The Environmental Management Authority (EMA) and Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago are sponsoring work on some of the Environmentally Sensitive Species of Trinidad and Tobago by postgraduate students at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine.

The white-tailed sabrewing hummingbird in the Main Ridge Reserve, Tobago. The population of this hummingbird was reduced by hurricane Flora in 1963, and until 1974 it was thought to be extinct in Tobago. The species is globally vulnerable, and was gazetted as on of the first three Environmentally Sensitive Species for Trinidad and Tobago by the EMA in 2005. M.Phil. student Daveka Boodram worked on the project from January 2005 to December 2006, with additional support from the Tobago House of Assembly and UWI, St. Augustine. Sabrewing

The EMA has also provided funds for a study of the Trinidad piping guan Pipile pipile, also one of the first three Environmentally Sensitive Species. Locally known as the pawi, this turkey-like bird was also gazetted as one of the first three Environmentally Sensitive Species in Trinidad and Tobago in 2005. M.Phil. student Kerrie Naranjit has been working on this project since January 2007. Pawi

The conservation status of green and hawksbill turtles in Trinidad and Tobago are of immediate concern, as these species remain harvested under fisheries legislation, despite protection near the shore and on nesting beaches. M.Phil. student Michelle Cazabon has been studying the populations of hawksbill and green turtles around the reefs and seagrass beds of Tobago, from January 2007, funded by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (USA). Turtle