The Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) is lending a hand in Tobago’s coastal zone protection efforts.

The URP is part of an environment team tasked with planting sea grape trees along the coastline in the vicinity of the Lambeau River Bridge. The root systems of trees like almond and sea grapes help keep the soil embankment in place to minimise the impact of rough seas.

This green solution effort is a soft engineering technique being implemented by the Division of Infrastructure, Quarries, and the Environment, in alignment with the Tobago House of Assembly’s “green” mandate.

Soft engineering works help nature to protect the coast, rather than trying to stop natural processes.