4 minute read
WALKERS RESERVE
Written By: Keisha Farnum - Managing Director. Walkers Institute For Regenerative Research And Design (WIRRED)
Keisha Farnum
Photo courtesy: WIRRED
Walkers Reserve is located inside the largest silica sand mine on the 430 km2 (166.0 sq. mi) in Barbados. The 227-arce property runs along the Atlantic Coastline of the St. Andrews parish and is at the epi-center of the Barbados National Park. The site has been providing Barbados with this essential construction aggregate for the last 50 years.
Over the last 6 years, through the work of the now formalized WIRRED, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the private mining entity and with the support and backing of the McNeel family, Walkers Reserve has been transitioning from an active sand quarry to a thriving food forest. The regeneration project has focused on returning actively mined areas to ecological health, as quarried areas come to exhaustion. The project’s early stages began in 2011, with a consortium of local, regional, and international consultants working to develop a regenerative agroforestry strategy aimed at transforming the entire site from Walkers Sand Quarry to Walkers Reserve.
Walkers Reserve is fondly referred to as a living laboratory in which a plethora of projects; focused on building biodiversity, resilience and regenerative agriculture come together in one geographic space. Part of this living laboratory is the Walkers Reserve Nursery which is home to the widest selection of drought tolerant and seaside faring plants on the island. The Walkers Reserve Nursery not only supplies the needs of the expansive regenerative work involved in transforming a sand mine into a food forest, it is also open for sale to the public and supports the One Tree for Every Bajan Program.
Ian McNeel, Founding Director, WIRRED
Photo courtesy: WIRRED
Launched in January 2019, the long term goal of the One Tree for Every Bajan program is to plant 285,000 trees with the aim of building habitat, increasing biodiversity, sequestering carbon and building climate resilience; promoting a culture of environmentally conscious volunteerism; creating a movement of environmental stewardship in Barbados (inclusive of vulnerable groups); effectively leveraging partnerships toward the long-term goal of planting one tree for every Bajan; and working towards the Government of Barbados’ 2030 net zero climate mitigation target and goal of planting 1 million trees starting 2020. Every purchase from the Walkers Reserve Nursery supports this vital cause and reaching the long-term target.
#onetreeonebajan
Photo courtesy: WIRRED
As part of this regenerative ethos, Walkers Reserve Apiary Program (WRAP) was informally established under the umbrella of WIRRED in 2018 through an expressed interest of Walkers Reserve employees and management to develop an Apiary at Walkers Reserve. The vision was to develop an apiculture programme that was founded on a profit-sharing framework between Walkers Reserve and its valued members of staff. The ultimate objective is to develop WRAP as an independent entity which can operate separately but in tandem with WIRRED’s Walkers Reserve Project. Bees are the world’s most important pollinator of food crops and it is estimated that one third of the food that we consume daily relies on pollination mainly by bees. Recognizing how important bees are to the restorative process, WRAP not only provides the site with these much needed pollinators but it also provides beekeeping services to the public, including hive removals, hive management, retail beekeeping equipment and supplies and conducts beekeeping/hive tours. WRAP is also involved in research, education, and mentorship programs, as well as production of beekeeping products such as honey, beeswax and honey mead. All profits generated through WRAP support local beekeepers, their communities and the ongoing quarry regeneration project of Walkers Reserve.
Photo courtesy: WIRRED
As a non-profit climate smart agency, WIRRED has been tasked with the documenting, scaling and dissemination of the climate innovative work currently being undertaken at Walkers Reserve. As an organization, WIRRED keenly recognizes that the world is in the midst of a radical transformation where the entire planet, in particular, vulnerable small island nations, like Barbados, must rethink and reconstruct the way that they envision their food security, disaster preparedness, economic productivity and its energy, social and natural systems. Projects like Walkers Reserve, WRAP and One Tree for Every Bajan represent the potential for the restoration of degraded lands, the enhancement of the extensive types of soils and the opportunity for regenerative agriculture practices to profitably bring Barbados to carbon neutral status while improving food security and reducing the negative impacts on our fragile ecosystems.
@WALKERSRESERVEBARBADOS
@ONETREEONEBAJAN
