean and its critical ecosystems.
In more recent times, the po-
tential impact of emissions from lead
in gasoline is beginning to be discussed
as potentially one of the more critical
environmental health issues. Noise
pollution is another problem that is
generally acknowledged as a serious
"nuisance" issue. Only recently has
the problem of noise properly become
discussed as an environmental pollut-
ant. Both the issues of lead and noise
pollution have been mentioned in the
1987 Field Study on Environmental
Management as well as the more re-
cent letter from the head of the Stand-
ing Committee on the Environment,
Dr. James.
The second step is to begin
assessing the sources of these problem
—in specific terms, including the name
of the source of the pollution and the
nature of the pollution. This step has
not been taken in a consistent fashion
throughout the country. The informa-
tion, if it exists, needs to be pulled
together by the new Ministry in a co-
herent form. If the information does
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not exist, it must be developed. A
study was done several years ago under
UNEP sponsorship that attempted to
define some key geographic areas as
well as categorize major industries upon
which to focus such an assessment.
For instance, it was thought that about
one half of all manufacturing locations
were in the Caroni River Basin. Thus
an assessment of that Basin as an entity
in and of itself would be an excellent
starting point. The assessments, there-
fore, should be made with some clear
cut organization either around similar
industrial sources refinery(ies), sugar
cane production, oil producing opera-
tions, etc., or around logical geo-
graphic units, such as the Caroni River
Basin. To the extent possible, such an
assessment should be so organized so
as to also fall into logical, existing
political or governmental units that
could ultimately be responsible for im-
plementing the environmental pro-
grams addressing die specific issues.
Finally, and perhaps the most
important task given the wide range of
environmental issues and the very tight
fiscal situation, is a prioritization of
the sources of pollution. This prioriti-
zation should be done on a variety of
levels: the degree of risk to human
health; the danger to important eco-
systems; and the danger to critical
drinking water sources. Since envi-
ronmental action is focused on spe-
cific entities, such a prioritization
should lead to a listing of the most
critical sources of pollution however
that is defined for Trinidad and To-
bago. That listing would provide the
basis for environmental management
on a priority basis.
The Importance of Preven-
tion
Trindidad and Tobago need
more than an organized approach to
defining its pollution problems.
Trinidad and Tobago should consider a
clear environmental management phi-
losophy upon which to base its specific
management options. This consultancy
was not structured to analyze specific
environmental problems. However, it
is quite clear that for the most part the
environmental issues are generally
understood at least by those committed
to protecting the environment. The
issue that was continually stressed by
most observers was the importance of
dealing with the key environmental
issues right the first time. Trinidad
and Tobago simply does not have the
landmass to easily resolve some of the
more serious environmental problems.
Other nations larger in geography do
have the option of walking away from
sites of pollution and rebuilding in some
instances. Trinidad and Tobago does
not have that alternative. In addition,
the structure of the ecosystem is so
fragile that in some cases it will not be
possible to restore areas after they are
damaged by pollution. Therefore, it is
imperative that Trinidad and Tobago
address their most serious environmental
issues now. While in some cases it may
already be too late to utilize a strong
preventive environmental program, the
approach Trinidad and Tobago ulti-
mately take should focus precisely on
prevention.
Public Sector Leadership
In the past several years, and
perhaps for the near future, much of the
development activity in Trinidad and
Tobago has been by way of the public
sector. It will be extremely important
for the public sector, therefore, to take
a leadership role in addressing envi-
ronmental concerns. This essentially
means thatTrinidadandTobagoshould
consider using the public sector enter-
prises involved in industrial activity as
the leaders in establishing an effective
environmental policy and environ-
mental controls on their own facilities.
Like in other sectors, such as planning,
the public sector must not be consid-
ered separate but an integral leader in
responsible environmental manage-
ment. Unless the public sector's activi-
ties are environmentally adequate, little
can be expected of the private sector.
A Broader Perspective
As part of an environmental
philosophy, Trinidad and Tobago must
build on their leadership status with the
Caribbean community as witnessed at
the recent Port of Spain CARICOM
Ministers Conference on the Environ-
ment. The most striking tiling from that
Conference was the similarity of envi-
ronmental issues country to country.
While that "oneness" may have been
understood, the impact of listening to
each Minister or his representative de-
tail the same environmental issues time
and time again was impressive as well
as constructive. Thus, Trinidad and To-
bago should take the leadership to view
its solutions as possible solutions for
others in the Caribbean. In some cases,
this might be an approach to join with
others in specific solutions that cry out
for regional solutions. One example
would be to formulate regional agree-
ments to construct waste disposal fa-
cilities of different technical makeup
that might be more appropriate in one
country and not in another.
"Trinidad and Tobago must decide where to start first and
how to generate the public support to do so..."
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One Nation's geology, for
instance, mightnotsupportaparticu-
lar hazardous waste disposal tech-
nology while another might support
it. What is clear, is that it simply
does not make sense for each nation
to construct the same type of solu-
tions to the hazardous waste problem
in every country. While cross bound-
ary solutions to hazardous waste dis-
posal become quickly controversial,
at least solutions for waste generated
within the Caribbean community
should be examined in a manner that
looks beyond each Nation's borders
and individual problems.
In other cases, it may make
sense to build upon existing institu-
tions, such as the current Institute of
Marine Affairs, to serve a much wider
population thus saving valuable re-
sources. In short, Trinidad and To-
bago should focus its specific solu-
tions as broadly as possible to take
advantage of a larger analytic and
resource base throughout the region.
Environmental Informa-
tion
Finally, the new Ministry
needs to take the lead now and ulti-
mately through the Authority to de-
velop accurate environmental infor-
mation from all the available and to
be created data. There is no single
organization or Ministry responsible
for environmental data. The Ministry
needs to become that repository as
soon as possible. In many cases, the
data exists and needs to be trans-
formed into useful information for
decision making on environmental
issues. In other cases, the data needs
to be created and in most cases the
Ministry should become the single
place to focus on environmental data
creation.
Trinidad and Tobago need
to increase its ability to utilize data
systems to integrate all the environ-
mental information so that decision
makers can have that data available to
them to make regulatory decisions as
well as environmental impact assess-
ments. Where possible, Trinidad and
Tobago should expand the regional
cooperative ventures in information
gathering and analysis. Technical as-
sistance from those cou-itries, like the
United States, that have tegun to utilize
geographic informatiors systems for
regulatory decision making and a vari-
ety of environmental siting decisions
should be expanded. The Ministry
should develop improved relationships
with organizations such as the United
Slates Environmental Protection
Agency on information creation, analy-
sis, and dissemination.
This information is in many
ways more important thai i being needed
for technical decision making. While
that purpose is obviously a critical one,
the information also needs to be for-
matted, analyzed, and designed to acti-
vate in a measured way an environ-
mental ethic for the Nation. A consis-
tent theme heard throughout the review
period was that the people of Trinidad
do not have a strong environmental
concern or ethic. And slthough there
are many reasons for this, some obvi-
ous, some not so obvious, it echoes the
concern of the National Consultation
of five years ago. The !^ linistry of the
EnvironmentandNationalServicemust
undertake a program to educate and
mobilize the public to become involved
in environmental issues d irectly affect-
ing them. Without this basic funda-
mental underpinning, ;iny environ-
mental management prof Tarn will sim-
ply weaken over time.
The section which immedi-
ately follows is a selected summary of
environmental issues from a variety of
documents discussed in this consulta-
tion. This summary should return the
Ministry to the first essential step - the
establishment of a generally agreed
upon, prioritized, and working docu-
mentdetailing the environmental prob-
lems to be addressed in Trinidad and
Tobago.
Such a document would in-
clude a broad discussion of environ-
mental issues in a more comprehensive
manner than the following summaries.
However, such a document should also
go to considerable detail, be organized
by geographic area wherever feasible
(so as to make ultimate regulatory deci-
sions perhaps easier to construct and
implement), and include some analysis
regarding the degree of pollution, the
potential or real impact on people (ex-
posure estimates) and impacts on the
ecosystems. This information would
be the basis for choices on environ-
mental controls throughout the Nation.
Without such an information blueprint,
the entire environmental management
process will be confused and without a
focus or goal.
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Source of
Environmental
Information
Action Plan for
Environmental
Administration -
James Letter,
1989
Environmental
Management in
Trinidad and
Tobago -Field
Study 1987
•
Selected
(IliilllP
Significant water
pollution from a
variety of sources:
untreated or partially
treated pollutants
from Beer and Rum
distilleries; raw
sewage; oil; silt;
Pesticide and
fertilizer run-off from
agricultural lands;
Oil and related
pollution to rivers
and other water
bodies;
No water resources
management in
Caroni Basin;
Stream and Reservoir
sedimentation from
soil erosion caused
by a variety of
actions including
squatter settlements,
deforestation and
quarrying;
Pollution caused by
agricultural activities
including pesticides,
organic waste, animal
waste and industrial
waste discharges;
Pollution from the
dumping of deter-
gents, insecticides
and disposal of
sanitary waste and
dumping;
Pollution from
effluent from the
sugar and rum
industry is serious;
Environmental
Pollution from raw
sewage;
Heavy metal wastes;
Chaos in operation
and maintenance of
package sewage
treatment plants;
Impact from dump-
ing of industrial
effluents into rivers;
Lack of pretreatment
requirements for
industrial emissions;
Disposal facilities
need to be estab-
lished;
Area Needing Attention
^^^^^^^^^^^1
Pollution from
automobile painting
and furniture shops
island wide;
Automobile pollution
exhausts, particularly
from lead;
Smoke from domes-
tic and agricultural
fires;
Lack of emission stan-
dards; visibile emis-
sions;
No program to H'Sn levels of lead
control toxic wastes; from gasoline in air
(and soil);
Lack of adequately
controlled and No auto emission
regulated hazardous standards;
waste disposal
facilities; Air pollution, while
often localized, arises
from cement manu-
facturing, bauxite
transferring, refining,
iron and steel
manufacturing,
ammonia manufac-
turing and lead
smelting;
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Selected Environmental Area Needing Attention
ff///s//////////s
\^xxx/xx/y/>yyvX
In wetland areas,
pollution from solid
wastes, oil, raw
sewage and a variety
of industrial pollut-
ants;
Sandmining is having
serious negative
impacts on coastal
ecosystems such as
coral reefs;
Destruction of
nursery areas from
bottom trawling
operations;
Destruction of near-
shore habitats from
land erosion, runoff,
and sedimentation;
Impacts from marine
* disposal of petroleum
products;
Destruction of fish
and habitats caused
by leaking of toxic
wastes from in-Iand
dump sites and
pollution from
offshore drilling;
Destruction of coral
reefs caused by
excessive collection
of corals and shells,
siltation and pollu-
tion;
^^^^^^^^^'^^^^M
Significant defores- Significant noise
tation from excessive levels from inc-ustry,
logging, squatting, traffic and domestic
quarrying, and sources are common-
agriculture; place;
Indiscriminate
logging is impacting
the gene pool of
forest ecosystems;
Destruction of Has received little
Forests for quarrying, attention although
uncontrolled logging, often discussed as a
subsistence farming; significant problem;
Confusion over
protection of key
habitat areas such as
Caroni swamp;
Lack of national
policy on use of state
lands;
llllllfiiiifllli
Significant ecological
damage from a variety
of sources: sandmin-
ing; bottom trawling;
river diversion; aban-
doned quarry sites;
aerial spraying of
chemicals; indiscrimi-
nate logging; reclama-
tion activities; solid
waste dumps in wet-
lands;
Defacement issues
including indiscrimi-
nate dumping of do-
mestic garbage;
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Source of
Environmental
Information
Project for the
Protection of th«
Coastal and
Marine Environ-l
ment of Carib-
bean Islands —
McGraw Study, j
Post 1980
Selected Environmental Area Needing Attention
Runoff of pesticides
and fertilizers from
agriculture;
Significant Problems
with maintenance of
sewage treatment
plants;
Study has a detailed listing by geographic area of pollution sources and their general
impact on the environment.
Human Health
Effects of Pesti-
cidep — Davies
Report (PAHO)
1981
Study has extensive information on pesticide use and environmental problems associated
with the use.
Trinidad and
Tobago:
Thoughts on
Our
Environment —
Williams Study
1973
Impact on soil
erosion caused by
demand for housing
and squatters
throughout hilly
areas of urban belt;
Study is most interesting for its historical context and the remark-
able similarity between environmental issues now and nearly
twenty years ago.
-------
Selected Environmental Area Needing Attention
Greatest potential for
coastal pollution is in
the western and
southern coastlines
from intensive
discharge of indus-
trial and domestic
wastes from the
Caroni River Basin
and other rivers to die
south;
Contamination of soi
and runoff into
nearest streams from
waste crude oil; this
is probably the most
serious pollution
problem in southern
Trinidad;
Serious pesticide
management prob-
lems exist;
Human pesticide
poisonings were
epidemic;
80% of pesticides
imported are used in
the sugar cane
industry;
Recommendations
have been made for
an aquatic park at
Buccoo Reef;
In the south, land use
dominated by oil
exploitation and
refining;
New issues surround-
ing offshore oil
development need to
be addressed;
Need for intensive
research in pollution
prevention tech-
niques associated
with the oil industry;
Recent epidemics of
typhoid and polio-
myelitis and appear-
ance of gastroenteri-
tis remind Nation of
need for continuing
need for environ-
mental management;
-------
-------
Background
The environmental issues
facing Trinidad and Tobago, as de-
scribed above, should place, one would
expect, an enormous pressure upon
the government to begin organizing
improved responses to environmental
protection. And, to say the least, the
current status of environmental man-
agement in Trinidad and Tobago is
expectant with opportunity. This fluid
status is the result of arelativelyrecent
series of significant events, culminat-
ing less than four months ago with the
establishment of a new Ministry of the
Environment and National Service.
This new organization is first, as are
other environmental organizations
around the world, an amalgamation of
a variety of entities that somehow
involve environmental issues to a more
or lesser degree. And like other or-
ganizations in other countries who have
had the courage to establish such cen-
tral management structures to deal with
environmental issues, the Ministry of
the Environment and National Serv-
ice is also the result of compromise.
The Ministry, therefore, does not
contain all the entities of management
involving the environment that might
be expected if nothing went before.
And the Ministry contains other func-
tions that some observers might ques-
tion as to their relationship to the envi-
ronment af all. Finally, each of the
absorbed functions of this particular
entity bring with them progiams and
missions as well as the people < Derating
those missions that may or may not be
— yet — fully knowledgeable of their
new status. The important feet, how-
ever, is that the Govemmentof Trinidad
and Tobago has taken a key initial step
to strengthen environmental manage-
ment by the creation of a central organi-
zation to deal with a broad array of very
troubling environmental issues facing
the Nation.
The new Ministry is most recently
the result of an essentially political de-
cision by the Government of Trinidad
and Tobago, and one that came with
suddenness. However, the Ministry is
also the natural resultof a serie;: of con-
centrated examinations on environ-
mental management over a relatively
short periodoftimebeginningjustabout
five years ago, although its roots go
back much further. As a first step in
understanding the status of environ-
mental management, it is critical to
understand the growing consensus of
many in leadership positions within
Trinidad and Tobago of the need to
create a focus and central authority'to
begin the management of environmental
issues within the Country.
The Process of Analysis
In 1984, the Ministry of Health and
the Environment initiated what was
called the "National Consultation on
Environmental Health and Protection".
As with this current consultation, the
Pan American Health Organization/
World Health Organization, was instru-
mental in collaborating with the Gov-
ernment of Trinidad and Tobago on the
issues surrounding environmental health
-------
management A Planning Committee
was established to provide detailed
proposals for consideration by the Gov-
ernment. That Committee's composi-
tion reflected the pervasiveness of en-
vironmental issues as well as the intru-
siveness of over twelve Ministries and
Govemmentauthorities involved in im-
plementing programs directly affect-
ing environmental concerns. Based on
the Committee's efforts, a National
Consultation was organized for Sep-
tember 1985 to focus on improving en-
vironmental management in Trinidad
and Tobago.
The 1985 Consultation, as
indicated in the Committee's Report of
that year, had a series of objectives that
were designed to focus on improving
theenvironmentoftheNation'speople.
The conclusions of the Consultation,
however, werecritical in detailing, for
the first time, the key environmental
management problems that needed to
be resol vcd in Trin idad and Tobago. In
essence, the issues needing resolution
were identified as:
The Consultation was a landmark
in environmental management in
Trinidad and Tobago. All of the Com-
mittee's recommendations are still rele-
vant today as we shall see in the later
sections of this Report. However, the
bottom line of the Consultation's con-
clusions was that the Nation simply did
not have a sufficient infrastructure to
address environmental issues in an ef-
fective way.
The second landmark element in a
continuingprogression of examinations
of environmental management came in
late 1986 in relationship to the Govern-
ment's attempt to resolve a particular
environmental issue — an additional
landfill for the disposal of waste. The
Government established a Standing
Committee whose first and primary
function was to make recommenda-
tions for the placement of the alterna-
tive landfill. However, this Committee
was also given an additional "term of
reference" which became perhaps the
most critical component in the prog-
Thel98S National Consultation
No national environmental policy;
#j?£;S^^
i^
tion. to combat ^specificpbiiutibrt issues!': ;:
OT
of environmental data, m-
ride among a large seg
^01^-m^
ress to improve environmental manage-
ment within theNation. The Committee
became the Standing Committee on
the Environment that took to heart its
term of reference to "formulate propos-
als for government policy on the envi-
ronment" and "to make recommenda-
tions".
In April of 1987, the Standing
Committee published a key document
entitled Guidelines for Environmental
Administration in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Standing Committee, chaired by
Dr. Carol James of the Forestry Divi-
sion, made sweeping proposals for im-
proving environmental management.
Those proposals focused on three essen-
tial elements:
• The establishment of a broad
national environmental policy;
• The creation of a National En-
vironmental Authority to coordinate all
environmental management in the Na-
tion; and
B The enactment of a broad Na-
tional Environmental Act giving the
specific legislative authority to move
forward to protect the environment.
The tone should sound famil-
iar. Many of the recommendations of
the Standing Committee necessarily
gave additional impetus to those ele-
ments resulting from the Consultation a
short time before. However, the Stand-
ing Committee's Guidelines were ex-
ceptionally complete and did indeed
provide an excellent operating frame-
work for dramatically improving the
degree of environmental management
in Trinidad and Tobago.
The next significant drumbeat
for improved environmental manage-
ment was the major contribution by the
Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO)/World Health Organization. In
a proposal in April 1987, PAHO/WHO
Engineer Ronald Williams recom-
mended specific structure including an
environmental management council and
a division within the Government to
-------
detail in specific terms the organiza-
tional structure and purpose for the
designation of "one agency, suitably
staffed and equipped to coordinate all
environmental matters" as was earlier
recommended in the Standing Com-
mittee's report the same month.
