The Minister of the Environment touted her ministry?s Grant Scheme which gave away almost $63,000 in financial support to individuals and institutions for efforts to conserve, preserve and restore the Island?s natural environment.

Minister Neletha Butterfield made her announcement on the floor of the House of Assembly on Friday.

She said: ?My Ministry allocates $100,000 each year to achieve this objective.

?I am happy to report that there were a total of 18 applicants for Environmental Grants this time around, a clear demonstration of the growing interest by members of the public in this initiative. Twelve of these applicants were successful in winning awards.?

This is the fifth year the awards have been offered.

The largest individual award was $5,000 and went to gardening projects, innovative animal production and a multimedia project on Hurricane Fabian.

The biggest institutional award went to the Berkeley Institute for an Environmental Education Preserve.

Several primary schools were also among the awardees.

Ms Butterfield said: ?As we go forward, we will endeavour to spark the interest of our young people in agriculture, and it is my hope that other students will be encouraged to propose agricultural projects for consideration under our Environmental Grant Scheme.?