The Trust for Sustainable Livelihoods (Sustrust) was registered under the Companies Act in 2002. Its Mission is ?To help people better manage the natural resources on which their livelihoods depend?. Our lead officer and technical advisor have many years of experience in forest management and rehabilitation (a number of them at National Quarries) and others have broad experience in project development and management.

Mining for construction aggregate is a long standing component of the economy of Trinidad and Tobago, particularly in northeast Trinidad. Because the process involves the removal of vegetation and soil overlaying the aggregate, the result is significant environmental degradation. While in theory a quarry licence requires operators to rehabilitate after mining is completed, a combination of legal, economic and enforcement factors has resulted in limited rehabilitation efforts across the sector. The result after mining is large excavated areas with little vegetation and productivity, much of it in what is still legally designated as the Valencia Wildlife Sanctuary.

Under the SGP Country Programme Strategy for OP6, Trinidad and Tobago?s Priority #1 is Community Landscape/Seascape Conservation. The focus includes biodiversity, land use, rehabilitation, ecosystem services, including sustainable livelihoods development and the implementation of the regional UNEP project ?Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (IWEco). All of these are relevant to the quarry industry. Trinidad and Tobago is one of 10 countries, participating in the regional UNEP project, and its focal point is the Environmental Management Authority (EMA). The national project focus is on quarry rehabilitation in North-East Trinidad and on enriching forest reserves (with the Forestry Division).

As a state enterprise National Quarries have initiated a number of rehabilitation efforts on their site. They were therefore a natural partner for the IWEco Trinidad and Tobago project leading to the signing, on 20 May 18, of a Letter of Agreement for the use of sites at National Quarries for rehabilitation and training.
? Project Goal: The majority of abandoned quarry sites in North East Trinidad are rehabilitated.
? Objectives: To train community members in quarry site rehabilitation, to plant and maintain a pilot site(s), to set up a nursery for future rehabilitation and to remove weeds and maintain existing and new sites.