The PAHO supported-pro-
posal gave additional specificity to the
earlier proposals. But more critically,
the Williams study framed the issues
more broadly:
• the "one agency" should be
representative of a "broad array of in-
terests" which would move it away from
a group simply representing existing
bureaucracies"; and
| the organization would be
given specific powers to enforce envi-
ronmental legislation and standards.
The Williams report was im-
portant for three reasons. First, Ihe
report recognized that to improve envi-
ronmental managementwithin Trinidad
and Tobago, the coordinating agency
should be more broadly representa-
tive and not simply a grouping of sec-
toral bureaucracies. Second, the Wil-
liams report for the first time strongly
signaled the need for an an thority be-
yond basic coordination of existing
functions, but one with some specific
powers to take strong environmental
action. But perhaps most im portant, the
Williams proposal outline! a careful
progression of growing responsibilities
to be given to the new division. This
concept rightly recognized t he need for
careful and measured integration of
environmental issues into the basic
fabric of the Government rather than a
sudden restructuring of all authorities.
In June 1988, a little more than a year
after the Williams study, a report en-
titled Environmental Management in
Trinidad and Tobago was completed.
This study was prepared for the Gov-
ernment by the UNEP under the leader-
ship of Ralph M. Field,-a consultant.
The Field study again reiterated many
of the substantive recommendations
provided to the Government during the
previous three year period. However,
the Field study began to move deeper
into fundamental questions of specific
pollution problems and the underlying
reasons why the Government had not
organized effectively.
The primary contributions of
the Field report were (1} its detailing of
possible actions to make specific im-
provements in the structure of environ-
ment management; (2) the focus on the
"political will"—or lack thereof— of
the nation's leadership to truly move
-------
forward in environmental management;
and (3) the issue of how to pay for the
environmental m anagem ent improve-
ments.
An Environmental Management
Consensus
In a relatively short period of
time, 1984 to 1989, the analytic frame-
work for new environmental manage-
ment structures within Trinidad and To-
bago has come full circle as the diagram
on the previous page indicates.
The key point of
this process how-
ever, is that there has
developed over the
past several years an
influential coreof in-
dividuals in Trinidad
and Tobago, both
within the Govern-
ment (career as well
as political) as well
as outside that have
focused the environ-
mental management
issues superbly.
While the creation of
the Ministry may or
may not have been in
direct relation to that
focusing process, the
decision to create
such a Ministry, an
essential political de-
cision, should be re-
garded as an impor-
tant end point to the
first stage of educa-
tion of the highly
committed over the
past five years and as
a starting point for a
broader involvement
of the people of
Trinidad and Tobago
in environmental
consensus building. Paraphrasing Min-
ister of the Environmental and Na-
tional Service Myers's statementat the
Port of Spain Ministerial Conference
on the Environment, the establishment
of the Ministry is the first step in mov-
ing beyond words into deeds.
Confusing Words with Deeds
The key issue at the moment
for environmental management in
Trinidad and Tobago is clearly "what
next." There is a growing amount of
frustration with the relatively influen-
tial group of individuals involved with
this analytic process over the last five
years. That frustration is normal given
the degree of progress made but with
the amount of work still to be done. The
one word that continued to be stated
' •'«.the decision to create the;Ministr^;;sh6uld;be
regarded as an important end'point to ;tffie$irst££
stageof:^
mittedarid a starring point
merit'blf tHe
-"'• '• - "--• ••
brpadelr involve
Schedule of the Ministry
?-THE HONOURABLE LINCOLN MYERS; M.P:
in Chapter V, is ultimately the key "next
step." The Authority should be so struc-
tured to become the center environ-
mental management force in Trinidad
and Tobago, Furthermore, its authority
should be bolstered by structuring the
Board like a strong operating Board of
Directors of a corporation. The current
draft acts give the Board such power:
the authority to Act in that way must
come from the political will of those in
the Government who will administer
and staff the new structure.
And beyond the very serious envi-
ronment issues facing
Trinidad and Tobago, there
are a number of other very
real reasons that the Gov-
ernment should not confuse
words with deeds and move
quickly forward to the next
logical progression — the
enactment of the National
Environmental Policy and
Act as well as the full re-
source staffing for the new
Ministry and the National
Environmental Authority as
called for in the ACL
Statutor'Boards:ahd'SiTnilar
Zoojo&^;S
_ Forest Products C6J Ltd: I
Trinidid i
throughout the consultation was the
importance of political will to move
beyond the establishment of a Ministry
of a handful of professionals.
The establishment of a National
Environmental Authority, as discussed
Rationale for Contin-
yed
Progress
It is critically impor-
tant at this stage that the
Government move as expe-
ditiously as feasible to enact
the enabling legislation to
begin the process of envi-
ronmental improvement.
There are several key rea-
sons beyond theprimary en-
vironmental one. First,
Trinidad and Tobago is in a
unique position to provide
leadership to the entire
Caribbean community on
environmental protection.
The analytic work done to
date on the programmatic and statutory
tools for environmental management
puts them in the forefront in the area.
The new Ministry provides the frame-
work for continued action. And the
commitment and knowledge of the
-------
leadership of that Ministry will ensure
an integrative and area wide approach
to resolving environmental issues criti-
cal to Trinidad and Tobago but also the
wider community.
Second, there is a growing
interest on the part of the interna-
tional community, particularly the
donor community, for closely tying
development activities with the envi-
ronment. In nearly all cases, it is more
than talk; an effective environmental
program within a Nation is becoming a
competitive advantage with the inter-
national community.
-------
-------
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A Statement of Policy and
Granting of Authority
As a direct outcome of the
National Consultation and the Steer-
ing Committee on the Environment,
there is currently before the govern-
ment two key pieces of legislation:
first, a "Draft Environmental Pro-
tection Policy Act" and second, a
draft "Prohibition and Control of
Pollution Act." These two pieces of
legislation are key elements in the
progression of environmental manage-
ment in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Environmental Protec-
tion Policy Act would do several criti-
cal things::
• Declare, for the first time, a
national environmental policy for
Trinidad and
Tobago;
• Create a National Environ-
mental Authority with broad consulta-
tive, coordinative, and legal authori-
ties to protect the environment; and •
• Initiate a new Environmental
Appeal Tribunal to provide more timely
judicial action involving < environmental
issues.
First, this Act would give
Trinidad and Tobago a concise national
policy on the environment the essence
of which is:
"...it is the continuing policy
of the State,...to use a
-------
lie commentas is anticipated with both
this Act and the Prohibition and Con-
trol Act, it will help raise the public
consciousness and be a way for the
new Ministry to raise the issueof envi-
ronmental management to a broader
audience, including a wider audience
in government.
Administrative Management
Structure
The second critical purpose
of the Act is to establish a National
Environmental Authority with a Di-
rector, a National Environmental
Board with a Chairman, and a new
legal entity, an Environmental
Appeal Tribunal. The power of the
Authority is extremely broad, includ-
ing thekey functions outlined below.
Furthermore, the Authority
would have additional responsibilities
involving other agencies. It would (1)
be the primary coordinating body on
issues related to the environment as
well as the principal Agency on issues
involving protection of theenvironment.
In addition, the authority is given re-
sponsibility to review all existing legal
authorities and regulations to ensure
they are in conformity with the intent of
the Environmental Policy Act. The Au-
thority can, on its own initiative, give
advice to existing agencies and advise
on laws, standards and regulations for
the protection of the environment. In
short, the Act would give extremely
broadly defined authorities to the new
organization.
iI; ;toadyiseTthe Minibster on all:ehyifpnmehtel;mattersi;
«<«• iA ^i,;sjisw«*i: ^^monitd^^actiyities'Of iniplerhentuig^'(
:SP:;4; ;'l'^:-Mriis W
;XM:W:£^^
to foster international cooperatipn; maintain a data
;P5^-<^>:S'::::baM':bn w
•:f::.:-'".-V".:,-'r'-. •'-:•••- •-;'•',';';-,:' -.•: ••: : •: •:•' -• :';' v ..,• *•'-• .-•••'_-• ;;.,•''-.'..-_.';;.•:.'-. '-.. • ....>:.; ::•; • •- ;.'; ,.,.\'i: • .:;... -1..;-.-..;. ;• ,.•-• • •-.,1, ;'*i, ';,.-
'
k^fe
Mto; maJ«::re^IatioM:"re^
The National Environmental
Board, Chaired and composed of
members appointed by the President,
would have equally broad authorities:
•
to advise the Minister and the
Authority on all environmental matters;
•
to review the activities of the
Authority and make recommendations;
•
torecommend to the Minister
additional environmental policies;
use expert panels; submit
annual reports to Parliament; and
to take any other action it
deems necessary for the effective en-
forcement of the Act.
This draft statute would pro-
vide sufficient authorities for the new
Environmental Authority to bring
muscle to environmental management
in Trinidad and Tobago. The Act would
alsoprovideadditional financing mecha-
nisms, through fees and licenses, to
help finance the management activities.
The Board, because of its appointed
structure (by the President) could be-
come a professional and independent
force Tor sustained environmental
management. That should be the in-
tent of the drafters as the Board would
have the authority to analyze difficult
environment issues and suggest solu-
tions independently of either the Minis-
try or the Authority. It would and
should act as an independent quality
control agent for environmental man-
agement. The Government has already
approved an initial staffing for the
Authority, albeit a small core of five po-
sitions.
The Authority to Prohibit and
Control Pollution
The "Prohibition and Control
of Pollution Act" is the engine that will
ultimately drive environmental action
within Trinidad and Tobago. The legal
framework created in this legislation
-------
would provide the National Environ-
mental Authority with the clear au-
thority to protect the environment
The Act'sobjectives, asdefined.would
be to:
(1) protect the environment
and natural resources; (2) prevent as
well as control pollution; and (3)
promote and implement the National
Environmental Policy Act
This Act, unlike the Policy
Act, gives specificity to environmental
management by organizing powers to
prohibit and control pollution through
a variety of media control programs,
the atmosphere, soil, water and then
liquid wastes. The mecha-
nism for preventing and con-
trolling pollution is the use of
the "power to attach condi-
tions" on the receipt of gov-
ernment approval to repair,
alter, replace, install equip-
ment of any sort. Other au-
thorities, such as monitoring
requirements, are also avail-
able. The Act would also provide
broad and appropriate authorities to
make regulations covering all aspects
of potential environmental pollution.
Importance of the Prohibition
and Control of Pollution Act
The primary importance of
. this Act is to lay a specific regulatory
framework from which the Authority
can establish equity throughout the
Nation on environmental pollution
control. By equity is meant a standard
by which all involved must operate.
Some observers argue that with all the
statutes already on the book for health,
toxics, planning, nuisance and all the
other more traditional regulatory au-
thorities nothing additional is neces-
sary. However, with no specific regu-
latory authority particularly for indus-
trial sources of pollution, it is difficult
to be taken seriously over the long run.
Without the specific regulatory au-
thority, the Ministry really must rely
totally on coordination and "moral
suasion" to implement environmental
control through these existing statutes
which for the most part have environ-
mental management as a secondary
thought if at all. As the Field Study
indicated, such a consultant role can
be very frustrating.
There is continuing discus-
sion over the drafting of this Act as
well as the previous Act involving the
Policy and the Authority. There is
some thought being given to delaying
the submission of th<: Act to Parlia-
ment, following public comment, un-
til all appropriate changes can be sug-
gested to all other acts involved in en-
vironmental management. Such an
approach is unnecessary. The admin-
vide an adequate basis for strong envi-
ronmental action. The policy andcon-
trol act also establishes the appropriate
tone for environmental action. The
framework provides fora system heav-
ily reliant on coordination and consul-
tation which is a traditional method of
public activity in Trinidad and Tobago,
There are a variety of areas
that could be altered to improve the
statute. However, many of these sug-
gestions might be more appropriate for
the designers of a regulatory approach
during implementation by the Environ-
mental Authority. Some of these are
dealt with in other sections of this re-
M
I'S'Sy.'v.yiy-:
a
^'CTij^
Strong ainlci|:S^
eiiv roJamental ac tioh in Slrihidad
istrative system in Trinidad and To-
bago, like those in many other coun-
tries is quite used to managing with
considerable overlap and appropriate
confusion. This draft Act provides a
strong and substantive basis for ef-
fective environmental action. It
should not be delayed pending what
could be an endless analysis of related
and unrelated authorities. That job
should and can be done by the Author-
ity as it implements in regulations the
powers of these two dr.ift Acts.
The enactment of the "con-
trol" Act will require the strongest of
political wills as it will provide the
substance for environmsntal manage-
ment While it is critical to have this
Act undergo public com ment, without
eventual enactment the forward prog-
ress for environmental management
could be substantially slowed. It is
time to move forward now.
Conclusions
The draft policy and regula-
tory acts are sufficiently broad to pro-
port in more detail but are summarized
below.
Recommendations
The draft environmental pol-
icy act as well as the regulatory draft ac t
should deal with the establishment of
priorities based on some measure of
risk to the public or ecosystems. While
the act is broad enough to include this
consideration, the drafters may want to
consider more explicitly the use of a va-
riety of tools of risk management and
assessment.
The National Environmental
Board appears to be construed as a
strongly independent advisory board.
The N.E.B. clearly needs to be more
than an advisory board to function as an
active board of directors in a corpora-
tion would act. The draft policy act
seems to provide the board with the
very type of independence and author-
ity it clearly will need. In addition to
"...advising.reviewing.recommending,
and submitting" the Board's authorities
also include:
-------
"(f) to take any other action it
deems necessary for the effective en-
forcement of this Act...."
This independent action-based au-
thority is essential if the Board wishes
to act as a relatively independent force
for environmental protection. Mere
advisoryfunctions,by themselves, will
not work.
The independence of the Board is
critical so as to provide long term sus-
tainable support for environmental ac-
tion within the Government While it is
important to keep the Board of man-
ageable size, its composition must be
very broadly representative. The
recommendations of the Williams
Report that such a board needs to be
broadly representative both of gov-
ernment (ie., therepresentatives should
be knowledgeable of broader areas and
not just individual sectors of the gov-
ernment) and of the private and non
governmental sectors are still well
stated. TheBoardshouldbecomposed
of individuals representing broadly
defined environmental issues or con-
cerns rather than individual organiza-
tions or Ministries.
The regulatory control act and
perhaps the policy act, should more di-
rectly promote recyling and waste
minimization. More needs to be said
in the national policy language regard-
ing these two components. The regu-
latory and control act should make it
clear that recycling and waste minimi-
zation will be a fundamental force in
environmental managementin the regu-
latory stage.
Another area for discussion here is
the issue of expanding the right of
citizens and perhaps non govern-
mental groups to petition and bring
action in court to force a particular ac-
tion. Although important, the basic
right of the public to comment on en-
vironmental issues either in writing or
in person is not in itself sufficient to
generate environmental interest
throughout the Nation. There is agrow-
ing practice throughout the world to
provide special or expanded rights of
citizens to force actions on the part of
their govemmenttoprotectthe environ-
ment. The draft statutes do not provide
for this activity either in the policy draft
or in the regulatory action draft. In
many other countries, the right of citi-
zens or citizen groups to have special
standing in court is the fundamental
force to improve the environment
Without such a right, the normal dead-
lock between the regulated community
and the regulator often remains at dead-
lock.
Other suggested changes are
included in later sections. However, in
general, the draft legislation provides
for a strong foundation for improv-
ing environmental management. The
Acts should be put before the people of
Trinidad and Tobago for comment and
then enacted after appropriate re-draft-
ing. It does not make sense to wait
much longer in hopes of clarifying every
section's relationship to every other law
or every bureaucracy's working con-
nections to environmental issues. The
Nation needs the statutory structure to
move significantly forward on environ-
mental protection.
-------
v<<^ ;-' "*K
* >A- A'5-jJ" f.V>.'>^~- %
5 K
• The Government of Trinidad and
Tobago has reached a critical juncture
in environmental management. The
creation of the Ministry of Environ-
ment and National Service earlier this
year wasa sudden and importantevent
The two draft environmental Acts dis-
cussed in the last section would pro-
vide a strong and necessary foundation
for that structure. However, there are
a number of basic choices that the
Nation must make in managing the en-
vironmental decision making process.
This section is a discussion of those
choices.
How Active a Role
Management or Coordination
One of the looming issues in
the creation of a Ministry and ulti-
mately some organization structure,
perhaps the Authority and the Advi-
sory Board, is the role that this new
environmental management infrastruc-
ture should play. The issue is partially
one of timing. Until there are deci-
sions made as to additions 1 resources
and a more firm statutory basis for ac-
tion, the role of the newly created
Ministry may have to focus on coordi-
nation of ongoing environmental ac-
tivities. As the Chairperson of theStand-
ing Committee on the Environment
recently suggested:
"It is strongly advised that the
Ministry of the Environment and Na-
tional Service explore initially, unoffi-
cial channels to win the co-cperation of
the various sectors, both governmental
and private, to solve the wide range of
problems listed...."
In reality, however, the issue
is one of primary role — cc ordination
or management. The issue is the same
whether or not the act of creating a
Ministry is as far as the Government
goes in the near term or thers is indeed
created a broader statutory authority.
The difference is really only one of
timing.
Clearly, all parties i nvolved in
the debate on environmental manage-
ment see coordination as the funda-
mental role of the new Ministry itself
and as the backbone of the new Au-
thority and Advisory Counsel, if in-
deed they are created. There are sim-
ply too many people, too many Agen-
cies, and too many external forces in
the environmental debate to assume
that even if a total grant of ultimate
authority were provided it would work
well. It wouldn't. So there is no
question among all the observers that
coordination is and will continue to
be a key element in successful envi-
ronmental management. No one is
going to wave a wand and make disap-
pear the 14 agencies or the 42 statutes,
that currently affect some portion of
the environmental puzzle. Therefore,
whatever resources and personnel are
ultimately provided to the new Minis-
try, the function of coordination should
be a primary consideration.
However, in the environ-
mental field coordination cannot be
the prime consideration at least in the
-------
long run. Coordination can only bring
you so far and when the issues get
very heated, as they always do in en-
vironmental protection, coordination
is simply not enough. Management
implies some level of control over
resources, people, and or processes.
The new Ministry simply cannot
function for long in a credible way
with less than a handful of personnel,
albeit talented and dedicated people.
Even without the additional mecha-
nisms the two draft Acts would pro-
vide, coordination in and of itself is
not a sufficient authority to move
much forward on environmental man-
agement in Trinidad and Tobago.
Coordination works very well
among groups of the already commit-
ted. There has been an enormous de-
gree of selflessness in many Minis-
tries to analyze environment issues to
the degree that has been done in the
Nation. However, the need now is to
expand that group of individuals
committed to environmental protec-
tion and that will take more than coor-
dination and discussion. It will take
dedicated action to move beyond ^
new bureaucratic structures. And
that action could, at least initially,
take the form of a series of coordi-
native mechanisms to expand that
group of committed individuals as
well as organizations.
