00:00The Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government hosted its first bushfire conference today at the Chaguanas Borough Corporation.
00:08Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadija Amin says the initiative forms part of a broader national strategy to
00:15address the growing concern over bushfires.
00:18Our national strategy is guided by five very clear objectives. We want to reduce the occurrence and the intensity of
00:29bushfires.
00:30We want to protect lives, property, critical infrastructure, and our ecosystem.
00:36We want to strengthen early detection and rapid response.
00:42We want to build community ownership and resilience.
00:47And we want to improve inter-agency coordination and data-driven decision-making.
00:55Amin says many of the bushfires in the country are preventable.
00:59A lot of it is things we identify.
01:03Farmers burning to use land for agriculture, land clearing, illegal dumping, prolonged dry spells, and high winds assist the fires.
01:15But the conditions often are man-made, like the careless disposal of lighted cigarettes.
01:23All of these are preventable.
01:26Many of the bushfires we see that destroy so much space is preventable.
01:32But prevention will be better with our coordination.
01:36It requires enforcement.
01:38She adds that fires do not start large.
01:41They start small, and only detection can save lives.
01:46Prevention begins long before a fire starts.
01:50We are examining pilot-prescribed burning programs, carefully managed and led by trained professionals who have partnered with us.
02:02And these include the area of savannah grasslands, abandoned agricultural lands.
02:09And these would be conducted early in the dry season under strict weather conditions.
02:16Senior Disaster Management Coordinator at the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government, Jerry David, echoed similar sentiments.
02:24He says enforcement remains a major issue.
02:27We want the benefits of a clean environment, but we don't want to contribute to preventing fires.
02:36We want order, but we don't want enforcement.
02:43But behavior adjusts only to consequences.
02:50If there's no consequence for setting bushfires, we'll keep doing it.
02:57The laws are clear.
02:59$20,000 fine and six months imprisonment for offenses related to setting illegal fires during the dry season.
03:12Charlotte Kisto, TV6 News.
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