National Trust warns against misuse of heritage assets

The Na­tion­al Trust of Trinidad and To­ba­go said it has be­come aware of re­ports and ob­ser­va­tions of per­sons climb­ing on­to mon­u­ments. It said mem­bers of the pub­lic raised con­cerns about these ac­tions.

It said it is re­spon­si­ble for safe­guard­ing her­itage as­sets and ed­u­cat­ing the pub­lic. It re­mind­ed cit­i­zens and vis­i­tors of the im­por­tance of sites, struc­tures, arte­facts, build­ings, mon­u­ments, ob­jects and cul­tur­al land­scapes.

The state­ment said some as­sets may not be recog­nised but may be af­fect­ed by age. It said climb­ing, sit­ting or han­dling these as­sets can cause dam­age and pose risk of in­jury. It added that mon­u­ments hold mean­ing for stake­hold­ers and re­quire care.

The Trust said it main­tains an in­ven­to­ry of her­itage as­sets. It stat­ed that more than 400 as­sets are record­ed. It said some as­sets may be list­ed un­der the Na­tion­al Trust Act.

The or­gan­i­sa­tion said it de­pends on sup­port from in­di­vid­u­als and com­mu­ni­ties. It thanked mem­bers of the pub­lic who re­port find­ings.

It said per­sons shar­ing ex­pe­ri­ences at her­itage sites should act in a safe man­ner. It said ob­jects and mon­u­ments re­flect past gen­er­a­tions and com­mu­ni­ties.

The state­ment said some ac­tions may re­sult from lack of aware­ness. It ad­vised that un­cer­tain sites or ob­jects should be treat­ed with care.

The Trust en­cour­aged the pub­lic to con­tact the or­gan­i­sa­tion for guid­ance.