Recommendations
mental management, that the issues of
major import, such as the protection of
the Northern Range, the regulation of
industrial pollution, and indeed the new
environmental statutes themselves,
receive full debate and discussion by
the very individuals who will ultimately
make the resolution of those issue pos-
sible.
The second elementof coordi-
nation is to create a mechanism to pro-
mote ongoing coordination on environ-
mental issues with the key Ministries
on a regular basis. A "Ministerial
Working Group on the Environment"
would be composed of the Ministers of
the most critical operational functions
affecting the environment as starters,
the Ministers of Health, Town and
Country Planning, and Energy along
with the new Minister of the Environ-
ment would meet on a regular basis to
discuss specific approaches to specific
environment issues. On an as needed
basis, other Ministries would be invited
to participate in the Working Group.
These sessions would be lead by the
Coordination must first
begin within the government itself
at a variety of levels. At the Minis-
terial level, one of two things needs
to happen, preferably both. The
first is that the new Ministry must
raise additional issues to the level
of the Cabinet when those issues are
of critical importance to the Nation's
environment. This is coordination at
the highest level and accomplishes
several objectives, one of them clearly
the most significant: it raises environ-
mental concerns to the highest level of
government and begins the debate. It
is also highly important as Trinidad
and Tobago improve their environ-
ffixsO
Establish a Ministerial Level
£^^
Establish Inter-Ministry
; CWprkihg; G roiipson: the;
!:i- -.;';.::"!•:-'•: :".:::- :-•; ^;-;:":-:A:-:-"-.':'.-:: :-":": :-,: ,-,:';,::'";:;^:-":'::".:::'::-::'o'"'<
Minister of the Environment and Na-
tional Service and would be informal
discussion sessions attended only by
the Ministers and the appropriate Per-
manent Secretaries. But more than
informal sessions, the focus would be
on committing the appropriate Minis-
tries to the effective resolution of spe-
cific environmental issues that need
support from within their Ministries.
These two coordinative ac-
tions could bring a more cohesive ap-
proach to environmental management.
Regardless of future action on legisla-
tion, the implementation of most envi-
ronmental activity will be a multi-sec-
toral approach. Environmental poli-
cies must first get a full hearing at the
highestlevelsofthe government. How-
ever, those issues must then receive
regular attention from the key organi-
zations if they are ever to be resolved.
As a balance to this top-down
approach, there need to be established
throughout government at the Perma-
nent Secretary level as well as at the
technical level additional working
groups. It is quite clear from all the
discussions regarding environmental
management, that the success or fail-
ure of programs reside with the tech-
nical experts in the Ministries. The
new Ministry of the Environment and
National Service needs to establish
Inter-Ministry Working Groups
on the Environment at the Perma-
nent Secretary level, much like the
Ministerial Working Group. These
working groups should be of two
types, in some cases combined into
one but in other cases there may be
several different groups. On the one
hand, there may be issues that re-
quire ongoing working sessions be-
tween thePermanent Secretaries of
several Ministries. In other cases,
the focus of the work would be at the
technical level which in many of the
environmental issues is the key ele-
ment. Like the Ministerial group,
these sessions need to be scheduled,
specific, and regularized. Initially,
they should focus on implementa-
tion issues necessary to begin the
operations of the new Ministry. As
will be suggested in later sections,
some of these groups might focus on
(1) Environment Data collection and
management; (2) Assessment of Pol-
lution Sources; (3) Pollution compli-
ance choices; or (4) Public education
and training. The purpose of these
meetings would be to commit the re-
-------
spective Ministries, at the Permanent
Secretary level to broad outlines of
policy and then at the technical level
to a specific and particular action on
the environment to implement those
policies choices.
Managing the Leadership
Function
The second area for consid-
eration in improving environmental
management is the question of leader-
ship. In the most frank terms, outside
the area of the environmentally ac-
tive, there are not great expectations
for the new environmental bureauc-
racy. There is hope, but not many
expectations. However, that attitude,
while perhaps disappointing, is a
challenge and an opportunity. The
first objective of the Minister and his
Ministry should be to define clearly
and succinctly for the Nation what
the Ministry is all about. This is the
essence of leadership and it is the
primary, and perhaps the most impor-
tant challenge. The Minister of Envi-
ronment and National Service must
focus his energies on raising the ex-
pectations for environmental protec-
tion in Trinidad andTobago. And that
is a task that involves not only the
broader expectations of the popula-
tion as a whole, but in a narrower
sense, his own bureaucracy.
The creation of the Ministry
gives the beginnings of form and struc-
ture to environmental management.
The Minister must work at eliminat-
ing ambiguity as to the mission of
the Ministry. Environmental issues
need to be brought before the Nation,
either as suggested in the previous
section through traditional govern-
mental mechanisms, or more bluntly
through an enhanced interest in envi-
ronmental issues on the part of the
public. And part of the leadership
challenge will clearly be to expand
the interest in environmental protec-
tion of the various publics — the
people, the press, and non govern-
mental groups.
Maria g ing the ^Leadership Fun ctioii
piminate Ambiguity as to Mission
The new Minist-ry is a key
step in giving substance to environ-
mental management. If the two stat-
utes discussed earlier are enacted, mat
would be additional, perhaps the criti-
cal, impetus. However, regardless of
the timing of the enactment of the new
legislation, the leadership function will
be crucial. The recent CARICOM
Ministers Conference on the Environ-
ment, managed by the new Minister,
was a witness to the potentiul impact of
leadership. That type of success in
bringing people together, discussing
common environmental issues,and es-
tablishing mechanisms to work to-
gether is precisely the leadership chal-
lenge within Trinidad and Tobago.
Recommendations
First, the new Min istry must
build an effective team from within.
The new Ministry is the combination
of several disparate el em en ts and as in
any new structure, they need to under-
stand their roles and contributions to
what is likely to be a new mission. The
new Ministry has among others, some
key components: the Institute of
Marine Affairs; theTrinidad and To-
bago Waste Management Company,
Ltd., and the Forestry Divisi on. While
all of these agencies have an environ-
mental component to their individual
missions, the new Ministry should
formulate a consolidated mission state-
ment building on the solid expertise of
the individuals within those units. This
will require the personal attention of
the new Minister and his senior advis-
ers.
Following on the successes
of the CARICOM Ministeis Confer-
ence on the Environment held in late
May 1989, die new Minister must begin
to bring environmental issues to the
Nation's attention within Trinidad and
Tobago. This might be as simple as a
national contest for the development
of a "logo" for the new Ministry perhaps
at the primary and secondary school level.
Such a program could help to capture the
attention of the Nation on the fact that
there is a new Ministry focused on envi-
ronmental issues. The effort could also
involve a more substantive discussion in
local communities on environmental
issues. Possibly, the Minister could
develop a series of "Regional Forums"
on environmental issues. Such commu-
nity meetings, supported by local or-
ganizations, would help raise environ-
mental issues as well as involve the com-
munity. Additional media coverage of
environmental issues on national televi-
sion would also help focus the Minis-
try's role in people's minds.
Building an Environmental
Infrastructure - Moving Beyond
the Committed
There are four key elements in
building an environmental infrastructure:
the public at large; public interest groups
(non-governmental organizations
(NGOs)), the private sector, and thepress.
In Trinidad and Tobago, each of these
elements seriously lacks an organiza-
tional interest in environmental issues.
For die Ministry and ultimately the
Government to be successful in manag-
ing the complicated and potentially divi-
sive environmental issues, these four
groups must be nurtured and educated on
environmental issues. The key purpose
for building an infrastructure is to build
-------
a system that can result in an effective
decision making process in the envi-
ronmental arena.
If the only forces available
were government and the private sec-
tor it is unlikely that environmental
action would move very far. That is,
more or less, the situation in Trinidad
and Tobago. What seems to be so
critical for environmental management
in Trinidad and Tobago, particularly
for the long haul, is the creation of
other forces to support, in an effective
manner, environmental protection.
Without these other forces, ie., an
environmentally active public; a press
with the interest and ability to dig into
environmental complexities and sus-
tain an interest in them; public interest
groups actively supporting broad
environmental issues — and some-
times localized ones; and without some
industrial leadership, the ability to
sustain environmental protection sim-
ply will not exist
Obviously, the creation of
such an infrastructure is not without
risk for the public
servants both career
and political that are
being asked to help
develop it Getting
the public interested
and perhaps
strongly motivated
can be a dangerous
and sometimes self
defeating activity
particularly in the
environmental field
where there are of-
ten no really clear
cut or simple solu-
tions. The same risk
goes for educating
the press and engen-
dering the creation
of environmental or
the non governmen-
tal groups. How-
ever, it is a question
of leadership and
building infrastruc-
tures to protect the
environment of Trinidad and Tobago
for the future. The new Ministry needs
to reach out beyond the relatively small
group of the most committed and build
a broader foundation of support.
Recommendation
The Public at Large
Every analysis on environ-
mental management in Trinidad and
Tobago has dealt with the distinct lack
of an environmental ethic on the part
of the people themselves. The National
Consultation of 1985 stated the issue
quite clearly that one of the major prob-
lems in environmental management
was:
mending the government:
<*Moutit a massive public
:bn/pi»t>tic rations; drive j»
Mhsn consciousness about the ettvi*
' f,'' ' ' 4. '
, "Lack of national pride among a
large segment of the population o
frtnidad and Tobago."
The findings of the Standing
Committee on Environment two years
later again emphasized the importance
of the public's education by recom-
There is, therefore, nothing
unique about the call for the develop-
ment of the public interest as a major
component of the environmental infra-
structure. Nearly every observer con-
tacted on this issue insisted that such a
development must begin at the earliest
age, in primary school. Trinidad and
Tobago is a very young country. There
is an enormous potential for a bal-
anced environmental education—that
is an education that engenders environ-
mental protection but in a way that rec-
ognizes the difficulty of choices and
indeed the necessity to balance risks
against protection. The Ministry should
work with the appropriate institutions
within the country to begin a project of
environmental awareness. The Ministry
should also work within the region for
appropriate guidance and assistance on
Engender broader group^^
Establish an Environmental Business Roundtable to help
captiire the private sector's experience and involverrient;
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Develop with the press an increased understanding and longer
tertir commitmentto^nyirohm
Build a regionaland international perspective on the environ-
Build on an expanded definition of en
Use environmental protection cornpetitively in the intertia-
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-------
projects that have worked elsewhere
toenhance the publics interestand in-
volvement in environmental issues.
There is no magic formula. It will
simply take sustained effort within
Trinidad and Tobago to formulate
educational programs that will make
sense to its own people. Appropriate
technical assistance from international
groups, such as PAHO or the UNEP,
bi-lateral agreements or other mecha-
nisms could be helpful.
While the development of a
sustained public involvement in en-
vironmental issues requires educa-
tional programs, the creation of an
environmental awareness requires in-
volvement in government processes
—whether that be the planning proc-
ess and public comment or a focus on
specific actions where citizens need
to become involved. In all cases, the
Ministry can be a force to engender
such involvement. The public needs
to feel "personal" about some of the
key environmental issues for them to
become involved. That is why public
comment provisions must involve
more than written comment by the al-
ready involved. Public participation
must be encouraged and expected.
The public should have additional ac-
cess to environmental issues and to
the courts or other public forum to
press for action.
Non-Governmental Groups
There does not appear to be
any nation-wide environmentally fo-
cused non-governmental group in
Trinidad and Tobago. Simplistically,
there are no environmental interest
groups whose primary focus is to pro-
mote environmental management
There are a variety of associations
with an environmental interest as a
subsidiary to their primary purpose.
One example is the Employers Con-
sultative Association (EGA) which
recently held a seminar on industrial
waste management. There are organi-
zations interested in ecology as well
as specific issues in certain locations.
But there is simply no organization
devoted to promoting environmental
protection.
• This is a critical gap for im-
proving environmental management.
In all countries there is the normal ten-
sion between environm ental and devel-
opment or economic issues. This ten-
sion often results in gridlock on envi-
ronmental decisions, particularly statu-
tory changes. While the public can
often be strongly behir.d "the environ-
ment" even a strongly committed pub-
lic often cannot bring iis power to bear
on specific environmental decisions at
the National level. The difference is
often the focus and influence of the
environmental interest groups. With-
out this element of the environmental
infrastructure it is going to be very
difficult in the long run to sustain action
to protect the environment.
It is critically important that
the new Ministry give considerable
thought to how to engender broader,
national groupings of c nvironmental
interests in the Nation. Much can be
done through "jawboning" by bringing
similar interests together from several
The Ministry should begin
discussions with key internationally
supported environmental interest
groups (Conservation Foundation,
Sierra Club, etc.) to obtain their sug-
gestions as to how to establish the ap-
propriate climate for such organiza-
tions in Trinidad and Tobago. There
may even be the ability to utilize the
resources of these organizations for
technical assistance and training.
The Private Sector
The third component neces-
sary to build an environmental infra-
structure is to engage the private sec-
tor in Trinidad and Tobago. There is a
clear cut chasm between the public
and private sectors particularly in ref-
erence to the environment. For ex-
ample, the existing Standing Commit-
tee has no private sector, or for that
matter no non governmental repre-
sentation. Thisisnotuniqueto Trinidad
and Tobago. However, the implica-
tions of such a dichotomy is particu-
larly expensive to the Nation both in
terms of environmental protection as
"...The technical abilities of the private sector simply
cannot and should not be ignored as a valuable re-
source in projecting the environment..."
different locations on issues that cross
town or geographic areas. However,
these groups tend not to outlast the
particular issue. More important, per-
haps, would be for the, Ministry to
carefully nurture environmental in-
terest group participation in the
processes of government so that there
is a reason to get involved in an organ-
izational sense. The focus could be on
a particular issue — the protection of
the Northern Range, thav: could engen-
der wider interest throughout the na-
tion. Or, the focus could be on ensur-
ing participation by organizations in
the processes of govemm ent, including
standing in court to bring citizen action
against polluters or even against the
government to force action.
well as rare skills.
The technical abilitiesof the
private sector simply cannot and
should not be ignored as a valuable
resource in protecting the environ-
ment. Perhaps in Trinidad and To-
bago, a better phrase would be the in-
dustrial sector, whether it be only "pri-
vate" or one of the public corporations
or entities. Environmental issues
quickly become technical and often
very expensive to analyze. No coun-
try can afford to ignore the industrial
resource. Therefore, the new Minis-
try must build an ongoing and more
effective relationship with the in-
dustrial sector. The first step is to
build an understanding of where the
-------
Ministry is headed in developing an
environmental protection program for
the Nation. The second step is foster-
ing cooperation in reaching those ob-
jectives. Thenew Ministry must begin
to build those liaisons at the highest
level and begin a series of working re-
lationship at the technical level.
In addition to the building of
bridges between the public and indus-
trial sectors, the Ministry needs to be-
gin establishing an information
base. This can best be done through
information requested by the Minis-
try and prepared and submitted by the
industrial sector. At a later stage,
these information relationships will
naturally develop in a system for
industrial self compliance informa-
tion for environmental regulations.
On the industrial side, cor-
porations need to develop a more thor-
ough understanding of the benefits of
environmental prevention activities.
It is becoming increasingly evident
that pollution prevention at the source
of manufacture pays considerable
dividends for corporations. There
needs to be a more effective commu-
nication of these principles between
the eventual regulator and the regu-
lated community. This point needs to
be emphasized by the Ministry with
particular application to the major
industries in Trinidad and Tobago.
At the highest level, how-
ever, the Ministry should consider the
establishment of a Environmental
B usiness Roundtable, chaired by the
Minister and one of the leading indus-
trialists in Trinidad and Tobago. The
purpose of the Roundtable would be
to meet quarterly to discuss specific
environmental issues and the options
available for their resolution. The
Roundtable would, as appropriate,
spin off industrial/governmental
working groups to develop the appro-
priate information upon which envi-
ronmental action could take place. In
this way, the talents and capabilities
of the industrial sector would not be
lost to the government.
The Press
The press in Trinidad and
Tobago takes an interest in environ-
mental issues but not a sustained inter-
est. For obvious reasons, the press is an
important component in the environ-
mental infrastructure. The Ministry
has already begun to reach out to the
press on environmental issues. How-
ever, there should be a more concerted
effort at the reporter and editorial
levels to develop a more in depth
understanding of the environmental
issues facing Trinidad and Tobago.
However.andmoreimportant, the press
needs to be educated in the importance
of sustaining their interest and that of
their readers. They are an important
element in public education.
The Ministry should develop
public forums on environmental issues
andasapublic service have them placed
on television with particular reference
to the younger viewer. The Ministry
itself needs to develop a strong sense
of the press and how it can be utilized
more effectively to take to the Nation
its environmental message.
The Broader Framework—The
International and Regional
Community
A Regional Perspective
It is very difficult to resolve
environmental issues within the bor-
ders of a specific country. Trinidad and
Tobago is no exception. The world
community is currently undergoing an
environmental transformation with
concern, interest, and action taking
place throughout the globe on environ-
mental issues. Trinidad and Tobago
should utilize that growing international
concern to its best advantage.
In a philosophical tone, the
sharing of environmental issues, as was
done at the recent CARICOM Minis-
ters Conference on the Environment
held in Port of Spain in late May 1989,
brings a community of support to iden-
tical issues. It was clear at that particu-
lar conference, that the participating
Nations from the Caribbean commu-
nity were facing the same environ-
mental issues with the same relatively
weak environmental management in-
frastructures that Trinidad and Tobago
are now trying to strengthen. The
leadership presented by Trinidad and
Tobago was significant and should be
built upon for the future.
The international commu-
nity can provide "environmental
courage" to some extent. It is a forum
for discussion and a potential forum
for the resolution of some of the most
difficult environmental issues—both
substantivelyandadministratively. For
instance, the ultimate resolution of the
disposal of hazardous waste within the
Caribbean community (putting aside
the more difficult issues of hazardous
waste imports into the Caribbean
community) is a regional issue and one
that should generate ongoing discus-
sions as to the most environmentally
safe method of disposing of waste
throughout the region. That is a basic
substantive policy decision that the
new Ministry should continue to ex-
ploit in its best sense and attempt to
resolve in a broader context.
On the administrative side,
there has been considerable regional
cooperation whichshouklbeexpanded.
There simply is not enough talent any-
where in the world to generate the
technical expertise twenty or thirty
times over in the environmental field.
Trinidad and Tobago needs to con-
tinue its leadership role in formulating
regional solutions to technical issues:
the building of increased capacity for
chemical testing at facilities serving
the entire Caribbean community; the
development of improved information
centers, again serving the Caribbean
community. It simply makes no sense
for the Nations of the Caribbean, with
such similar environmental issues, to
move forward individually on all these
fronts.
