The National Environment Agency (NEA) recently held a three-day workshop on environmental awareness, HIV/AIDs and gender awareness creation at the project demo site of Tumani-Tenda, West Coast Region.

Speaking at the occasion, the director of Inter-Sectoral Network at the National Environment Agency, Ndey Bakurin, said that the objectives of the Collaborative Actions for Sustainable Tourism (COAST) project is to demonstrate best practices and strategies to reduce the degradation of marine and coastal environments of trans-boundary significance, and to enhance sustainable tourism practices. She revealed that the NEA in collaboration with Gambia Tourism Authority are currently implementing, on behalf of the Gambia Government, the said Collaborative Actions for Sustainable Tourism (COAST) Project.

For his part, Momodou Sanyang, alkalo of Tumani Tenda, welcomed the participants to the growing Eco-Tourism site and therefore called on all stakeholders to take the workshop seriously. “The environment is the home for not only we the human beings but also members of the biodiversity, while still serving as the sustainable basket where all forms of activities take place,” he posited. Alkalo Sanyang enjoined the stakeholders to plant as much trees as possible in the coming rainy season and ensure their protection on the field they are transplanted.

The project coordinator, Abubacarr Kujabi, who is also the assistant programme officer for Coastal and Marine Environment Unit of the NEA, said the long term goal of the project is to support and enhance the conservation of globally significant coastal, marine ecosystems, and associated biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa, through the reduction of negative environmental impacts that come as a result of coastal tourism.

The countries involved in the implementation of this regional coastal protection project include Cameroon, Ghana, Seychelles, Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and The Gambia.