Defeated but not discouraged

Date: August 28th, 2018

Dear Editor/Newsroom,

Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) have been defeated at the Privy Council. The Privy Council’s written judgment will be delivered on 8 October, 2018.

FFOS appeared on 30th July 2018 before the Privy Council against the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) and the Ministry of Works and Transport/NIDCO to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal not to grant leave for judicial review of the EMA’s decision to grant a Certificate of Environmental clearance (CEC) to construct a 5 km highway on the southern boundary of the Aripo Savannas, a legally designated environmentally sensitive area (ESA) from Cumuto to Sangre Grande.
FFOS are proud to have fought to protect the voiceless in this precious eco-system (the largest and last remaining naturally occurring savannas) in our country and to have petitioned the Court for the highway to be simply be moved 400 metres south of the Savannas to protect rare, threatened, endemic, endangered, vulnerable species and the legally designated environmentally sensitive species (ESS) the tiger cat Ocelot.
FFOS thanks its hard working legal team and its supporters who have persevered.
Today we are saddened but not discouraged.
FFOS will continue to advocate for environmental and ecological justice.

Sincerely,
Gary Aboud
Corporate Secretary