-------
Broadening the Definition of Envi-
ronmental Health
One of the emerging themes
of the Caricom Ministerial Confer-
ence on the Environment was that
"man" should be the focus of environ-
mental protection programs. Indeed,
the significant improvements made in
more traditional international health
arena need to be expanded into the
broader realm of environmental health
management. Traditionally, the focus
of environmental health has been on
communicable diseases. However, as
one observer has noted:
"...the demands of a growing
population, increasing urbanization,
industrialization and expanding agri-
cultural production have created new
and emerging environmental health
problems..,.Epidemiologicalevidence
shows that non-communicable ill-
issues facing Trinidad and Tobago. In
turn.TrinidadandToba go needs to press
these organizations toe tpand their tech-
nical assistance beyond the more tradi-
tional health areas and into the broader
impacts of environmental health. These
are the areas of hazardous waste and
toxic chemicals and their chronic im-
pacts on human health. However, to do
so will require considerable rethinking
with the country on the focus of its own
health programs.
The regional and international
health and environmental organizations
need to bring this broader view to
environmental decision making. The
traditional sectoral examinations sim-
ply are no longer sufficient in the envi-
ronmental field. The resolution, as we
have seen earlier, of environmental is-
sues is not a single Ministry's function:
it is indeed the responsibility of the
!i^
]
national markets will likely be a function of a Nitibn's'enyi-
nesses have largely replaced commu-
nicable ones as the leading causes of
death...."
This changing structure and
focus of the more traditional health
community in Trinidad and Tobago,
and undoubtedly throughout the world,
are an enormous challenge. The new
Ministry should continue to capitalize
on the excellent support it has received
from a variety of international organi-
zations, such as the Pan American
Health Organization (PAHO/WHO)
and the United Nations Environmental
Programs. These organizations have
the potential to be continuing powerful
allies in the development of environ-
mental data as to cause and effect. And
because of their broader international
and regional scope, such organizations
as PAHO/WHO can bring compara-
tive information with which to help
balance the specific environmental
entire government. This broader re-
gional and international expertise
brought by organizations such as PAHO/
WHO enhance the critical requirement
to focus on Caribbean integration par-
ticularly as it relates to environmental
issues. Trinidad and Tobago, with its
leadership in industrial development in
the region, can also expa-id on its grow-
ing environmental leadership and build
on the successes of the C^iRICOM Con-
ference in Port of Spain.
Environmental Protection Will Pav
Dividends
It is quite clear that institutions
involved in international finance are
becoming increasingly aware of the
importance of environmental protec-
tion for what has been popularly termed
sustained development. Although the
issue of sustainable development is
many years old, its does appear possible
that the donor and financial commu-
nity are becoming increasingly stub-
born about the necessity to include
environmental issues in all develop-
ment projects. Thus, Trinidad and
Tobago can for itself, as well as the
region, improve its own competitive
stature by moving aggressively for-
ward on stricter environmental review
processes as well as controls.
Clearly, the international fi-
nancial community is looking to a
broader view in the Nations where they
are investing. The ability to become
increasingly competitive will likely
be a function of a Nation's environ-
mental effort. Donor organizations
have reached a point where they prefer
a one stop approach to environmental
issues associated with a particular proj-
ect. A nation such as Trinidad and
Tobago, with a single Minister respon-
sible for coordination of environmental
issues should exploit that advantage to
its fullest. The Ministry must have an
input into the industrial planning proc-
esses as well as the financial investment
decisions within the Nation to ensure
that all parties have adequately covered
the environmental issues.
Conclusions
What is most interesting about
all these choices is that they all can be
accomplished without further organiza-
tional or statutory changes. That is not
to say that additional authorities are not
needed—they certainly are. However,
issues of coordination, leadership, de-
veloping an environmental infrastruc-
ture can all begin to happen under the
existing structure of the new Ministry.
Such activity will indeed require coor-
dination. And such activity whether as
a precursor to additional statutory au-
thority or asajointresponse.isessential
to a long term movement to improve en-
vironmental management. But such ac-
tivity will also require changing of
people's current roles and views within
the new Ministry's bureaucracy. And
finally, such activities will undoubtedly
require more human and financial re-
sources.
-------
-------
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• The previous section dis-
cussed some basic environmental man-
agement decisions facing Trinidad and
Tobago, and in particular the Ministry
of Environment and National Service.
It is important, however, to move from
that philosophical, but important
framework to a discussion of choices
on very specific environmental
management processes.
The Basic Foundation for Ac-
tion
Oneof the most difficultproc-
esses to analyze is the process of deci-
sion making within a country which is
used to make the environmental regu-
latory control decisions. The situation
in Trinidad and Tobago as discussed in
the previous section is similar to other
countries in the area: lack of a strong
environmental interest infrastructure.
The differences between countries are
matters of degree. However, the ap-
proach Trinidad and Tobago take to
improve their environmental manage-
ment must fit in. The approach must
make sense to Trinidad ani 1 Tobago or it
simply will not work. Therefore, there
must be choices made on the
"threshold" process of when to take
regulatory action. It is, in essence, the
setting of an "equity" baseline from
which everyone begins to negotiate
, upward.
In deciding on the threshold
issue, clearly the governmental proc-
esses within Trinidad and Tobago fol-
low the philosophy of many European
countries that provides for considerable
discretion on the part of the regulator, in
• the case of Trinidad perhaps the Au-
thority. Furthermore, the administra-
tive practice in Trinidad and Tobago
calls for considerable negotiation, prag-
matism, and gradual implementation of
standards rather than the sudden instal-
lation of technology based require-
ments. Whether or not Trinidad and
Tobago have reached or will reach a
point where "technology forcing" pro-
cedures are utilized,such as in the United
States and Japan, environmental prog-
ress will depend to a great extent on the
ability of the government to bring the
regulated communities effectively into
the environmental management proc-
esses.
Thus what will face the lead-
ers of Trinidad and Tobago when they
begin establishing their regulatory sys-
tem either before or after their statutes
are enacted, will be several threshold
questions. A key one will focus on
what will the standard for action be?
And it is likely that the standard will
match their approach to other regulated
activities: wide discretion and environ-
mental action heavily dependent upon
consultation and negotiation. Given
that likelihood, at least initially, it is all
the more important the the statutes
creating a National Environmental
Policy and an Authority as well as a
-------
statutory framework be enacted as
quickly as possible.
There are several areas involv-
ing the basic threshold issues that could
be strengthened either in the draft stat-
utes or perhaps preferably during im-
plementation of those statutes under the
generic authority. As mentioned ear-
lier, there needs to be more preference
given to waste prevention and innova-
tive mechanisms to promote prevention
and recycling. There is underway, cur-
rently, with the leadership of the Minis-
ter for the Environment and National
Service, an attempt to promote in a
more organized fashion therecyclingof
materials at the Beetham landfill. These
types of innovative support for rela-
tively small but important entreprenurial
initiative should be encouraged. But
for the long run, the Ministry should
work with the Caribbean community
and other organizations to assess what
it can do in the prevention and recycling
area at the very beginning of its process
development. Manyother Nations have
begun to come full circle on these issues
now realizing their importance to a
In addition, in examining
|pbrtimjty;ipl;:'imnage:
;; in ways most btherNari
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idiii
land—they do seem to provide suffi-
cient lattitude for a broader approach
to be taken during implementation. If
the drafters do not believe that is the
case then there should be modifica-
tions made. What Trinidad and To-
bago should try to avoid is to design
an environmental management sys-
tem that focuses the solutions media
by media, ie., water, land, and air.
What should be examined is
an integrated approach that recog-
nizes that pollution is not necessar-
ily organized along such clear cut
lines. In an island nation, that should
be all the more clear given the fact that
Prim
^(iOTotie pollution preyehtionandir^yclm
approaches to improving environmental
management, Trinidad and Tobago has
a real opportunity in leapfrogging some
of the historical lessons other countries
have learned. For instance, many other
countries with longer histories of envi-
ronmental management are now mov-
ing toward a "cross media" approach.
This is essentially a broader look at the
sources and results of pollution than has
been done traditionally. While the draft
statutes are organized along the more
traditional means — air, water, and
nearly any pollutant, whether it be
deposited in the air, rivers, or on land
ultimately becomes a pollutant to the
marine environment. Therefore, in
the broadest context, Trinidad and
Tobago should utilize an environ-
mental managementapproach that rec-
ognizes the necessity to build institu-
tions and train individuals in broader
rather than narrower fields.
For the new Ministry for in-
stance, this broader approach implies
a widening of the scope of what the
individual units currently do: the Divi-
sion of Forestry, the Institute of Marine
Affairs, and the Trinidad and Tobago
Waste Management Co., Ltd., and per-
haps portions of WASA. And on the
other hand it requires a merging together
in a more comprehensive manner those
same organizations. To continue to
manage the Division of Forestry only as
a Division of Forestry is not enough. The
Division of Forestry should expand its
expertise beyond its traditional lines and
become the focus for the Ministry on
natural resource management through-
out the country. Trinidad and Tobago
have a real opportunity to manage envi-
ronmental issues in ways most other
Nation' s wish they had begun—as an in-
tegrated whole. This process has other
implications for the types of human re-
sources hired and the kinds of training
provided to existing personnel. It also
has major implications for retraining of
existing personnel throughout the other
Ministries on the broader ramifications
of environment management. Thattrain-
ing needs to begin soon.
Environmental Planning
The environmental planning,
and in particular the environmental im-
pact assessment components of the proc-
ess are fundamental systems by which
the Ministry of Environment and Na-
tional Service can help to ensure that at
a minimum environmental concerns be-
come coequal with development issues.
The draft statute provides for some au-
thority in this area:
"...the minister in conjunction
with the relevant agencies may make
regulations for or with respect to (a) the
submission of environmental impacts
statements"....(and) (c) prescribe "stan-
dards or criteria for the implementation
of any declared environmental policy or
classification for the protection of the
environment and for protecting benefi-
cial uses."
In addition, the statute wouk
provide authority to obtain fees for the
granting of permits or licenses. In addi
tion to these authorities, there is a draf
-------
Town and Country Planning Act that
would greatly improve the current basis
for environmental impact assessments.
This draft Act would provide for an
environmental protection area survey
"with a view to determining whether
any area in Trinidad and Tobago may
be declared to be an environmental
protection area." Within such areas,
there would be a presumption of no
development
Furthermore, the draft Town
and Country Planning Act would pro-
vide authority for the Minister of Town
and Country Planning to require envi-
ronmental impact assessments (1) in
any protection area or in any other land
where the production would result in
waste products or is likely to have a sig-
nificant effect on the environment, (2)
involves minerals or mining, or (3) in
an area of "environ-
mental significance."
for what are called "protection areas."
However, new development is so fun-
damentally important in the environ-
mental protection scheme, v/hatever the
statutory basis, the environmental min-
istry should be given the fir-al approval
at least on those projects critical be-
cause of a certain size, scope, or poten-
tial impact
Another aspect of the environ-
mental impactassessmentprocess is the
lack of presumption that the public needs
more than the ability to submit written
comments. The draft Town and Coun-
try Planning Act calls fclic inter-
est over the long run.
A final aspect of environ-
mental impactassessment and theplan-
ning process is the application to both
the public and private sectors. In the
draft Town and Country Planning Act
there is a final phrase to the effect "This
Act applies to the State." If in effect
there is some question given the his-
torical practice in Trinidad and Tobago
that an Act does not necessarily apply
to the state and the state corporations as
well as the private sector, then this fact
should be made clear in the draft envi-
ronmental acts also. •
The bottom line is that the
environmental impactassessmentproc-
ess is an integral and perhaps the pri-
mary method to ensure future environ-
mental protection. The Ministry of En-
vironment and National Service and
ultimately the Environ-
mental Authority must play
a key role in that process.
And the role must be, in the
end, more than simply advi-
sory. In areas determined to
be environmentally pro-
tected, the Ministry should
have the predominant re-
sponsibility for approving
any exceptions to develop-
ment. In the general assess-
ment process, outside the
proposed areas of environ-
mental concern, theenviron-
mental Ministry must also
play more than an advisory
role. It should have veto or compara-
tive authority on projects defined ei-
ther by their size or their potential
pollutiontobe"significant." Thedraft
environmental statute and/or the town
and country planning draft should be
more direct in these areas.
Information and Data
There is undoubtedly a great
deal of data on environmental issues in
Trinidad and Tobago. However, there
does not appear to much information,
in the sense that the Ministry could
begin to make some key decisions on
-------
priorities in environmental protection.
Therefore, a fundamental task for
the new Ministry is to develop a con-
solidated data base of existing envi-
ronmental information that can be
used for decision making. In addition,
the Ministry needs to develop the ca-
pability to replicate and update that in-
formation on a regular basis.
In die environmental field,
information is the essential ingredient
for success. Therefore, the Ministry
of Environment and National Serv-
ice must be the sole depository within
the Nation on environmental and
environmental health data. In some
cases it will have to draw from existing
data whether that be from the Ministry
of Health, Energy, or Town and Coun-
try Planning. In other cases, particu-
larly in those areas focusing on newly
regulated sources, the Ministry will
have to be the source and owner of that
data and information.
The Institute for Marine
Affairs should be renamed the Insti-
tute for Environmental Affairs. The
Institute has been involved with de-
velopmental activities as well as sup-
port for information needs throughout
the Caribbean area. It is critical that
the Institute remain in the Schedule for
the Ministry of Environment and Na-
tional Service. While ultimately, all
pollution problems within Trinidad and
Tobago impact the marine environ-
ment which is the Insti-
tute's primary focus, un-
doubtedly the skills and
the responsibilities of the
Institute will have to be
altered and expanded de-
pending on the priorities
given to particular envi-
ronmental issues. For ex-
ample, the Institute will
need to develop skills in
other media of pollution
— air and land in particu-
lar. But the core staff has
an excellent reputation and
the Institute must become
the main source of environmental, not
just marine, information.
Furthermore, the Trinidad and
Tobago Solid Waste Management
Company, Ltd., also contained in the
Ministry's Schedule, should become
the focal point for information associ-
ated with solid and ultimately hazard-
ous waste. .The Forestry Division is a
valuable resource management organi-
zation and should provide the new
Ministry with solid expertise in manag-
ing natural resources beyond the for-
ests. The combination of the newly
named and structured Institute for
Environmental Affairs, the Forestry
Division and the T&T SWMC should
provide significant environmental man-
agement expertise along the entire spec-
trum from information to natural re-
source management. However, it will
take considerable teambuilding within
the Ministry to bring these disparate or-
ganizations into more focus.
The Ministry should begin a
detailed process of environmental as-
sessment. The Institute should become
the manager of that process. The first
step would be an assessment of real and
potential pollution sources. The next
step would be to quantify the type and
amount of emissions from at least the
largest sources to begin a process of pri-
oritization. The final step would be to
assess pollution control options for each
major source: what is currently being
done and what are the variety of options
for further control. The Ministry should
then work with the Ministry of Health
and other organizations such as PAHO/
Infdrrnatioiii
Expanrjj^
mental
f'i^^
WHO to assess the human health link-
age of the major sources of pollution to
help refine the priority setting process.
To complete the assessment,
the Ministry should then begin work-
ing with the individual sources to dis-
cuss the health impacts, the control
options, and a schedule for implemen-
tation of the controls where appropri-
ate. In many if not most cases, the
Ministry should require the sources to
submit environmental emission data
in a form determined by the Ministry.
The draft environmental acts provide
this authority. In lieu of that precise
authority, the Ministry should begin
such information gathering through
discussions with the priority sources
on a voluntary basis. These "self
monitoring" reports would provide the
Ministry with ongoing environmental
emission data first as a baseline for
future action and ultimately as a track-
ing system for environmental prog-
ress. The new Act should make it clear
than any falsification of such' self
monitoring information is appropri-
ately punishable. Wherever possible,
the environmental priorities should be
define in geographic units that would
enable communities to become in-
volved in the discussions including
public forums on the environmental
issues.
Akey issueon environmental
data that will have to be addressed by
the Ministry is the degree to which
the data is available to the general
public, including the press and envi-
ronmental or non govern-
mental groups. In general,
the Ministry should err on
the side of public disclosure
of environmental data col-
lected from sources. While
many negotiations will
likely take place at the local
level, where environmental
protection will ultimately be
implemented, the impor-
tance of information to pub-
lic involvement must not be
understated. To the extent
that negotiations between
the source of pollution and the local in-
spector are hampered by too much
-------
public discussion then the issue in-
deed needs balance. However, the
Ministry must not forget the very di-
rect relationship between useful infor-
mation and the development of an in-
formed and environmentally con-
cerned public. The bottom line is that
there should be specific protections
which limit the kind of information
to be held in confidence. The ability
to see information is all the more criti-
cal under the type of informal system
that Trinidad and Tobago is likely to
operate under in the environmental
field. Cooperation implies an under-
standing and knowledge of compli-
ance or lack thereof. Without that in-
formation on performance, the public
will not be well protected. The limits
on information as trade secrets should
be very carefully crafted.
Human Resources
The human resource issue is
likely to become a fundamental one
for the Ministry of the Environment
and National Service. The Ministry
itself has only a small core of staff,
literally counted on one hand. The
Schedule for the Ministry includes
several entities, including the Institute
of Marine Affairs, the Forestry, Divi-
sion, and two state enterprises, the
Trinidad and Tobago Forest Products
Co., and the Solid Waste Management
Co. While these organizations can
provide a resource base from which to
draw from, it is clear that as the Minis-
try expands its environmental effort
additional human resounds will have
to be invested. The proposed environ-
mental authority will need staffing al-
though there is approval for a core
group of staff to be established includ-
ing a director.
Trinidad and Tobago is also
currently implementing an Adminis-
trative Reform Package designed to re-
focus the bureaucracy. In effect, addi-
tional resources from outride the gov-
ernment are going to be difficult to
obtain if not impossible.. Therefore,
the Ministry must look t) within the
Government for either additional per-
sonnel or positions. Tliis financial
tightness is going to make the need for
coordination in the initial stages all the
more critical. It is unlikely that the
Ministry will be able to adequately
function without additional resources
from some source. Additional discus-
sions within the government need to
take place around specific i leeds for the
new Ministry based on the current au-
thorities and those expecied with the
new legislation. Currently there ap-
pears to be a stalemate with everyone
waiting everyone else out.
As will be suggested later, the
area that will undoubtedly require new
personnel and resources will be the ar-
r
eas of environmental protection not
now done by any other organization
— the new regulatory authorities for
the control of industrial pollution. It is
likely that the Ministry will need to es-
tablish its own inspectorate for this
area complementing other like organi-
zations in other Ministries. For the
most part, the Ministry will have to
rely on local councils or similar or-
ganizations to implement its environ-
mental policies. That is why it will be
critical for the Ministry to establish
close links through the appropriate
Ministries with local organizations.
