Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine April 2017 | Page 22

Anguilla National Trust by Farah Mukhida The Anguilla National Trust offers a variety of tours which range from nature hikes to heritage tours, birding excursions, offshore cay adventures and island tours. Led by staff with in-depth knowledge of Anguilla’s natural and cultural heritage, they are always happy to tailor tours to the specific interests of their clients. The Anguilla National Trust (ANT) was established in 1988 through the Anguilla National Trust Act. It began operating as a formal organisation with a mandate to protect, preserve, and conserve, Anguilla’s natural, cultural, and built heritage in 1991, with a primary focus of managing lands and property vested by the Government of Anguilla. engage in more specific work programmes that speak directly to increasing our national knowledge of ecosystems, species, culture, and built heritage which, in turn, better informs the recommendations that we make, the partnerships and relationships that we foster, and Anguilla’s protected areas network. Over the last 29 years, the ANT has grown from being a small agency with relatively limited staff to a larger organisation with seven full-time staff members and an attached research associate, is overseen and guided by a seven member Council, and is supported by over 100 members. While the ANT’s mandate has always placed emphasis on protected areas management and culture. With the expansion of our staff complement, we have been able to better and comprehensively More specifically, the Anguilla National Trust focuses on five main work programmes: wetlands and terrestrial conservation, marine and coastal conservation, protected areas management, culture and heritage, and public awareness, education, and stewardship. These work programmes fall under a much larger framework that has been established by the ANT Act (1988, revised 2009), a long-term vision, and an over- arching mission. Vision Mission The Anguilla National Trust is a respected centre of environmental and cultural conservation and engenders a revolution in environmental and cultural consciousness in Anguilla. The Anguilla National Trust seeks to be a leader in promoting, supporting, and enabling sustainable development in Anguilla; committed to the conservation of Anguilla’s natural and cultural heritage, while promoting and supporting environmental and cultural stewardship. Photos © ANT