CARICOM opens draft environment and natural resource policy

The Caribbean Community Secretariat has opened the draft CARICOM Environment and Natural Resources Policy, as well as the action plan for national, sub-regional and regional discussions due to in early August.

The consultations have been planned for Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, the OECS sub-region and Trinidad and Tobago, involving wide-ranging stakeholders drawn from the public and private sectors, civil society and CARICOM institutions.

Under review are the draft Caribbean Community Environment and Natural Resources Policy Framework

The framework articulates a regional approach to the sustainable management of the environmental and natural resources of the community and its member states.

The CARICOM Environment and Natural Resources Policy Framework has roots in a 2008 decision of taken by environment ministers at the 25th meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development.

The CARICOM Secretariat was mandated to mobilise resources to proceed with the development of the policy.

The CARICOM Secretariat conducted assessments of the environmental governance structure of member states. It also examined the environmental dimensions of the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.

A number of regional consultations followed. The outcomes served as the foundation for the design of the draft CARICOM Environmental and Natural Resource Policy Framework, and First Action Programme (2017-2022), which will be reviewed in August.

“A collective regional response will also be required to promote the prudent, rational management and conservation of the region’s environmental, and natural resources, the policy envisions,” a statement from CARICOM said.

“The CARICOM Environment Policy has been formulated with the awareness that unsustainable use of resources could undermine regional sustainable development options within the context of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.”