However, in some areas, additional
resources will be critical.
Financing Environmental Man-
agement
The Ministry needs to assess
alternative financing mechanisms to
help pay for environmental manage-
ment From the discussions during
this consultation, it is clear that there
is a general attitude of not paying
directly for services. This includes all
services including such things as hunt-
ing licenses. There is a growing num-
ber of financing alternatives that
should be considered and if possible
included as a general authority in the
environmental statutes before they are
enacted. The draft prohibition act
includes authority for certain types of
fees but the legislation should be
analyzed to ensure that the authority is
broad enough so that during program
implementation useful options are not
precluded. The following is an ex-
ample of possible financing ap-
proaches that should be considered by
the Ministry and the Government of
Trinidad and Tobago.
Environmental Taxes on Production
Trinidad and Tobago could
initiate fees on the production or proc-
essing of certain substances such as
oil or chemicals. In the United States,
such a tax is placed on oil and certain
chemicals to help pay for the cleanup
of abandoned hazardous waste sites.
-------
The tax receipts are placed into a
Trust Fund and then appropriated by
the U.S. Congress each year. These
taxes were established to provide the
financial support for a particular pro-
gram and cannot be used for any
other Federal effort. Another possi-
bility would be an environmental tax
on gasoline sales that could be used
for environmental management in
general or directed toward specific
programs of permits issued to that
particular industry;
Emission Fees
Emission fees, based on an
amount per ton of a particular
pollutant emitted, can raise addi- :;
tional funds. The fees can be v: •;
placed on the emissions of sulfur -;v;
dioxide from power plants for C?
instance. These fees would be
set at a level that is relatively
low. They are intended to raise
revenues and not act as a disin-
centive forpolluting. Obviously,
the particular level depends on
the Country's situation. Such
fees generally would support a
specific regulatory permit proc-
ess to improve the quality and or
timeliness of a particular permit
and the ongoing compliance
efforts.
Pollution Fees
These are similar to
emission fees but are set at a con-
siderably higher level . Their :"•>;
purpose is to generate emission ;|;
reductions due to their cost. As
a company reduces its emissions
of the particular pollutant, their fees
are reduced appropriately. It is one
of many market based approaches to
environmental pollution control.
Environmental Trust Fund
The establishment of an en-
vironmental trust fund could serve
several different purposes. As was
suggested during this consultation,
one possibility would be to have a series
of competitions for posters, mascots for
the environment, etc., with school age
children. The sales of the posters and
material could then be placed in a trust
fund for use for environmental projects.
This relatively small scale effort would
greatly assist the generation of public
concern and interest in the environ-
ment
At the other end of the spec-
trum some of the fees mentioned above
could be deposited in a broader trust
fund to make the operation of some
portion of the Ministry or the Authority
self perpetuating. If possible, the draft
^Enyi^nmienttljTrustj^una;
legislation should include authority to
create a broadly based environmental
trust fund. The revenues of this trust
fund would provide ongoing and rela-
tively stable financial support for the
operations of the Ministry as well as
possible financial support for infrastruc-
ture development (such as loans for
waste treatment or drinking water sys-
tems) or for support of ongoing opera-
tiona and maintenance of public treat-
ment plants.
As a still more innovative
approach, some of the receipts from
the trust fund could be used for more
innovative financial mechanisms such
as a revolving fund that would pro-
vide financial support for construc-
tion of certain public environmental
projects.
Generation of Other Types of
Income
There are other innovative
mechanisms to help finance the op-
erations of the Ministry and in par-
ticular the Authority once it gets op-
erational. A recent example was the
authority given the Ministry of
?•:;.. Energy to accept funds from
;;;>;;: the private sector (and public
•;;V; entities where appropriate) to
?.£! helpfinance training of the Min-
;:: ;i; istry'spersonnel. Giventhecon-
v;;t;:; siderable need to develop an en-
:;£: vironmental infrastructure
within the Ministry of Environ-
mem and National Service, the
draft acts should be clear on the
authority of the Ministry togen-
erate such income where appro-
priate.
Any of these fees can be
considered controversial. How-
ever, the financial situation in
Trinidad and Tobago, like other
countries, is extremely tight. It
is clear that the Government in
general will need to look at in-
novative ways to finance par-
ticular operations. TheMinis-
;.;*;• try of Environmental and Na-
: tional Service, while relying a
great deal on coordination and
implementation of its programs
through other Ministries, must ulti-
mately have new sources of funds
with which to operate. The Ministry
should evaluate the above possibili-
ties as well as others and move for-
ward as quickly as feasible.
Compliance Strategy
The compliance process for
Trinidad and Tobago will have to
-------
lean heavily on consultation and nego-
tiation. While a more direct approach
may be desired by some, if there is to be
environmental regulatory authorities
as proposed in the draft legislation, the
day to day compliance strategy will be
consultative.
Furthermore, like most com-
pliance strategies it must be self enforc-
ing—for the most part Therefore, the
new Ministry needs to have a core in-
spectorate for industrial pollution
control as well as for oversite of key
com pliance activities managed by other
Ministries under existing legal authori-
ties. The information base for indus-
trial pollution should come from the in-
dustries themselves in what are called
self monitoring reports in other coun-
tries. This would lessen the size of the
new staff needed to some degree and
the information should be processed
electronically wherever possible.
As recommended earlier to
generate a public infrastructure, there
should be provisions for the involve-
ment of citizens as well as certain non
governmental groups to take legal ac-
tion to compel both the government as
well as industry to take certain kinds of
action. And finally, as recommended
earlier, the public's right to access of
compliance information should be pre-
sumed to be unlimited with only mini-
mal constraints based on carefully de-
fined rules of proprietary data Again in
an environment of consultative compli-
ance, the importance of free access to
that compliance data is critical to the
very consultative process itself.
-------
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An Approach, to Environ-
mental Management
Given the discussions in the
previous sections as well as the wealth
of information in the relatively recent
studies mentioned above, it is pos-
sible to take the analysis one step fur-
ther — to recommend a possible
management approach to environ-
mental issues as well as to suggest
some action agenda items for the
vlinistry." This approach is primarily
designed for the immediate short and
mid-term but would provide a strong
bundation for additional environ-
mental management actions after the
appropriate legislation is enacted.
The approach consists of
three elements: (1) a broad policy
ramework for environmental man-
agement that focuses on methods to
provide a management framework for
new and existing environmental is-
sues; (2) a series of environmental
actions that could take place within the
existing legislative and administrative
framework; and (3) a suggested organ-
izational framework within which to
organize this approach. First, the pol-
icy framework.
The Policy Fram ework
Traditional Environmental
Management
An approach to environmental
management can be broken into three
components. The first >s the focus'on
the traditional environmental issues
defined as those currently managed,
some better than others, by existing
Ministries and organizations. These
issues have been those that generally
relate to acute effects such as the envi-
ronmental health impacts from improper
sewage treatment or inadequate public
water systems. A substantial infra-
structure already exists throughout
the government comprising over 40
agencies. The suggestion is that, for
the most part, the focus of the Minis-
try of Environmental and Public Serv-
ice should be on coordination and
integration.
Forexample, the Minister of
the Environment and National Serv-
ice would continue to rely on the
Ministry of Health to continue to im-
plement the provisions of the Public
Health Act that would relate to envi-
ronmental management. The City,
Borough & County Council would
continue to enforce the Litter Act
where-it relates to environmental
management. These existing organi-
zations all with considerable local
presence would be the day to day
contact on environmental issues that
involve their particular authorities.
The Trinidad and Tobago
-------
Waste Management Co. Ltd., (Waste
Management Co.) has been included
in the Schedule of the Ministry of the
Environment and National Service.
This was an important element in the
integration effort. However, further
thought should be given to the place-
ment of the non-distributional portions
of the Water and Sewage Authority
(WASA) into the new Ministry. The
primary reason for this suggestion is
that the water and sewage functions are
so integral to environmental health
protection that they simply need to be
organizationally placed within the
Ministry involved with directing envi-
ronmental improvement. In addition,
and not an unimportant element, the
transfer would provide a needed addi-
tional human resource element for the
new Ministry.
But for the most part, the his-
torical relationships, except for those
already transferred to the new Minis-
try, and the additional suggestion re-
aged in its current home, the Ministry of
Health.
However, the Ministry of En-
vironment and National Service should
not, and likely does not, assume that all
these existing mechanisms are working
well. In such cases, the Ministry should
use its authorities of persuasion to enlist
additional support for environmental
management where it is needed. One
obvious area is continued pressure to
improve the operation of sewage treat-
ment plants and begin to gain better
control over a growing sewage problem
in many parts of the country. Another
area would be an assessment of the
major public drinking water systems to
ascertain their level of maintenance and
operational.
In some areas, the new Minis*
try should encourage other Ministries
and organizations to take on new efforts
in environmental management. One
area in particular that was mentioned
could elicit the assistance of the Min-
istry of Health as well as international
organizations such as the Pan Ameri-
can Health Organization/World Health
Organization. In the area of solid and
hazardous waste, the Ministry could
utilize the strengths of the T&T Waste
Management Co. Ltd., to begin a pub-
lic education program in the risks as-
sociated with improper solid and haz-
ardous waste disposal. This would be
a key area of potential technical assis-
tance with organizations such as
PAHO/WHO or the U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency.
But the essence of this ele-
mentof environmental management is
to focus on utilizing the best of what
exists to move the environmental is-
sues forward. They must be selected
carefully and with a clear eye as to
relative priorities of the issues. The
importance of both technical level as
well as policy level relationships can-
not be overemphasized.
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garding WASA, would remain in ef-
fect. The implementation of the Toxic
Substances Control Act, a relatively
new responsibility with its own grow-
ing pains, would continue to be man-
previously would be an analysis of the
relationships of environmental pollut-
ants to the three leading causes of death
in the country: heart disease, cerebrovas-
cula rdisease, and cancer. The Ministry
While in general terms, a
coordinative approach is time consum-
ing and often frustrating, there are
strong elements within existing organi-
zations that appear to be strongly sup-
-------
portiveofenvironmentalactivities. This
element of the approach will require
the development of a number of inno-
vative and coordinative mechanisms
suggested elsewhere for other purposes..
The two most critical ones
would be the Ministerial Council on
the Environment, lead by the Minister
of the Environment and National Serv-
ice to discuss, on a regular basis, envi-
ronmental policy issues. These issues
would be those of national scope, such
as the future of the Northern Range, or
the priorization of environmental regu-
lation, or the establishment of new fi-
nancing mechanisms for environmental
management support. Butperhapsmore
important than a discussion of the pol-
icy issue itself would be the charge of
the Council to commit shared resources
and the time of their bureacracies to the
specific effort agreed upon in the pol-
icy discussions.
Hence, if an agreed upon ap-
proach were taken to protect the North-
em Range for future generations, the
Council would outline inapolicy frame-
work the precise approach and each
appropriate Minister would commit
their specific Ministries and specific
people to the coordination and implem -
entation effort
A second key element would
be a series of Working Councils on the
Environment, lead by the Permanent
Secretary of the Environment and Na-
tional Service along with the appropri-
ate Permanent Secretaries of other Min-
istries. The purpose of these groups
would be to focus on a series of ongoing
issues that would overlap specific pol-
icy decisions. The first three areas that
would be obvious choices would be
Councils on Data and Information
Management, Regulatory Coordina-
tion, and Environmental Compliance.
The precise purpose of these
types of Councils would be to coordi-
nate efforts in those functions, such as
information and compliance, that rely
on a variety of Ministries and organiza-
tions to operateproperly. It makes little
sense for instance to have several dif-
ferent organizations compiling similar
or even identical data and information
bases or systems for environmental as-
sessments or compliance. The compli-
ance function itself, which in this ele-
ment of the approach will heavily rely
on the existing inspectorates through-
out the country, is ripe for coordination
activities to ensure that the environ-
mental issues are an integral compo-
nent of the ongoing compliance func-
tions of other Ministries.
To theextentf racticable, these
Councils, particularly the working
councils, should include ad hoc repre-
sentatives from the non public sectors,
both private sector and non-govern-
mental groups. Partial larly in the data
managementarena, the approach should
be as broad as possible involving the
Caribbean community.
The essence o:f this element of
the policy framework is to focus on
utilizing the best of wha t exists to move
the environmental issues forward. The
issues and the coordination mechanisms
must bechosen with great care and with
a clear eye as to relative priorities of the
issues. There is, in effect, only so much
coordination that can oc cur and only so
much environmental "tilt" to existing
Minis tries'primary miss ions which may
not be particularly environmental and
in fact many be antithecal to a focus on
environment. However, there is a great
need for coordination b>th at the high-
est level (Ministerial) and at the techni-
cal level. Unless the technical person-
nel become undersanding of the envi-
ronmental mission and. its needs no
degree of coordination v/ill be success-
ful.
New Industrial Development
The second element of this
policy framework is bring more focus
on environmental issues during the
environmental impactas:«ssmentproc-
ess. Environmental management must
clearly involve, ultimately, the control
of new the pollution aspects of indus-
trial development. This portion of the
policy framwork will continue, to some
extent ,to rely on extensive coordina-
tion with other Ministries and govern-
mental entities. However, the reli-
ance purely on coordination needs to
change somewhat.
The ability of the new Minis-
try to influence major environmental
issues will rely on its ability to influ-
ence new development in both the public
and private sector. Most recent devel-
opment has come from the public sec-
tor. This sector is therefore, the most
critical at the moment Therefore, the
second element of the policy frame-
work must focus on the Ministry's in-
volvement in the environmental plan-
ning and assessment processes.
As was discussed above, the
involvement could includes wide range
of statutory as well as more informal
procedural changes. This will require
considerable coordination. with the
Town and Country Planning Division.
This Ministry has both an interest as
well as someexpertise in environmental
issues and should become a valuable
ally at the technical level with die
Ministry of the Environment and Na-
tional Service. However, the Town
and Country Planning Division is in-
herently adevelopment related bureauc-
racy and there is a need for additional
training and sensitizing on environ-
mental issues.
The Ministry of Environment
and National Service should utilize the
expertise of the Institute of Marine
Affairs (to be renamed the Environ-
mental Institute) , the T&T Waste
Management Co., and components of
WAS A to develop environmental
information data bases. The Institute
has already done significant work for
the Town and Country Planning Divi-
sion and that will and should continue.
However, its focus must become more
clearly aligned with the environmental
issues and the broader resources con-
tained in WASA and the Waste Com-
pany need to be brought to bear on the
analysis.
-------
The clearest issue in this ele-
ment of the policy-framework, how-
ever, is the importance of providing
the new Ministry a key role in the en-
vironmental impact assessment proc-
ess. As was mentioned earlier in the
section on legislation, it is critical that
the Ministry have more than a coordi-
native or comment function on envi-
ronmental impact assessments. That
is only the first requirement The key
requirement is to build into the process
a veto function for the Ministry based
on environmental assessments of par-
ticularly critical projects or develop-
ments. Without the clearance of the
Ministry of the Environmental and
National Service a particular project
could not proceed without appropriate
modification. This type of authority
can be provided in statute, as is the
case in the United States or it can be
provided by consultation. The impor-
tant issues is to have a clear signal sent
that the new Ministry is an active player
and in certain types of development
the key player ultimately on environ-
mental grounds
The Control of Industrial Pollu-
tion
The final component of the
proposed policy framework is the Min-
istry's focus on areas that will rest
primarily on the ability of the Minis-
try itself to create an effective bu-
reaucracy of its own to ensure envi-
ronmental compliance. The key area of
potential growth and responsibility for
the Ministry of Environment and Na-
tional Service is the potential new regu-
latory control of industrial pollution.
These are areas that are essentially un-
touched currently by other Ministries
and organizations in terms of environ-
mental management. It is the area that
in the mid and long run, the Ministry is
going to have to develop additional
capabilities with additional resources
including people. It is very likely that
the Ministry will need its own inspec-
torate for ensuring compliance in this
arena.
Much of this responsibility will
come with the enactment of the new
statutory authorities. However, it is
strongly suggested that the Ministry not
wait for those authorities to be enacted
to begin the process of developing a
regulatory framework for industrial
pollution control. It was suggested
earlier that a framework of industrial
cooperation be established to assess the
pollution problems within the country
and then make priority decisions as to
what to manage first Thatistheessence
of this element of environmental man-
agement
In addition to the framework
of cooperation that needs to be estab-
lished and nurtured, it is important that
the environmental assessment of pollu-
tion sources and their impacts be made
as soon as possible so that a regulatory
strategy can be established that meets
those needs.
It is quite possible that the new
Ministry will not need to await addi-
tional statutory authority to address some
of the key national environmental is-
sues facing the Nation's industries.
While the new statutes are indeed key
elements for the sustainability of the
environmental programs, it is quite
feasible that many of the problems once
defined and given some priority can
begin to be attacked under the mecha-
nisms described in the first two policy
components.
But the Ministry needs to as-
sess the pollution problems so it can
begin to define in concrete terms the
regulatory approaches that would be
necessary to begin to control the exist-
ing and future pollution. Only when the
Ministry gets that specific - with spe-
cific sites and specific pollution — will
its agenda become clear. Without that
clarity, it will be impossible to assess in
much detail the extent of support for
environmental cleanup in Trinidad and
Tobago. And without that clarity, it is
impossible for anyone to know, includ-
ing the regulated community, what is
expected of them.
These threeelementscomprise
a working arrangement for the new
Ministry. Given its limited but not
small resource base, if one includes the
Instituteof Marine Affairs, the Forestry
Division, the Waste management Co.,
and portions of WASA, the Ministry
could focus its attention on both the
past - the traditional environmental
management issues - as well as on the
future. And the tilt should be on the
future to establish the mechanisms and
the relationships to move forward with
ity. -
Some Environmental
Action
. The end result of all of these
suggestions on environmental manage-
ment should be environmental action
within Trinidad and Tobago. Much of
the current attention of environmental
activists throughout the world has to do
with chronic impacts of environmental
degradation. Theseinclude illness such
as potential cancer fromchemical pol-
lution, illnesses associated with chemi-
cals in drinking water supplies or from
the leaching of hazardous waste sites.
The international community is com-
ing together on issues associated with
global warming and ozone depletion
where the impacts have begun to be felt
already in the judgment of some, but
whose ultimate environmental impacts
will be felt decades away. Therefore, it
is getting increasingly difficult for en-
vironmental managers-unless the im-
pact is acute - to gain the attention of
the public and bureacracies to respond
in a timely fashion.
