Going green still the aim

Government remains committed to moving Barbados towards becoming the “greenest” economy in the Caribbean, says Minister of the Environment Dr Denis Lowe.While reiterating this commitment yesterday at his Hincks Street, Bridgetown office during a meeting with a Green Economy Scoping Mission from the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), Lowe told the gathering that what was needed was not just to simply achieve green economics in Barbados.“We want to be the focal point for the region, where we can share our successes . . . sell our services and . . . propagate our message among our partners in the small island states and less developed states,” he said.Lowe added that his ministry was already doing work with some schools and expressed the view that it was time for another step, where green economics was included in the curriculum of the University of the West Indies.  The minister added that on assuming office, Prime Minister David Thompson had indicated his interest in Barbados becoming the greenest economy in the Caribbean and Latin American region and stressed that his ministry had been created to meet that objective.“The Ministry of the Environment is at the centre of Government’s development programme . . . We have indicated how we see ourselves achieving environmental sustainability, while at the same time ensuring social protection and economic viability. “We believe the three go hand in hand and that in order for a country to develop a green economy, it has to give full consideration to its views and practices on social development and social protection, as well as economic development,” he said.Lowe noted that as the world goes through an economic downturn, a number of developed countries were contemplating their own transformation in order to achieve a new direction that looked after the well-being and quality of life of their citizens and the sustainability of their environment and economic fortunes.    The UNEP team members include the chief of UNEP’s Economic and Trade Branch, Steve Stone; regional officer, Resource Efficiency at the UNEP Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, Elisa Tonda; and associate programme officer, Regions and Commissions, UNEP Finance Initiative, Careenn Abb.Stone said he was impressed with what Barbados had done to move towards becoming a green economy, adding that he was looking forward to the meetings with Government officials and the private sector over the next few days to find out what had already been done and to share information on what the UNEP team had seen around the world. (BGIS)