Amidst the many challenges facing policy makers today- unsustainable fiscal deficits and competition for scarce land resources-environmental and climate concerns are becoming an increasingly important component of economic policy.So said Caribbean Community (Caricom) representative Anya Thomas at yesterday's first high level meeting of the Partnership Initiative on Sustainable Land Management (PISLM).The meeting, which formed part of PISLM's many workshops on land management throughout the week (May 1 to May 6) in T&T, was held at the Cascadia Hotel in St Ann's.
Thomas, who brought greetings on behalf of the acting secretary general of Caricom Ambassador Lolita Applewaithe, congratulated the Caribbean Network for Integrated Rural Development (CNIRD), for bringing to the forefront, this very "critical" and potentially lucrative issue of land management."Coupled with the potential economic gains through investment, job creation and income generation offered by green economic development, another key benefit is increased social equity and quality of life," Thomas said.
"Appropriate land management practices can reduce inequalities between the rich and poor, thereby fostering community cohesion, an important aspect in the quality of life," she added.Multilateral environmental agreements of the Ministry of Health Head, Dr Kishan Kumarsingh said the meetings during this week represented "a marked improvement in our collective approach to ensuring that we obtain the maximum benefit" from international meetings and that "Caribbean issues were not sidelined" by the issues affecting the more developed countries.He said: "The declarations of this week's meetings are particularly reassuring as anyone who has had experience at international meetings would realise how easily the concerns of smaller affected parties can become marginalised in the negotiations of the larger agenda."