. Therefore, environmental ac-
tion is a difficult process to manage. It
is easier when affects are more acute. It
is very difficult to engender public
support for other environmental issues
when the impacts are much more long
term. But that is one of the issues facing
Trinidad and Tobago as well as most
other Nations. The new Ministry as
well as the government of Trinidad and
Tobago need some environmental
"wins" to energize the people and insti-
-------
tutions in the country. Furthermore,
some successful environmental action
will make a strong statement that envi-
ronmental management can work in
the Nation. The following suggestions
are designed to construct one of many
possible plans for action, regardless of
whether there are new statutory under-
pinnings or new resources. The job
will not be easy given the enormous
process of coordination and integra-
tion, or the significant lack of addi-
tional human and other resources within
the Ministry, These suggestions are
meant to be a roadmap for environ-
mental action in the very near future
that could lay a foundation for future
success with a broader statutory and
environmental mandate.
Environmental Trust Fund
The Ministry should establish
an environmental trust fund composed
of deposits from sales of environmental
posters created by school children on a
variety of environmental themes. The
size of the trust fund is not important.
What is important is to build around the
concept a series of activities to involve
school age children in environmental
projects. The posters would also gener-
ate an interest in the children to learn
!iow to protect the environment.
While posters are one example
that could generate interest, the "logo"
for the new Ministry is another. Envi-
ronmental fairs could be established in
local communities where seedlings and
plants could be sold and the proceeds
deposited into the Trust Fund. The
Fund could then be utilized to educate
school children and the public on envi-
ronmental management.
On a larger scale, and perhaps
br the longer term, the Ministry should
push for an environmental trust fund, as
a separate component from that sug-
gested above, to provide long term and
steady financing for environmental
administration. Such a trust fund,
composed of taxes and/or fees on a
variety of sources, would provide the
funding for the regulatory, informa-
tion, and research components of the
Ministry. Furthermors, if feasible, the
Fund could support additional infra-
structure improvements through inno-
vative financing medianisms to sup-
port the operation and maintenance of
existing sewage treaun ent and drinking
water supply systems.
National Service
The National Service
concept is still in its conceptual stage
but it can be an integr; J component of
the Ministry's primary function of en-
vironmental management. This Na-
tional Service component could be the
focus of public education and involve-
ment in environmental activities. Spe-
cific actions could include service in
national parks, reforestation, cleanup
campaigns on litter, monitoring of
pollution control, organizing environ-
mental work groups, eic. The concept
of national service and environmental
action is a natural matcii and should be
explored if only on a voluntary basis.
Le^d in Gasoline
Lead in gasoline is undoubt-
edly a problem in the heavily populated
areas of the country. The concentra-
tions of automobile and truck traffic in
many portions of the Nation would
clearly lead to a conclusion that the
issue of lead in gasoline needs to be
carefully examined.
The Ministry should under-
take an examination of the degree of
lead in gasoline and its pollution im-
pacts in Trinidad and Tobago particu-
larly on the young. If mscessary, tech-
nical assistance could be provided by
international organizations or those of
other countries, such as thaUnited States
Environmental Protection Agency
which have dealt with lead in gasoline
to assess the problem and its environ-
mental consequences.
Lead in gasoline is a serious
potential problem; and if solutions could
be found on a voluntary basis it would
be a significant environmental improve-
ment in the near term.
Northern Range
From a number of discussions
in Trinidad and Tobago, the issues of
development and pollution in the north-
ern range seem to one of the most criti-
cal environmental management chal-
lenges facing the country. It is also an
issue that would require wide scale
cooperation from a variety of Minis-
tries, organizations, and people. The
Ministry, working most closely with
the Division of Forestry and the Marine
Institute as well as other key Ministries
should develop a national white paper
on the issues in the northern range in-
cluding alternative options for environ-
mental protection.
The issue is central to the
concept of including environmental
concerns in national development is-
sues. This issue is a key one because it
involves the very types of issues that
will face the Ministry as it pushes for
environmental management: develop-
ment concerns and environmental con-
cerns; integration of competing inter-
ests of different sectors of the Nation;
and competing institutional interests
within different Ministries.
The Private and Public
Sectors
' As is mentioned throughout
this consultation, there is a great need
to bring together the public and private
sectors in environmental management.
The resources are simply too limited
for Trinidad and Tobago not to take ad-
vantage of expertise from all sectors.
The Ministry should begin to establish
as quickly as possible .a variety of
working groups to bring together the
two sectors. One suggestion already j
made is to establish an Environmental
Business Roundtable to gain the work-
ing expertise of the private sector.
-------
However, there should be a variety of
mechanisms established to open com-
munications and to begin working on
specific issues. The question of envi-
ronmental pollution information is a
key area that will require the coopera-
tion of both the public and private sec-
tors. A key step would be for the Min-
istry to establish now an Environmental
Advisory Council composed of the
broadest spectrum of individuals
throughout the Nation. Hie Council
would build upon the excellent suc-
cesses of theStanding Committee. How-
ever, the intent would be to expand the
core of environmentally aware and
committed. The role of the Council
would be what its name implies: advise
to the Ministry and the government on
environmental action rather than or-
ganization. To do so, it would have to
be composed of individuals of wide
standing from all parts of the Nation as
well as the wider Region.
Media Blitz
For a lack of any other term,
the Ministry needs to organize a media
blitz over the next twelve months to
gain the attention of the public as well
as the bureaucracy. People need to
know that the Ministry exists; they need
to know what it is doing; and they need
to know how to get involved. The new
Minister has already been highly vis-
ible and this is an extremely important
role to maintain. The involvement of
the media could be through a series of
articles on hazardous waste issues in
the country run over several days in the
national newspapers. Additional tele-
vision discussion or commentary shows
would assist in carrying the Ministry's
message to the nation. The media could
be useful in educating the public on
some of the key environmental action
initiatives suggested above.
Whether these specific recom-
mendations for environmental action
are the most appropriate is for the
Ministry to decide. However, the Min-
istry does need to define its objectives
over the next year in very specific terms,
publicize them, and then go after them.
While organization issues are ultimately
critical, there needs to be an environ-
mental action roadmap that moves for-
ward regardless of resource, organiza-
tion, or statutory issues. Without a two
pronged approach, it is unlikely the
Ministry can excite the public suffi-
ciently to generate the necessary sup-
port for the longer term organizational
and resource issues.
A Management Structure
There have been a number of
suggestions made for organizational
structures for the new Ministry both
immediately and in the longer run after
enactmentof thedraftlegislation. While
it is tempting to suggest such structures,
it is difficult ~ and somewhat prema-
ture to do so ~ until the very basic
decisions are made on policies, ap-
proaches, and most important, environ-
mental issues.
But assuming that the Minis-
try has the wisdom (or the folly!) to fol-
low all of this report's recommenda-
tions to the letter, the organization chart
on the following page is a depiction of
how the Ministry could be organized.
The structure of the chart is
designed to indicate elements that have
already been created; those that could
be created under existing authority; and
those that likely would need additional
statutory authority or administrative
action to become functional.
While most of the recommen-
dations are contained in this report in
other sections, some elements require
further explanation. First, working from
the top, The National Advisory Council
on the Environment would be a mecha-
nism to significantly broaden external
supportforenvironmental management
issues. As constructed here, it would be
composed primarily of non government
sector individuals representing broad
constituencies.
The Environmental Business
Roundtable would be similarly com-
posed of non-governmental representa-
tives but would function much like the
Ministerial Council in that the mem-
bers would discuss broad policy issues
as well as make commitments to re-
solvespecificregulatoryproblems. Both
the National Advisory Council and the
Roundtable would report directly to the
Minister.
The Science Advisory Board,
not mentioned previously, would be
one of several possible mechanisms to
provide the Minister with advice and
consent on specific environmental ap-
proaches. The Board would be com-
posed of representatives of academia,
public and private research, and other
entities. It would be particularly helpful
in the early stages of regulatory devel-
opment as the Ministry chooses specific
approaches to resolving environmental
issues.
The Ministerial Council and
the Working Councils are discussed in
detail above and do not need additional
explanation.
The structure below that of the
proposed National Environmental
Board (which is clearly organized as a
Board of Directors managing the Na-
tional Environmental Authority) is
designed to be suggestive of the types of
functions that need to be organized in
some cohesive structure. While it may
not be organizationally appropriate, for
instance to place the Waste Manage-
ment Authority "under" a particular
activity, the design of the chart is meant
to indicate where indeed those func-
tions of those authorities should primar-
ily be housed.
The lowest series of boxes are
additional functional suggestions for the
organizational structures immediately
above. The lines are not particularly
clean cut in the environmental arena
and that should be one of the hallmarks
of any structure. The organization
should be as focused on broad issues as
possible and not sectors of interest
-------
Material Y , Y
• % __•' m-+ ;
*"I*dfe£l&Ctt;»J!M&
- ^ \ 5- \ ^ . ""- y
Wording CwtoCiU , ,^V;J '
- •" Ua&'Mto^ifekif"; ^ "^ ?
^iRfeptaiorjItttoiwtyttm . ,
• ^Cmtftotiqi A-,, ;Y , \
Ministry of the
Environment and National
Service
_,
Minister
Permanent Secretary
/
r -N
National
Environmenlal
Board
V J
^"National Environmental Authority^
ffiSS&l:?'* :
Council on the
Environment
Envirpuiaienlai
IdSaric ! ;
f Environmental ^
Appeal Tribunal 1
V J
Boari , "-:-"-
» / '., ^ *
1 nirnrfnr L.
i i
_f^... ^
Environmental R^g«Ia^)ry .
Compliance A&foifteS •. ::
\ -.^s
c J ..,^ *-"\f
/"Environmental "\ Waste Mgt.
[ Pollution ] Authority
1 Inspecioraie 1
Division
/"WASA (non ^
distributional
1 portions only)
|- .. '- ' " --. ^ *\ ^v -"
Institute for
Environmental
Affairs
Zoological Society
FANTEAK
r Suggested Functions of the Organizations
Compliance
Monitoring
Taking Legal
Action
Coordination of
legal activities
V
Standard Setting
& Implementation
Environmental
Policy
^
Natural Resource
Protection
Negotiation of
Standards
Collection,
Analysis, &
Dissemination
of Information
•
Environmental
Impact Assess-
ments
Environmental
Research
National En-
vironmental
Service
Public Involve-
ment: Activities
Building Environ-
menlal Infra-
structure
Budget &
Administration
Trust Fund
Administration
Operating
Activities
Environmental
Entrepreneurs
Existing
Await new legislation
or administrative action
-------
-------
. DRAFT PROHIBITION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION ACT
An Act Relating to the Prevention, Abatement and Control of Pollution of the Environment and
for Purposes Connected Therewith
PART 1
PRELIMINARY
Short Title, application
and 'commencement
toterpretation
1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Prohibition and Control of
Pollution Act, 1989 and shall apply to the whole of Trinidad and Tobago,
(2) This Act sh,ill come into force on such date as the Minister
may appoint by notification in the Gazette and the Minister may appoint
different dates for the coming into force of different provisions of this Act
and may bring all or any provisions thereof into force either in the whole
• of Trinidad and Tobago to which the notification applies or such area as may
be specified in the notification.
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
"Authority" means the National Environmental Authority;
"beneficial use" means a use of the environment or any element
or segment of the environmsnt that is conducive to public health, welfare or
safety and which requires protection from the effects of any activities that
would impair the environment;
"Board1 means the National Environmental Board;
"Chairman" means the chairman of the National Environmental
Board;
"control equipment" includes -
-------
(a) any apparatus for collecting wastes;
(b) an automatic device used for securing the more efficient opera
tion of any equipment;
(c) any device to indicate or record pollution or to give warn-
ing of excessive pollution; and
(d) any other device used for the purpose of limiting pollution.
"craft" means any description of air, land or sea vehicle, whether
capable of propelling itself or not;
"Director" means the Director of the National Environmental Author-
ity;
"element" in relation to theenvironmentmeans any of the principal
constituent parts of the environment including water, atmosphere, soil,
vegetation, climate, sound, odour, aesthetics, fish and wildlife;
"environment" means the physical factors of the surroundings of the
human beings including land, water, atmosphere, climate, sound, odour, taste,
the biological factors of animals and plants and the social factor of aesthetics;
"Environmental Management" means the management of activities
within the potentials and constraints of environmental systems.
"industrial plant" means any plant used for the generation of power or
for any industrial use or for the operation of ships, dredges, locomotives,
cranes orother machines;
"Minister" means the Minister charged with the responsibility for the
environmental (sic);
"monitoring programme" means all actions taken and equipment used
for the purpose of detecting or measuring quantitatively or qualitatively the
presence, amount or level of any substance; characteristic or effect;
"natural resources" means naturally occurring renewable and non-
renewable assets of Trinidad and Tobago;
"occupier" means a person in occupation or control of premises, and
in relation to premises, different parts of which are occupied by different
persons, means therespective persons in occupation or control of each part;
"owner" in relation to any premises means _
(a) the registered proprietor of the premises;
(b) the lessee of a lease including a sub-lease of the premises
whether registered or not;
(c) the agent or trustee of any of the owners described in
paragraphs (a) and (b) of this definition or wheresuch owner as described in
paragraphs (a) and (b) cannot be traced or has died, his legal personal
representatives;
(d) the person for the time being receiving the rent of the
premises whether on his own account or as agent or trustee or as receiver or
who would receive if such premises were let to a tenant;
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(e) any person in occupation of the premises; and in
relation to any craft includes the agent, the person registered as the owner
of the craft or in the absence of registration, the person owning the craft
except that in the case of a craft owned byany country and operated by a
companywhich in that country is registered as the craft's operator, owner
shall include such country.
"petroleum" mear-.s any mixture of naturally occurring hydrocar-
bons and hydrocarbon compounds;
"petroleum products" means any finished orpartly finished pro-
duct derived from petroleum by any refinishing process;
"pollutant" means any substance whetherliquid, solid or gaseous
which directly or indirectly _
(a) alters the quality of any segment or element of the
receiving environment so as to effect any beneficial use adversely;
(b)or is hazardous or potentially hazardous to health
and includes objectionable odours, radioactivity.and any apparatus/
substance including noise, temperature change or physical chemical or
biological change to any segment or element of the environment.
"pollution" means :iny direct or indirect alteration of the physical,
thermal, chemical, biological, or radioactive properties of any part of the
environment by discharging, emitting, or depositing wastes, including
noise or any other substance so as to affect any beneficial use adversely to
cause a condition which is: hazardous or potentially hazardous to public
health safety or welfare or to animals, birds, wildlife, fish or aquatic life,
or to plants or to cause a contravention of any condition, limitation or re-
striction to which a licence under this Act is subject;
"practicable" means reasonably practicable having regard to,
among other things, local conditions and circumstances and to the current
state of technical knowledgeand the term "practicable means" includes the
provision of and the efficient maintenance of plant and the proper use
thereof and the supervision by or on behalf of the occupier of any process
or operation;
"premises" includes messuages, buildings.lands, and heredita-
ments of every tenureand
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Objectives of the Act
Power to attach conditions
"trade" means any trade, business or undertaking whether ordinarily
carried out at .fixed premises or at varying places which results in the
discharge of wastes and includes any activity prescribed to be a trade,
business or undertaking for the purposes of this Act;
"treatment system" means equipment or device constructed or in-
stalled which is used to treat potentially harmful substances to acceptable
levels.
"waste" includes any matter prescribed to be waste and any matter
whether liquid, solid, gaseous or radioactive, which is discharged, emitted or
deposited in the environment in such volume, compositionor manner as to
cause an adverse alteration of the environment.
3. The objectives of the Act are:
(a) to protect the environment and the natural re-
sources from the various forms of pollution;
(b) to prevent and control pollution in all its forms
and from whatever source;
(c) to promote and implement the environmental
policy or policies enshrined in the Environmental Protection Policy Act.
PART II
PROHIBITION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION
4. The Authority may, in conjunction with the relevant authorities,
require the recipient of Government approval —
or on any premises;
or on any premises;
(l)to repair, alter or replace any equipment in
(2) to install and operate control equipment in
Prescribed Premises
(3) to repair, alter or replace any control
equipment installed in or on any premises;
(4) at his own expense, to conduct a monitoring
programs designed to provide the Authority with information concerning the
characteristics, quality or effects of the emission, discharge or deposit in
respect of which approval is granted, which information recorded by such
programme shall be supplied to the Authority at such time and in such manner
as may be specified by the Authority;
(5) to carry out any of the requirements imposed on
him under the foregoing provisions of this paragraph within such period as
may be specified in the conditions;
(6) to install and operate waste treatment
systems in or on any premises.
(7) to adhere to any regulations governing the
reuse of waste or refuse. '
5. The Minister, after consultation with the relevant Authorities may
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Requirement and
approval of plans
Power to specify discharge
conditions
Restrictions on pollution
of the atmosphere
prescribe the premises (hereinafter referred to as prescribed premises)
the construction, occupation or use of which by any person shall be an
offence under this Act unless the Authority has been consulted by existing
authorities and has given approval.
6. Every application to carry out any work, building, erection
or alteration on preset ibedpremises shall, in addition to the
plans.specifications anc- information normally required by existing
authorities, be accompanied by an environmental impact statement in
accordance with the requirements of the provisions of the Town and
Country Planning Act.
7, The Authority, in conjunction with the relevant authorities,
may specify conditions for the emission, discharge, or deposit of wastes
or the emission of noise into any area, segment, or element of the environ-
ment and may set aside iiny area, segment or element of the environment
within which the emission, discharge or deposit is prohibited or
restricted.
8. (1) No Person, natural or juridical, shall emit or discharge
into the atmosphere any wastes which may be injurious to human health and
life, the flora, fauna, natural resources or public or private property or
likely to become a nuisance in contravention of the laws, regulations,
standards or the conditions specified by the Authority acting in concert
with the relevant authorities.
(2) Without li miting the generality of sub -section (Da person
shall be deemed to emit or discharge wastes into the atmosphere if
atmosphere;
(a) he Places any matter where it may be released into the
(b) he causes or permits the discharge of odours which by
virtue of their nature, concentration, volume or extent are obnoxious or
offensive;
(c) he burns any wastes of the trade, process or industry;
(d) he uses any fuel, burning equipment not equipped with
any device or control equipment required to be fitted to such equipment.
(3) The potential sources of Atmospheric pollution are listed
in the First Schedule.
(4) The emissions from mobile or fixed artificial installations
shall be subject to the study and control by the Authority in conjunction
with the relevant agencies. Activities pertaining to the control of pollution
caused by natural phenomena shall beconducted by the competent institu-
tions in this field acting in concert with the Authority.
(5) The Authority, in coordination with the relevant institutions
or agencies shall prepare and execute programmes involving aspects
concerned with the causes, effects, significance and methods of prevention
and control of atmospher-c pollution.
(6) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty
of an offence and shall be liable to a fine of not less than One Hundred
Thousand Dollars ($ 100,000) in the case of a corporation and Ten Thousand
Dollars ($ 10,000) in the caiie of an individual or toimprisonment of a period
not exceeding five (5) yea-rs and to a further fine of One Thousand Dollars
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Restrictions on pollution
Restrictions on
pollution of the soil
($1,000) a day in the case of a corporation and One Hundred Dollars ($100)
in the case of an individual for every day that the offence is ^
continued after a notice by the Authority requiring him to cease the act
specifiedtherein has been served upon him.
