them into local legislation has effectively made them void. Trinidad can continue to sign and
ratify international treaties and conventions but without the validity, the courts will not recognize
these international laws.
The sea turtle will essentially have no protection under these
conventions making their purpose questionable.
Trinidad has laid out a legal framework in order to protect its environmental interests. This
domestic legislation includes the EMA, ESS and The National Environmental Policy 2005. The
objectives outlined in Schedule II of the ESS are as follows:
a) Maintenance of species abundance and diversity;
b) Preservation of the integrity of species’ populations to ensure genetic viability and to
sustain their intangible and direct material benefits;
c) Maintenance of its importance or significance to the ecosystem(s) of the immediate
locality or to wider areas;
d) Regulation of species which are or may pose a health or ecological liability;
e) Provision of valuable educational and non-destructive scientific research opportunities;
f) Demonstration of the benefits of wise use and the pitfalls of indiscriminate use of
particular species.
The five species of sea turtle that nest in Trinidad are designated under the ESS Rules 2001.
They are protected from poaching, trade, exploitation, disturbance during breeding, incubation or
migration.
The National Environmental Policy 2005 was laid in Parliament on September 2, 1998. Section
18 of the EMA allows that: “The Policy may be revised from time to time.” This is done in
order to recognize the rapid industrialization of Trinidad and Tobago, specifically the
development in the housing sector and expansion and upgrading of infrastructure.
The
Government saw fit to revise the 1998 NEP and invoked Section 18 (5) of the EMA. The major
development of the petroleum and petrochemical sector and its expansion has made Trinidad and
Tobago the largest supplier of LNG to the United States and also the number one exporter of
ammonia in the world. The Government states in the NEP that it is duty bound to ensure that
Trinidad and Tobago finds the right balance between economic development and environmental
conservation. The environment is an essential pillar of economic and social development and
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