Wild Tobago

With restrictions imposed by Covid-19 around the world, Dr Stanton Belford recounts his best past observances of World Environment Day. Nature is here for us, he says, but we need to understand and appreciate our wild spaces every day. Dr Belford is a Trinidadian marine scientist who is a professor of Biology at Martin Methodist College in Tennessee USA. One of his significant research studies is on the reefs of Toco, Trinidad. This year 2020, World Environment Day will be celebrated on Friday June 5. I am saddened that I cannot visit Trinidad and Tobago, as I do annually during World Environment Day, as COVID-19 has placed a halt on this visit, which in the past was so easy to accomplish. Check to make sure my passport isn’t expired, review low tide schedules, book my airfare ticket, and then I’m off! My activities during these past visits included the Asa Wright Nature Center, the annual Island Hikers Hikeathon from Matelot to Blanchisseuse, and off course s...

On June 5, everyone on the planet – each of the seven billion of us – is invited to remember our place in nature. Human beings are not apart from nature, we are a part of nature. The theme for World Environment Day 2017 is “connecting people to nature – in the city and on the land, from the poles to the equator.” Here in Tobago, we are fortunate to be able to renew this connection in direct ways. No one has to go far to be in nature. Schools and families are encouraged to select an activity that awakens these connections. This feature was first published in the Tobago Newsday on June1, 2017 In Tobago, we are the best hosts. We can recommend all the places that delight visitors: the beaches, the waterfalls, the forest walks. How many of these places do we – apart from those who work as guides or tour operators – actually know intimately? This World Environment Day, we suggest that you renew your acquaintance with what brings visitors here. Sometimes we need t...