9. (1) No person, natural or juridical noise shall, emit or cause or
permit to be emitted, any noise greater in volume, intensity or quality in
contravention of the laws, regulations, standards or conditions specified
by the Authority acting in concert with the relevant authorities.
(2) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of
an offence and shall be liable to s fine of not less than Five Thousand Dollars
($5,000) or to imprisonment of a period not exceeding three years (3) or to both
and to a further fine of Five Hundred Dollars ($500) aday for every day that
the offence is continued after a notice by the Authority requiring him to cease
the act specified therein has been served upon him.
10. (1) No person, natural or juridical shall, discharge any wastes
or pollutants which may change the characteristics of the soil and affect
human health, flora and fauna, natural resources and other property in
contravention of laws, regulations, standards or conditions specified by the
Authority acting in concert with the relevant authorities.
Notwithstanding the generality of sub-section (Da person shall be
deemed to pollute any soil or surface of any land if -
(a) he places, in or on any soil or in any place where it may gain access
to any soil, any matter whether solid, liquid or gaseous; or
(b) he establishes on any land a refuse dump, garbage tip, soil and rock
disposal site, sludge deposit site,waste injection well or otherwiseuses land
for the disposal of or are pository for solid or liquid wastes so as to be
obnoxious offensive or fatal to human beings or interfere with underground
aquifers or be detri mental to any beneficial use of the soil or the surface of the
land.
(2) The potential sources of soil pollution are listed in the Second
Schedule.
(3) The Authority acting in concert with the relevant authorities shall
limit, regulate or prohibit the use of such substances as pesticides, herbi-
cides, fertilizers, detergents, toxic chemicals.radioactivematerials and other
substances the use of which may cause pollution.
(4) The Authority, in coordination with the municipalities, and other
relevant authorities shall plan, regulate, establish rules for, control and
supervise the systems of collection, transportation, storage and processing
and final disposition of wastes in the urban and rural environment.
(5) The Authority, shall regulate the storage, processing, recycling
and disposition of wastes from industrial products which by their nature may
not be biodegradable such as plastics, glass, aluminium and chemicals.
(6) Any person, natural or juridical, who contravenes sub-section (1)
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine of not less than One
Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000) in the case of a corporation and Ten
Thousand Dollars ($ 10,000) in the case of an individual or to imprisonment not
exceeding five (5) years or both and to a further fine of One Thousand Dollars
($ 1,000) a day in the case of a corporation and One Hundred Dollars ($ 100)
a day in the case of an individual for everyday that the offence is continued
after a notice by the Authority requiring him to cease the act specified therein
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Restrictions on -Pollution
of Waters of Trinidad & Tobago
Development of
Standards and regulations
"or discharge of liquid wastes
Degree of treatment
or liquid wastes
has been served upon him.
1 ]. (1) No person, natural or juridical, shall emit, discharge or
deposit any waste particularly industrial wastes, sewage and petroleurr
or petroleum products into the drainage systems or streams, ditches
rivers, lakes (man-made or natural) or other inland or maritime water*
(archipelagic waters, territorial waters, exclusive economic zone or watei
superjacent to the continental shelf) which may contain pollutants tha
may be harmful to humanlifeor health, the flora, fauna, and other property
private or public and the natural resources in contravention of the laws
regulations, standards and conditions specified by the Authority acting
in concert with the relevant authorities.
(2) Without limiting the generality of sub-section (Da persor
shall be deemed to emit, discharge or deposit wastes into thewaters o
Trinidad and Tobago if _
(a) he places any wastes in or on any waters or in
place where it may gain access to any waters;
(b) he places any waste in a position where it falls
descends, drains, evaporates, is washed, is blown, or percolates or is likel}
to fall, descend, drain, evaporate or be washed, be blown or percolated intc
waters or knowingly or through his negligence, whether directly or indi
rectly causes or permits any wastes to be placed in such a position; or
(c)he causes the temperature of the receiving
waters to be raised or lowered by more than the prescribed limits.
(d) he causes the acidity or alkalinity of the re
ceiving waters to be raised or lowered by more than the prescribed limits
(e) he causes the oxygen content of the receiving
waters to be lowered to less than the prescribed limit.
(3) No person shall discharge or spill any petroleum or petro
leum products into any part of the sea outside the waters of Trinidad anc
Tobago if such discharge or spill will result in petroleum or petroleum
products being carried, spread or washed into the waters of Trinidad anc
Tobago.
(4) The Authority shall regulate the disposition of wastes frorr
industrial products which by their nature may not be biodegradable sucl-
as plastic, glass, aluminium and chemicals.
(5) Any person who contravenes sub-section (1) and (3) shall be
guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine of not less than One Hundrec
Thousand Dollars ($ 100,000) in the case of a corporation and Ten Thousanc
Dollars ($10,000) in the case of an individual and to imprisonment no'
exceeding five (5) years or to both and to a further fine of One Thousand
Dollars ($1,000) in the case of a corporation and One Hundred Dollars
($100) in the case of an individual for every day that the offence i
continued after a notice by the Authority requiring him to cease the act
specified therein has been served upon him.
12. The Authority, acting in concert withthe relevant Authorities
shall develop standards for discharge of liquid wastes and regulations for
the discharge of liquid wastes in accordance with the quality of the
receiving waters.
13. The Authority, acting in concert with the relevant au-
A-7
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Supervision of treatment
systems
Power to prohibit use
of any material or equipment
Power to require occupier
to install, operate, repair
or close down etc.
Occupier to maintain
and operate equipment
thorities shall determine the degree of treatment of the liquid wastes to be
discharged into the receiving waters.
14. The Authority is authorized to systems supervise thecon-
struction of treatment systems as well as operation and maintenance in
conjunction with the other relevant agencieswith the aim of achieving the ob-
jectives ofthis Act.
15. The Minister, after consultation with the relevant Agencies
may by Order published in the Gazette
trade or industry;
(a) prohibit the use of any materials for any process,
(b) prohibit whether by description or by brand name
the use of any equipment or industrial plant, within the areas specified in the
Order.
waste material.
(c) prohibit entry into Trinidad and Tobago of toxic
16. Where any pollutants are being or are likely to be emitted,
discharged or deposited from any premises irrespective of whether such
pre mises are prescribed pre mises or not, the Authority may by notice in writ-
ing require the occupier of these premises to _
pollution;
tional control equipment;
(a) cease all operations believed to be causing such
(b) install and operate control equipment or addi-
(c) repair, alter or replace any equipment or
control equipment on these premises;
(d) to install, alter, replace and maintain any
waste treatment systems on these premises;
(e) make structural changes to buildings and ap-
purtenances, such as chimneys, drains, piping, etc.;
(f) close down all buildings and cease all activity at
the premises within such time and in such manner as may be specified in the
notice.
17. The occupier of any premises where equipment, control
equipment or waste treatment system is permitted under this Act shall
maintain such equipment or control equipment in those premises in an
efficient condition and shall operate the equipment or control equipment
in a proper and efficient manner.
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Occupier to furnish
information
Power to enter and inspect
Penalty for offences
not otherwise provided for
Dffences by bodies
PART III
MISCELLANEOUS
18. (1) The Director of the Authority, may by notice require the
occupier of any premises to furnish to him within such a period as may
be specified in the notice such information relating to any equipment,
control equipment, waste treatment systems or industrial plant found on
such premises or as to any wastes discharged or likely to be discharged
therefrom.
(2) Any person who, when required by the Director to answer
any questions or to furnish any information, fails to answer such question
and to furnish any such information as is required or gives any answer
or information that is false or misleading in any material respect shall be
guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding Five Thousand
Dollars ($5,000) or to imprisonment not exceeding six (6) monthsorboth.
19. The Authority or any other officer duly authorized in writing
by the Authority may at any reasonable time enter any premises whether
prescribed or otherwise and may _
, equipment,
plant;
(a) examine and inspect any equipment, control
monitoring equipment, treatment system or industrial
(b) take samples of any pollutants that are
emitted, discharged or deposited or are likely to be or are of a class or kind
that are usually emitted,discharged or deposited from such premises;
(c) examine any books, records or documents
relating to the performance or use of such equipment, control equipment,
monitoring equipment, treatment system or industrial plant or relating to
the emission, discharge or deposit from such premises;
(d) photograph such premises as he
considers necessary or make copies of any books, records or documents
seen in the course of such examination; or
(e) take samples of any fuel substance or mate-
rial used, likely to be used or usually used in such trade, industry or
process carried on in or on such premises.
20. Every omission or neglect to comply with, and every act done
or attempted to be done contrary to, the provisions of this Act or any
regulations made thereunder or any breach of the conditions and restric-
tions subject to or upon which approval is granted under this Act or any
regulations made thereunder shall be an offence against this Act and in
respect of any offence for which no penalty is expressly provided, the
offender shall be liable to a fine of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000) or to
imprisonment not exceeding one (1) year or to both.
21. (1) Where an offence against this Act or any regulations made
thereunder has been committed by a company, firm, society or other body
of persons, any person who at the time of the commission of the offence was
a director, manager, or other similar officer or a partner of the company,
firm, society or other body of persons or who was purporting to act in such
capacity shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence unless he proves that
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Who may prosecute
Power of recovery
of costs and expenses
Power to detain and sell craft
the offence was committed without his consent or connivance and that he had
exercised all such diligence as to prevent the commission of the offence as he
ought to have exercised having regard to the nature of his functions in that
capacity and to all the circumstances.
(2) Whenever it is proved to the satisfaction of the court that a contra-
vention of the provisions of this Act or any regulations made thereunder has
been committed by any clerk, servant or agent when acting in the course of his
employment the principal shall also be liable for such contravention and to
the penalty provided thereof unless he proves to the satisfaction of the court
that the same was committed without his knowledge or consentor that he had
exercised all due diligence as to prevent the same and to ensure the observance
of such provisions provided that nothing in this section shall be deemed to
exempt such clerk, servant or agent from liability in respect of any penalty
provided by this Act or regulations made thereunder for any contravention
proved to have been committed by him.
22. Prosecutions in respect of offences committed under this Act or
regulations made thereunder may be conducted by the National Environmental
Authority or any officer duly authorized in writing by it or by any officer of
any local authority to which any powers under this Act have been delegated,
23. (1) Where any segment or element of the environment is polluted
by any person in contravention of this Act or the regulations made
thereunder the Director of the NationalEnvirontnental Authority may take
such action as is necessary to remove, disperse, destroy, or mitigate the
pollution and may recover from that person all costs and expenses incurred
in connection therewith.
(2) A Certificate of the Director stating that -
(a) it is of the opinion that a person named in the
certificate is responsible for such pollution shall be prima facie evidence for
the purposes of any proceedings under this section;
(b) the sum incurred in carrying out all or any of
the work required under sub-section (1) shall be conclusiveproof of the sum
and shall not be subject to any appeal or review in any court.
(3) All and any sum payable by such person shall be a first charge
on any property or interest held by such person.
(4) Where the discharge or spillage of petroleum, petroleum
products or any other products or wastes is from_
(a) any craft or two or more craft the owner of such
craft shall be liable or the owners of all such craft shall be jointly and
severally liable;
(b) any apparatus used in transferring oil or any
other products or wastes from or to any craft (whether to or from a place on
land or to or from a craft), the person in charge of the apparatus and the em-
ployer of that person shall be jointly and severally liable;
(c) any place on land, the occupier shall be liable.
24. (1) Where the National Environmental Authority has
reason to believe that any discharge or spillage of petroleum, petroleum
products or other products or wastes was from any craft, he may detain the
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Compensation
craft and the craft may be so detained until the owner deposits with the
Government such sum or furnishes such security as would in the opinion of
the Authority be adequate to meet the costs and expenses which would be
incurred to re move or eliminate the petroleum, petroleum products or other
products or wastes.
(2) If such detained craft proceeds to sea before it is released
the owner, the master and any person who sends the craft to sea shall be
guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine of not less than One Hundred
Thousand Dollars ($100,000) or to imprisonment not exceeding two years
or to both.
(3) Where the owner is unable to pay any fine imposed or the
costs and expenses incurred in removing or eliminating the petroleum, pe-
troleum products or other products or wastes the Authority may apply to
the court for the sale of such vessel and the proceeds used towards the fine
or the costs and expenses of removing or eliminating the petroleum,
petroleum products or other products or wastes,"
25, Where any segment or element of the environment is polluted
by any person in contravention of this Act or the Regulations made
thereunder and such pollution has causedany bodily injury, illness or
death or caused damage to buildings, property or premises, orcaused any
other loss to any one, the Director, in consultation with the National
Environmental Board and any other relevant authorities any carry out an
assessment of such loss and losses and award compensation to any aggrieved
person provided that the aggrieved person has submitted a claim for such
compensation within a period of six months after the pollution in question.
26. (1) In addition to and not in derogation of any of the powers
contained in any other provisions of this Act, the Minister inconj unction
with the relevant agencies may makeregulations for or with respect to
(a) the submission of environmental impacts statements and
the required fee for the assessment of such statements;
(b) the granting of licenses and per mits,including waste discharge
licenses or permits, and any fees required;
(c) prescribing standards or criteria for the implementation of any
declared environmental policy or classification for the protection of the
environment and for protectingbeneficial uses.
(d) prescribing standards or criteria for determining when any
matter, action or thing is poisonous, noxious, objectionable, detrimental to
health, or within any other description referred.to in this Act;
(e) prohibiting the discharge, emission, or deposit into the envi-
ronment of any matter whether liquid, solid, or gaseous, or of radio-activity
and prohibiting or regulating the use of any specified fuel;
(f) prescribing ambient air and water quality standards and
emission standards and specifying the maximumpermissible concentra-
tions of any matter that may be present in or discharged into the environ-
ment;
(g) prohibiting the use of any equip ment,facility, vehicle, or ship
capable of causing pollution or regulating the construction, installation or
operation thereof so as to prevent or minimize pollution;
(h) prohibiting the use of such substances, the use of which
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may cause pollution;
(i) prescribing the collection, transportation, storage, processing
and reuse of waste or refuse, whether biodegradable or non-biodegradable.
(j) requiring the giving of pollution warnings or alerts;
(k) prohibiting or regulating the open burning of refuse or other
combustible matter;
(1) regulating the establishment of -sites for the disposal of solid or
liquid wastes on or in land or at sea;
(m) defining objectionable noise and prescribing standards for toler-
able noise;
(n) prohibiting or regulating bathing, swimming, boating or other
aquatic activity in or around any waters that may be detrimental to health or
welfare or for preventing pollution;
(o) any matter or thing which by this Act is authorized or required or
per mitted to be prescribed or whichis necessary or expedient to be prescribed
for carrying this Act intoeffect;
(p) requiring ships in Trinidad and Tobago waters to be fitted with
such equipment as may be prescribed for the purpose of preventing or
reducing oil pollution;
(q) requiring ships in Trinidad and Tobago waters to carry such oil
record books as may be prescribed, the master of such ships to record such
particulars as may be prescribed and to transmit such books to such persons
as may be specified;
(r) restricting the transfer of oil to or from a ship in Trinidad and
Tobago waters and prescribing the circumstances when such transfers may be
carried out;
(s) requiring the master of any ship and the owner of any oil refinery
to report discharges and spillages of oil or mixture containing oil into
Trinidad and Tobago waters;
(t) requiring the oil refineries carrying on business in Trinidad and
Tobago to store such substance or material and equipment necessary to deal
with any oil pollution of the Trinidad and Tobago waters that may arise in the
course of their business;
(u) requiring the oil refineries carrying on business to install such
equipment as may be prescribed for the purpose of reducing or preventing any
trade effluent from containing oil;
(v) requiring ships using any port of Trinidad and Tobago to discharge
or de posit oil resid ues, wastes into oil reception facilities, the fees to be levied
for the use of such facilities, and conditions upon which the vessels may use
such facilities.
(2) Any such regulation may be general or may be restricted in
operation as to time, place, persons, or circumstances whether anysuch time,
place, person or circumstance is determined or ascertainable before, at or
after the making of the regulations.
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Appeal
Environmental Appeal
Tribunal
PART IV
APPEAL AND APPEAL TRIBUNAL
27. (1) Any person who is aggrieved by the requirements or
decisions of the Authority under this Act may within such time and in such
manner as may be prescribed, appeal to the Environmental Appeal Tribu-
nal.
(2) The Environmental Appeal Tribunal may after hearing
the Authority and the appellants make such order as it deems fit.
28. {1) For the purposes of this Act, the Minister shall appoint
an Environmental Appeal Tribunal consisting of three me mber s one of whom
shall be from the legal profession and the other two shall be professional
persons of considerable experience in the area of environmental protection.
They shall be appointed by a notification in the Gazette by the Minister for
a period not exceeding three years; and any persons so appointed shall be
eligible for reappointment.
(2) The Minister shall appoint a Chairman of the Environ-
mental Appeal Tribunal from those appointed.
(3) The Minister may revoke the appointment of the Chair-
man or the appointment of the other members without assigning anyreason
therefor.
(4) A member of the Environmental Appeal Tribunal having
an interest in any matter before the Tribunal shall disclose to the Environ-
mental Appeal Tribunal the fact of his interest and the nature thereof, and
such disclosure shall be recorded and such member shall take no part in
any proceedings of the Environ mental Appeal Trib unal relating to suchmat-
ter.
(5) Every decision of the Environmental Appeal Tribunal
shall be made by the Chairman of the Environmental Appeal Tribunal after
considering the opinion of the other two members but in making his de-
cision the Chair man shall not be bound to conform to the opinion of the other
two members or either of them provided that the Chairman shall record his
reasons for dissenting therefrom.
(6) In addition to all the powers granted to the Environ-
mental Appeal Tribunal under this Act the Environmental Appeal Tribunal
shall also have power to award costs or make any order in respect of any
appeal before it.
(7) The rules of procedure for thehearing of appeal under
this Act shall follow insofar as applicable, the Subordinate Courts Rules
and the Chairman shall keep a record of such hearing.
(8) A member shall be entitled to such remuneration or
allowances as may be determined by the Minister.
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Para. (3), 8
FIRST SCHEDULE
Potential Sources of Atmospheric Pollution
Artificial - Originated by technological development and man's action
such as factories, boilers, thermoelectric plants, petroleum refineries,
chemical plants, steam generators, airships, self propelled vehicles, incin-
eration, exploitation, processing and transportation of industrial minerals.
Natural - Caused by natural phenomena such as eruptions, precipitation,
earthquakes, droughts, landslides.
Para. (2), 10
SECOND SCHEDULE
Potential Sources of Soil Pollution
Radioactive substances.
