The Environmental Awareness Group of Antigua & Barbuda
Raising awareness & promoting sustainable use of natural resources
Plants of Saint Lucia
Roger Graveson has been study- ing the plants of Saint Lucia for nearly 20 years. Recently, he has put together a wonderful website about the plants of Saint Lucia which anyone interested in plants must visit! Click here to visit Roger's site.
Walking Tours every Tuesday and Thursday. Read more>
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Do watch this very moving video about the effect of free-roaming livestock in the Nelson’s Dockyard National Park. Please contact your MP, the Ministry of Agriculture or the EAG if you are concerned about this problem.
Camp GROW puts down Roots
Watch the great video here:
The GARD Center and the EAG recently completed their first ever youth summer day-camp, Camp GROW (Gaining a Respect for the Outdoors and our World), which began on July 11 and ended on July 22. This year’s camp was filled with exciting activities like hiking through Body Ponds, visiting Claremont Farms, participating in fun lessons about composting and gardening, making recycled wallets out of juice boxes, playing camp games, singing camp songs and much more! Over the course of two-weeks campers made new friendships, had opportunities to build skills in leadership and team-work, and pushed themselves to try new things.
Read more about Camp Grow >
Researching and Conserving Native Ferns
The EAG has an exciting new project to research and conserve the native ferns of Antigua, Barbuda and Redonda. The project seeks to increase awareness and will develop an educational booklet. The effort is being led by Antiguan biologist Kevel Lindsay.
Ferns in Antigua and Barbuda come in amazingly diverse forms including mangrove ferns which can grow to 4 metres high, tiny epiphytic ferns, a centimetre or so high, aquatic ferns, vine-like climbers and grass-like species.
CLICK HERE for a slideshow of our ferns and more about this exciting and important project!
Why are ferns so important?
Tropical ferns are extraordinarily beautiful plants with their delicate arching leaves, or fronds as they are usually called - undoubtedly the most beautifully shaped leaves in the plant kingdom !
Also, ferns beautify the environment in a way that other plants cannot. This is because many ferns live in environments that other plants cannot tolerate - on shady tree branches ("epiphytes"), on rock faces (lithophytes), in wetlands and in mangrove environments. Tourists from Europe and America are especially awestruck as they normally only encounter these beautiful plants as indoor pot plants!
As well as their beauty, ferns are especially valuable plants for the following reason: Because most fern species can only survive in healthy moist, shady forests, many of which are under threat throughout the Caribbean and also in threatened mangrove and wetland areas, they are an important barometer of the ecological health of the environment.
We are very grateful to the Rufford Small Grants Foundation and the Mohammed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund who have generously provided funding for this project.
Christian Valley Birding Trail
Opens
The beautiful trail developed by the EAG will be opened officially on Thursday January 26th, 2012 at 2pm. A variety of birds can be viewed on the trail which is a little over 2.5 miles in length. We hope to see you there!
This project is aimed at increasing awareness of our native birds and seeks to create livelihoods in eco-tourism by training community members in bird identification and in tour guiding.
Read about the project and the trail: Click here
The EAG is very grateful for the sponsorship funding provided by the Finnish Government.