In his speech at the opening of the 5th Caribbean Environmental Forum (which concludes today), the Prime Minister of Jamaica said that the region has made considerable progress in terms of environmental protection, but still has a long way to go:
Jamaican prime minister, Bruce Golding, has said that the Caribbean region is nowhere near where it should be in terms of environmental protection, although the level of awareness is much higher than it was 20-30 years ago.
Golding bemoaned the fact that the greatest threat to the environment in the region comes from the creeping degradation caused by global warming, to which the Caribbean contributes very little but which places it most at risk.
“We are nowhere near where we need to be. There are huge deficiencies that need to be addressed, our institutional capacity is weak, our enforcement practices are not as rigorous as they ought to be,” he admitted.
…
“We, all of us, wrestle constantly with the tension and 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.
Read more at Caribbean Net News.
