2
MANCHESTER & SOUTH COAST NEWS
June 21 - 27, 2010
PM says region lagging in environmental protection which places it most at risk. "We are nowhere near where we need to be. There Prime Minister, Hon Bruce Golding delivering the main address at the official opening ceremony of the Fifth Biennial Caribbean Environmental Forum and are huge defiExhibition at the Rose Hall Resort and Spa in Montego Bay on Monday, June 21. ciencies that need to be rime Minister, the Hon. Bruce Golding, has said that the addressed, our institutional capacity is Caribbean region is nowhere near weak, our enforcement practices are not as where it should be in terms of environ- rigorous as they ought to be," he admitted. Mr. Golding was giving the main address mental protection, although the level of awareness is much higher than it was 20 at the opening ceremony of the fifth biennial Caribbean Environmental Forum and to 30 years ago. Mr. Golding bemoaned the fact that the Exhibition (CEF-5), at the Rose Hall Resort greatest threat to the environment in the in Montego Bay, St. James on Monday, region, comes from the creeping degrada- June 21. He pointed out that the measures required tion caused by global warming, to which the Caribbean contributes very little but to ensure sound environmental managem e n t require substantial financial resources to secure professional expertise, to a p p l y appropriate technology and implement the necessary adaptation and mitigation strategies and projects. "We, all of us, wrestle constantly with the tension and
P
conflict between our development needs and sound environmental practices," he stated, arguing that regional policy makers do not have the luxury of choosing between the two. He said that there is a need to try and strike the right balance between development projects that will provide employment and necessary foreign exchange, and environmental protection. . Prime Minister Golding questioned how the small nation states of the Caribbean could raise their voices so that, together, they are loud enough to be heard by the developed nations, in whose hands and in whose actions, the future of the global Prime Minister, Honourable Bruce Golding (centre) introducing Chairman of the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), Robert Russell to environment rests. Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Hon Stephenson King, (left) at the Fifth Biennial He said that the countries of Caribbean Environmental Forum and Exhibition which was held at the Rose the region remain "terribly dis- Hall Resort and Spa in Montego Bay from June 21-25 appointed" at the outcome of the Copenhagen discussions held in December 2009. "The Copenhagen Accord, which is a political statement, not a legally binding agreement, fell far short of the robust, global climate policy framework that we had hoped for," he declared. He explained that, while the Accord calls for significant cuts in global emissions, each country is left to determine its own cuts on a voluntary basis. Mr. Golding went on to commend the leadership of Grenada, as the chief spokesperson for the developing countries at the Copenhagen talks, for their steadfastness in representing small island states and articulating their demands for targets and commitments for their survival and to support their sustainable development.
SOUTH COAST NEWS Unit 2- 10 Ward Ave. Mandeville, Manchester Tel: 305-0435 (Claro) 381-3564 (Digicel) 531-4785 (LIME) southcoastnews@yahoo.com
Editor Clive Williams Writers Howard Hendriks Shereido Carter Photographers Clive Williams Phillip Lemonte Carl Levy Jessica Williams Special thanks to the Jamaica Information Service