The Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Award for Excellence (ANSCAFE) could not have come at a better time for conservationist Anette Arjoon who plans to capitalise on the publicity it has generated to introduce North West Organics (NWO) products to regional markets.
Arjoon, who is project coordinator and secretary to the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society (GMTCS), said some of the money will also be used to refine the packaging of the products.
On January 11, ANSCAFE recognised Arjoon for her public and civic contributions to Guyana. She was named jointly with Jamaican Claudette Pious and they will share the TT$500,000 cash prize. Another Guyanese, Professor David Dabydeen, was also recognised for arts and letters while Barbadian James Husbands copped an award for science and technology.
Arjoon told Stabroek News that she was very humbled and honoured to be named among the four awardees and even though hers was shared; it would go a long way in furthering her work in conservation. Arjoon has been instrumental in protecting Shell Beach, a 1,000-mile ecosystem in the North West Region, where four species of marine turtle nest. She is also the managing director of the Shell Beach Adventures Company.
The conservationist recalled that she was awakened around 7 am by a phone call informing her of the news and she was “completely stunned and humbled that my work was being recognised regionally.” While she is grateful to the ANSCAFE’s panel of judges for naming her a winner, Arjoon said she is also aware that the national selection committee would have played a major role in having her selected in the first place.
One of the biggest advantages she hopes to gain from receiving the award is creating a regional market for the NWO products since she feels that the local market is already saturated with them. “The timing of the award is very relevant and it is not only the money but the regional publicity that our organisation will gain,” she said.
The organic products are bought from residents of Shell Beach. If the products gain regional markets then the lives of the producers will be improved.
One of the areas Arjoon hopes to infiltrate is the spa industry in the Caribbean. She said she hopes that the NWO Crabwood Oil would soon be in demand in this industry as this natural oil can do wonders for the skin when used as a massage oil. Arjoon said Caribbean people are becoming very health conscious and she hopes the locally produced organic cocoa will also become a product the regional people would want to use.
Arjoon said she was also grateful for the tremendous support her organisation gets from the government. She said Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud has been very supportive and this would help the producers to expand beyond these shores. There is already an opening for the producers as Arjoon disclosed that there is already a shipper who ships all of the water coconuts from Shell Beach area to Trinidad. She hopes that they can use that same ship to ship some of their products to Trinidad, at least initially.
In addition to cocoa and crabwood oil the producers also make crabwood oil soap, cassava bread and casareep.
All of the products have one label, which is shaped as a shell, and it is used only by the communities who assist in protecting the turtles. “So you could be producing products of the highest quality but if you also slaughter and eat turtles then you would not be given a label,” Arjoon said, while noting that all of the products that use the NOW label are produced under very good conditions. She said the partnership is a combination of community, conservation and culture.
Arjoon is the founding secretary of the GMTCS, which was incorporated in 2000. She has been tireless in her efforts to protect the turtles and their environment. The agency’s main work has been concentrated in Shell Beach which encompasses mangrove forests, inland swamp forest and savannahs. While most of the turtle nesting beaches in the world harbour only one or two species, Shell Beach is the main nesting habitat for four species of endangered marine turtles: the green, leatherback, olive ridley and hawksbill.
Even though she was singled out for the award, Arjoon was quick to point out that her job has been made very easy because of the people she works with, including the producers.
She also extended gratitude to the organisation’s board of directors which include Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and Major General (ret’d), Joe Singh. Arjoon also wanted to thank her two children, 15-year-old Alex and 13-year-old Victoria who are the Caribbean’s under-15 and under-13 squash champions respectively, for sharing her since she has had to spend many days away from home to further her work.
Arjoon has also received prizes for her environmental work from the Commonwealth Foundation, the United Nations, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and the private sector.