Solid, liquid and gaseous wastes from agriculture, industry and municipali-
ties.
Pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, detergents,
Oil Spills
17th January, 1989
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DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION POLICY ACT
AN ACT to establish an Environmental Policy for Trinidad and Tobago, to Provide for
the Establishment of a National Environmental Authority, to Ensure the Protection of the
Environment andthe Natural Resources of Trinidad and Tobago; and for Purposes Connected
- Therewith
Short Title
applicalion.and commencement
PART I (A)
PRELIMINARY
1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Environmental
Protection Policy Act, 1989 and shall apply
to the whole of Trinidad and Tobago.
(2) This Act shall come into force on such date as
the Minister may appoint by notification in the
Gazette and the Minister may appoint different dates
for the coming into force of different provisions of
this Act and may bring all or any provisions thereof
into force either in the whole of Trinidad and Tobago
to which the notification applies or such area as may
be specified in the notification.
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Interpretation
Declaration of Environmental
Policy for Trinidad and Tobago
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
"Authority" means the National Environmental
Authority;
"Board" means the National Environmental
Board;
"Chairman" means the chairman of the
National Environmental Board;
"Director" means the Director of the
National Environmental Authority;
"environment" means the physical factors of
the surroundings of the human beings
including land, water, atmosphere,
climate, sound, odour, taste, the
biological factors of animals and plants
and the social factor of aesthetics;
"Environmental Management" means the
management of activities within the
potentials and constraints of
environmental systems.
"Minister" means the Minister charged with
the responsibility for the environment;
"natural resources" means naturally occuri-
ing renewable and non-renewable assets of
Trinidad and Tobago;
"Secretary" means Secretary to the Board;
PART I (B)
DECLARATION OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLIC
3. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago recognises the
interrelationship of the elements or segments of
the environment, man's interrelationship with these
and consequently the impact of man's activities on
the environment, in particular the influences of
population growth, high density urbanization,
industrial expansion, resource exploitation, new
expanding technological advances and tourism develop-
ment. The Government further recognizes the critical
importance of maintaining and restoring environmental
quality for the over all welfare and development of man.
It is therefore declared that it is the continuing policy of
the State, in cooperation with other public and private
organizations to use all practicable means and
measures, including financial and technical
. assistance in order to foster and promote, create
and maintain the conditions under which man and
nature can exist in productive harmony and fulfil
the social, economic and other requirements of
present and future generations of Trinidad and
Tobago.
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To this end, the Government recognizes the need
for the careful planning and management of the
natural resources of air, water, land, flora,
fauna, among others and the preservation of our
historical heritage.
Most importantly, the Government also
recognizes that Human Health, which is a state
of complete physical, mental and social well
being and not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity, is a fundamental human right and
therefore the attainment of the highest
possible level of health is an important social
goal for Trinidad and Tobago.
Objectives of the Act
4. The objectives of the Act are:
(a) to protect the natural resources of
Trinidad and Tobago and promote their
wise use;
(c)to provide the necessary adminis-
trative framework for planning and
coordinating environmental manage-
ment;
(d) to provide the legal framework for
safeguarding the environment from
actions which are detrimental to the
overall maintenance of the physical,
biological and chemical resources of
the nation;
(e) to ensure the proper implementation
of those policies and the enforcement
of those legal provisions which would
have the effect of protecting the
nation's environment and the
resources therein.
(f) to ensure the
degraded areas.
rehabilitation of
Establishment and
Composition of National
Environmental Authority
PART II
ADMINISTRATION
5. (1) There is established with responsibility to the Minister a
body known as the National Environmental Authority, hereafter the Au-
thority, which shall consist of:
(a) A National Environmental Board which
shall be appointed by the President.
(b) A Director appointed by the Board who
shall be responsible to the Board;
(c) Specialised Units that may be
established by the Minister on the
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Powers and Functions of the
National Environmental Authority
recommendation of the National
Environmental Board that are to carry
out the functions of the Authority
under the supervision of the
Director.
6. The powers and functions of the Authority are —
(a) to advise the Minister with responsibility
for the Environment on all aspects of
Environmental Management in accordance
with the National Environmental Policy
of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago;
(b) to coordinate and monitor all activi-
ties of implementing Ministries and
Agencies and to ensure that all
activities take place within environ-
mentally tolerable limits;
(c) to develop guidelines and strategies
for all environmental activities
relating to standards for pollution
control, management of natural
resourcesland environmental planning
at all levels of Government;
(d) to foster international cooperation
and to act as a focal point for
liaising with international Environ-
mental agencies especially with
respect to Treaties or Conventions to
which this country is a signatory;
(e) to keep an up-to-date data bank on
expertise in environmental
disciplines locally, in the Caribbean
and elsewhere;
(f) to maintain up-to-date records on
international and local environmental
information;
(g) to liaise with regional data banks
and local agencies which produce
reports and other publications on
environmental matters;
(h) to maintain a high level of environ-
mental consciousness through public
education and through fostering good
public relations between the various
sectoral interests undertaking envi-
ronmental activities;
(i) to initiate and coordinate actions
required Ito redress environmental
emergencies or activities which can
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Establishment and Composition
of the National Environmental
Board
pose serious threats to the national
environment;
(j) to call public hearings on
potentially controversial
environmental issues;
(k) to commission studies and investiga-
tions to determine the state of the.
local environment and to
remedial or preventative action
protect the environment.
(1) to provide consultancy services for
undertaking environmental impact
assessments, pollution control,
restoration of degraded environments
and other such matters;
(m) to report to the Minister
matters concerning the protection and
enhancement of the environment and
upon any amendments desirable to any
laws affecting pollution and the
environment and upon any matters
referred to it by the Minister.
(n) to publish quarterly reports on the
state of the environment.
(o) to take the necessary legal action to
restrain persons, natural or,
juridical, from initiating or
continuing actions which may be
detrimental to the environment.
(p) to take any other action which may be
necessary for the effective enforce-
ment of this Act and consequently the
protection of the environment.
7. The National Environmental Board shall consist of -
(a) a Chairman who shall be appointed by
the President on the advice of the
Minister;
(b) a Secretary who shall be appointed by
the Board;
(c) a Director who shall be a member of
the Board;
(d) twelve (12) Members, appointed by the
President on the advice of theMinister,
representing Government Agencies and pro-
fessional groups/ organizations, at least four
(4), but no more than five (5) to be drawn
from these professional groups/organiza-
tions. Membership should represent
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Powers and functions of the
National Environmental Board
are-
Deputy Chairman
Alternates
Duration of Office
and eligibility of
reappointment
the following sectors, industrial develop
ment, energy /mining, land use planning, •
nature conservation, tourism, marine envi-
ronment, 'finance, community environ-
ment, environmental health and protection,
legal and waste management.
8. The Powers and functions of the National Environmental Board
(a) to advise the Minister and
Authority of all matters pertaining
to the environment;
(b) to review the activities of the
Authority and to advise the Minister
on requirements for its efficient operations;
(c) to recommend to the Minister national
policies for the protection, conservation and
management of human and natural resources;
(d) to coopt. any persons as panels of
experts to assist the Board at their
request in relation to special problems.
(e)to submit annual reports for the
consideration of Parliament.
(f) to take any other action it deems
necessary for the effective enforce-
ment of this Act and consequently the
protection of the environment.
9. A Deputy Chairman shall be elected by the National Environ-
mental Board from among its members at its first meeting.
10. (1) The Minister may in respect of member appointed,
except the Chairman, appoint one person to be an alternate
member to attend in place of the member at meetings of the
Board if the member is for any reason unable to attend.
(2) When attending meetings of the Board the alternate mem-
ber shall for all purposes be deemed to be a member of the
Board.
(3) An alternate member shall, unless he sooner resigns or
his appointment is sooner revoked, cease to be an alternate
when the member in respect to whom he is an alternate
member ceases to be a member of the Board.
11. Every appointed member of the Board shall, unless he sooner
resigns or his appointment revoked, hold office for a
term not exceeding three years and shall be eligible for re-
appointment.
12. (1) The following persons shall be disqualified from
being appointed or being members of the Board -
(a) a person who is of unsound mind or is
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Calling of Meetings,
quotum, voting and
minutes
Presiding Officer
at Meetings
otherwise incapable of performing his
duties;
(b) a person who has been found guilty of
an offence involving fraud, dishonesty
under the laws of Trinidad and Tobago;
(c) a person who is an undischarged
bankrupt having been adjudged or
otherwise declared bankrupt under any
law in force in Trinidad and Tobago.
(2) An appointed member of the Board shall
be deemed to have vacated -his office —
(a) upon his death;
(b) upon his resignation;
(c) upon his failure to attend three (3)
regular consecutive meetings of the
Board without permission from the
Board; or
(d) if he becomes disqualified under
sub-section (1) and a new member
shall be appointed in his place in
accordance with the provisions of
this Act.
13. (1) The Board shall meet once a month and shall, in
addition, meet as and when convened by the
Chairman.
(2) Seven (7) Members shall be a quorum
at any of the meetings of the Board.
(3) If on a question to be determined by
the Board there is an equality of votes, the
Chairman or if the Chairman is absent the
presiding member shall have a casting vote in
addition to his deliberative vote.
(4) Subject to this Act, the Board shall determine its
own procedure.
(5) Minutes shall be kept of all proceedings of
the Board and copies thereof shall be submitted
to the Minister.
14. (1) The Chairman of the Board shall preside at all
meetings of the Board. •
(2) If, owing to the absence or inability to act due to
illness or any other causes the Chairman of the
Board is unable to preside at any meeting, the
Deputy Chairman shall preside at the meeting;
(3) No business shall be transacted at any meeting of
the Board in the absence of the Chairman and the
Deputy Chairman until a member has been
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1
(enumeration
>mies and functions
of the Director
Power of the National
Environmental Authority
and relationships with other
Agencies
elected to preside over the meeting.
15. (1) Every appointed member may be paid a sum as may
be determined by the Minister in respect of
his attendance at a meeting of the Board.
(2) The Chairman may be paid such additional allowances or
honorarium as may be determined by the Minister.
16. The Director, shall have the responsibility for -
(a) the overall direction and
administration of the Authority and
coordination of all its units;
(b) development of policies, guidelines
and strategies for implementation by
Ministries and Agencies responsible
for particular areas of environmental
management, for example, establishing
minimum standards, development of
funding, controls, Environmental
Impact Assessments requirements,
licenses and permits in conjunction
with the Board;
(c) to recommend to implementing agencies
the appropriate training needed to
ensure that adequate levels of
environmental management are
maintained;
(d) development of mechanisms for
participation by relevant agency
personnel in local, regional and
international meetings, seminars,
workshops, courses or conferences;
(e) sourcing international financing for
local research and development
projects which would have positive
impacts on environmental management.
(f) any other action that may be needed
from time to time to ensure the
maintenance of the integrity of the
environment.
PART III
COORDINATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL
ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT
17. (1) The National Environmental Authority shall be the
coordinating Agency with respect to matters
relating to the environment and shall be the
principal Agency with respect to the protection of
the environment and its resources.
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Power to ensure compliance with
Environmental Provisions
Compliance with conditions of
Agencies with responsibility
for the Environment
(2) The National Environmental Authority shall cause to
be reviewed the present Statutory Authority,
administrative regulations and existing policies
of the agencies of Government to ensure that such
.authority, regulations and policies are in confor-
mity with the intent purposes and procedures set
forth in this Act.
(3) The Authority may on its own initiative give advice
to existing agencies when it considers environ
mental protection action necessary.
(4) The Authority shall advise on the establishment
of laws, standards and regulations for the protec-
tion of the.environment where necessary.
(5) To assist it in its role as the coordinating Agency,
the Authority may require in writing or otherwise
any information that it may consider necessary
and relevant.
(6) Any action taken by an implementingagency with
respect to the environment shall bereported in
writing to the Authority.
18. The National Environmental Authority shall, through
the powers vested in it, ensure that any person,
natural or juridical, taking any action likely to
impact adversely on the environment comply with
the provisions of the Acts listed in the First
Schedule relating to the protection of natural
resources and environmental management.
19. (1) Any person, natural or juridical, seeking the required
Government approval for any action likely to
impact adversely on the environment and its
resources, shall comply with the conditions
attached to the granting of such approval by those
agencies listed in the Second Schedule charged
with the responsibility for managing the environ
ment and protecting the natural resources of
Trinidad and Tobago.
(2) Failure to comply with those reclamation and rehabili
tation and environmental impact assessment shall
be considered a contravention of this Act and
any person, natural or juridical, so contravening
this Act shall be subject to the appropriate
action taken against him under this Act.
20. (1) In addition to and not in derogation of any of the
powers contained in any other provisions of this
Act, the Minister, in conjunction with the other
relevant agencies may make regulations for or
with respect to -
(a) the submission of environmental
impacts statements and the required
fee for the assessment of such
statements;
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Appeal
(b) the granting of licenses and permits,
including waste discharge licenses or
permits, and any fees required;
(c) prescribing standards or criteria for
the implementation of any declared
environmental policy or classification for the
protection of the environment and for pro
tecting beneficial use;
(2) Any such regulation may be general or may be re
stricted in operation as to time. Place, persons or
circumstances whether any such time, place, person
or circumstance is determined or ascertainable
before, at or after the making of the regulations.
PART IV
APPEAL AND APPEAL TRIBUNAL
21. (1) Any person who is aggrieved by therequiretnents or
decisions of the Authority under this Act may within such
time and in such manner as may be prescribed, appeal to the
Environmental Appeal Tribunal.
(2} The Environmental Appeal Tribunal may after hearing
the Officer and the appellants make such order as it
deems fit.
22.
be
Environmental Appeal
Tribunal
(1) For the purposes of this Act the Minister shall
appoint an Environmental Appeal Tribunal
consisting of three members one of whom shall be
from the legal profession and the other two shall
be professional persons of considerable experience
in the area of environmental protection.
They shall be appointed by a notification in the
Gazette by the Minister for a period not exceeding
three years, and any persons so appointed shall be
eligible for reappointment.
(2) The Minister shall appoint a Chairman of the Environ-
mental AppealTribunal from those appointed.
(3) The Minister may revoke the appointment of the Chair max
or the appointment of the other members without
assigning anyreason therefor.
(4) A member of the Environmental Appeal Tribunal having
an interest in any matter before the Tribunal shall
disclose to the Environmental Appeal Tribunal the
fact of his interest and the nature thereof, and such
disclosure shall be recorded and such member shall
take no part in any proceedings of the Environmental
Appeal Tribunal relating to such matter.
(5) Every decision of the Environmental Appeal Tribunal
shall be made by the Chairman of the Environmental
AppealTribunal after considering the opinion of the
other two members but in making his decision the Chair
man shall not be bound to conform to the opinion of the
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other two members or either of them provided that the
Chair manshall record his reasons for dissenting there
from.
(6) In addition to all the powers granted to the Environmental
Appeal Tribunal under this Act the Environmental
Appeal Tribunal shall also have power to award costs or
make any order in respect of an appeal before it.
(7) The rules of procedure for the hearing of appeal under
this Act shall follow insofar as applicable, the Subordi-
nate Courts Rules and the Chairman shall keep a record
of such hearing.
(8) A member shall be entitled to such remuneration or allow
ances as may be determined
by the Minister.
FIRST SCHEDULE
Section 18 List of Acts Containing Provisions for Managing
the Environment and Protecting the Natural Resources
Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Chap 1:01
Port of Spain Corporation Act (Ch. 39 NO. 1)
Chap 25:**
(Ch. 39 No. 7)
Chap 25:**
(Ch. 39 No.ll)
Chap 25:**
No. 12/1980
Chap 26:50
12 No. 4) Chap 28:**
Chap 33:01
Chap 33:02
Chap 35:01
Chap 35:02
Chap 35:53
San Fernando Corporation Act
Arima Corporation Act
Point Fortin Corporation Act
Dry River Act
Public Health Act (Ch.
Housing Act
Slum Clearance and Housing Act
Town and Country Planning Act
Chaguaramas Development Authority Act
Advertisements Regulations Act
Marine Areas (Preservation and Enhancement) Act
Chap 37:02
Botanic Gardens Act Chap 41:03
Water and Sewerage Act Chap 54:40
Waterworks and Water Conservation Act Chap 54:41
Petroleum Act Chap 62:01
Agricultural Fires Act Chap 63:02
Forest Act Chap 66:01
Sawmills Act Chap 66:02
Conservation of Wildlife Act Chap 67:01
Fisheries Act Chap 67:51
Dogs Act ' Chap 67:54
Mongoose Act Chap 67:55
Tourist Board Act Chap 87:53
Zoological Society of Trinidad and Tobago Act
No. 12/1952
Litter Act - Chap 30:52
Summary Offences Act Chap 11:02
Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act Chap 48:50
Civil Aviation Act (Air Navigation Ord., Ch. 19)
Chap 49:**
Continental Shelf Act Chap j ;52
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Oil Pollution of Territorial Waters Act Chap 37:03
Territorial Sea Act Chap 1:52
Mines, Borings and Quarries Act Chap 61 ;01
SECOND SCHEDULE
Section 19 List of Agencies Which Set Conditions
With Respect to the Environment
Town and Country Planning Division
Water and Sewerage Authority
Ministry of Food Production, Marine Exploitation, Forestry
and the Environment
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Energy, Labour, Employment and Manpower
Port-of-Spain City Council
San Fernando City Council
Arima Borough Council
Point Fortin Borough Council
Licensing Authority, Ministry of Settlement and Public
Utilities Trinidad and Tobago Police Force
Ministry of Settlement and Public Utilities
Transport Division, Ministry of Public Utilities
The National Housing Authority
Forestry Division, Ministry of Food Production, Marine
Exploitation, Forestry and the Environment
Fisheries Division, Ministry of Food Production, Marine
Exploitation, Forestry and the Environment
Trinidad and Tobago Tourism Development Authority
Tobago House of Assembly
Extension Services Division, Ministry of Food Production,
Marine Exploitation Forestry and the Environment
The Agricultural Engineering Division, Ministry of Food
Production, Marine Exploitation, Forestry and the
Environment
Lands and Surveys Division
Veterinary Services Division, Ministry of Food Production,
Marine Exploitation, Forestry and the Environment
Agricultural Services Division, Ministry of Food Production,
Marine Exploitation, Forestry and the Environment
Bureau of Standards
Ministry of Industry, Enterprise and Tourism
The Harbour Master's Division
The Port Authority
The Airport's Authority
The Environmental Health Division
Insect Vector Control Division
Public Health Engineering Division
Occupational Health Division
Chemistry, Food and Drug Division
Ministry of Finance and the Economy
Ministry of Planning and Mobilization
Drainage Division
Ministry of National Security and Citizenship
Ministry of Sports, Culture and Creative Arts
Office of the Prime Minister
17th January, 1989
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AUG 21 1997-
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