 As efforts to promote the development of Sintushan tradition and a diverse culture as a valuable commodity continue, the IONOLA Natural Resource Management of the North East Coast project, which is in its final year of implementation, with a focus on establishing sustainable initiatives held a media launch for the Cultural Heritage Initiative. The IONOLA project, which focuses on natural resource management in the islands northeast, recently launched the Cultural Heritage Initiative in an effort to elevate and promote the value of St. Lucia's traditional and cultural heritage in support of St. Lucia's management. A 10-week training program will be provided to 10 cultural groups as part of the initiative. Deputy Director of Agricultural Services Barry Innocent says that the initiative will contribute to the overall goal of the IONOLA project, which is increased management effectiveness and sustainable use of the northeast coast natural resource base to generate multiple environmental benefits. This event remarks the culmination of a long journey, which started several years ago in the life of the project, the IONOLA project. It started by identifying the cultural asset base within the communities of the IONOLA project, which could be packaged in very creative ways and presented in a form that would capture the attention of the public. But more importantly, such a cultural asset base, the use of the Queo language, local instruments that we heard this morning, unique traditional costuming, provocative songs, rhythms, dance, can be used to sustain the cultural traditions themselves, enhance and create livelihoods for persons within the communities, and also to foster cohesive communities within the project area, and also in a very creative way to highlight and emphasize the importance of the rich biodiversity, the unique wildlife and forest which characterizes the northeast coast region, Minister for Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, Sean Edward, commended all stakeholders involved in the success of the IONOLA project thus far, and expressed gratitude to the Global Environment Fund for their continuous support. The other thing that happens to me from the standpoint of government and I'm not wearing the technical hat today, is the fact that we've been able to source from the global environmental environment facility, otherwise known as Jeff, a grant of 2.3 million U.S. That is almost 7 million E.C. dollars. And that is very significant at a time when the revenue streams of the government are not performing as well as they are supposed to. Every country in the world, irrespective of which continent it happens to be on, has been adversely affected by COVID. And so any friendly government or agency we are able to partner with to get the resources to roll out programs for our people, we must embrace and appreciate the effort that they make working with us. The Media Launch of the Cultural Heritage Initiative took place on Friday, January 28, 2022, at the Gabriel Charles Forestry Complex, from the communications unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anisia Antoine, reporting.