CASTRIES, St. Lucia – A project aimed at increasing food security, building resilience to climate impacts, and enhancing the livelihoods of St. Lucians, particularly those living with disabilities, has been launched here, leveraging the symbiotic relationship between fish and plants.
The project is supported by the United Nations Development Programma’s (UNDP) Enabling Gender-Responsive Disaster Recovery, Climate and Environmental Resilience in the Caribbean (Engender) Project and the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom.
The authorities said the “Inclusive Aquaponics for a Resilient St. Lucia” project would provide employment opportunities for more than 40 people living with disabilities.
Director of Gender Affairs, Janey Joseph, said gender-based inequalities lead women, the vulnerable and especially persons with disabilities to face more adverse climate change impacts than men and other abled individuals.
“This project…intends to provide the full circle of amenities needed for the beneficiaries to learn, produce, market, manage and administer the commercially sized aquaponic units,” Joseph said. “Thus, this launch is not a mere groundbreaking ceremony for the installation of two aquaponic units, but rather a thrust to empower two groups of individuals with disabilities to become businessmen and women in a groundbreaking manner.”
The authorities said that the project is innovative in several ways, as it gives special consideration to differently-abled and vulnerable farmers here. It is the first project to be fully developed from the island’s agricultural and fisheries Sectoral Adaptation Strategy.
The strategy is part of the island’s overall plan to adapt to climate change through its National Adaptation Plan.
“We are committed to focusing on the poorest and most vulnerable, including persons with disabilities. A growing body of evidence shows when women, girls, and marginalized groups have a seat at the table, we enhance the impact and reach of our institutions and resources,” said Ashley Crossley, First Secretary at the Canada High Commission to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. “We believe this is the most effective approach to building a more peaceful, more prosperous, and inclusive world,” she said.
The UNDP EnGenDER Project is funded by the governments of Canada and the UK. It has been operating since 2020 to integrate further gender equality and human rights-based approaches into disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and environmental management frameworks in nine Caribbean countries, namely Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines and Suriname.
“UNDP, through the EnGenDER Project, remains committed to supporting projects that protect society’s most vulnerable, including persons living with disabilities, and ensuring they have equal access to tools and opportunities that improve their resilience to climate change, enhance their opportunities to earn and provide greater food security,” said Ugo Blanco, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, Barbados, and the Eastern Caribbean.
President of the Farmers with Disabilities Association, Albertina Mondesir, said the project would provide numerous opportunities for the beneficiaries.
“We will plant it, nurture it, and know that it will grow into fine trees that will bear fruits of life, livelihood, resilience, and economic benefit,” Mondesir said.
“And we will use these benefits to help meet our social, medical, educational, and other needs and ensure that future persons with disabilities know there is something they can come to, learn from, and build on.”
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