Sunday January 27, 2019
PAGE 9
Kaieteur News
Guyana assessing targets for Rio Conventions
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wenty-seven years ago, Guyana became a signatory to three conventions which has to do with the proper management of the environment. Known as the Rio Conventions, they are the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD). According to the Chairman of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Patrick Williams, Guyana signed onto these conventions at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in June 1992, and has certain obligations to meet in relation to the management of its environment. He said that Guyana has to report to the United Nations next year on its accomplishments with respect to each of the conventions. He said that a project called the National Capacity Self-Assessment is assisting Guyana with evaluating what it has accomplish, and the gaps that need to be fulfilled for the conventions. To aid with reaching the obligations of these conventions, the government is looking to launch, this year, the Environmental
Information Management and Monitoring System (EIMMS), which is a part of a larger project called the Strengthening Capacity for mainstreaming Rio Conventions into Environmental Management. Rather than create a new database, the EIMMS will set out to network existing databases, reconciling their content (in particular indicators) that serve to inform planners and decisionmakers about trends in meeting and sustaining global environmental outcomes.The EIMMS will strengthen the collection and management of data and information for improved monitoring. This includes the technical capacities to use data and information to create knowledge at both the national and sub-national level, with particular attention to decentralized planning and decision-making. According to Williams, each of the three conventions has a focal point agency which has overall responsibilities for its implementation. For example, the EPA is responsible for the implementation of UNCDB, the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC) is in charge for the implementation of UNCCD, while the Office of Climate Change (OCC) is responsible for implementing UNFCC. “Those three agencies
Dem boys seh ...
De elections start without GECOM If people didn’t know dem woulda believe that de elections campaign begin already. Dem see photos of people in dem party colours. And no joke, de crowds big. People pick flower and mek garland fuh Fat Boy Irfaat. Dem boys remember de time when some of dem garland that de people mek had black ants. Some people did give Jagdeo one wid black ants. De man scratch like if there was no tomorrow. Dem always got couple wicked people in de mix. Somebody mek a garland wid stinging nettles fuh Soulja Bai. Wha save him is that one of ee bodyguards recognize de leaf. He woulda been scratching till now. But is nice to get a garland. It mean people like you and dem always showing dem love wid flowers. As far as dem boys concern, people should mek garland wid money, couple thousand dollar bills and nuff Granger. Guyana about to get nuff money from oil. People gun do like wha dem pork knock-
ers use to do in de bush. When dem strike gold some of dem use to go in a shop and buy out de shelf. That mean that dem buy everything . Nobody else can’t buy. All dem can do is drink. Dem days coming back. Only this time is oil. Jagdeo done tell de cane cutters that dem don’t have to worry. He gun open dem sugar factory and all dem got to do is go and sit down and wait fuh pay. He gun get people to walk round and share out de oil money. Dem gun be de glory days.But dem boys want to know if he gun be sharing out so much money how much he gun keep. He got a big small piece already. And nobody don’t give way nutten and don’t tek fuh demself. That is why Jagdeo want to deh in de thick of things. He don’t trust Fat Boy Irfaat. And de poor Chat-3 can only hope that if ee party win he gun be Attorney General again. Talk half and watch how de elections start just suh.
have overall responsibility for ensuring that Guyana work towards meeting its obligations to those conventions,” Williams added.Dr. Williams disclosed that the kind of setup being touted for the EIMMS is one whereby it will be accessible by a username and password and one will only be able to retrieve highly confidential information with authorization from the head of
respective agencies. It is also being touted that a small subscription fee will be charged to offset maintenance of the database. He went on to explain that the central system will be within the Department of Environment, and the other agencies that have their own data systems, will be subsystems. It was disclosed by the Board Chairman that the
Department of Environment will be responsible for storage, retrieval, updating and management of the data system. Right now, the Department of Environment is working on legislature so that it will be able to collect certain information, as is being done by the Bureau of Statistics and the National Data Management Authority (NDMA).
EPA Chairman Patrick Williams