DIRECTOR OF the Office of Environment at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Howard Batson, has said that in order to reinforce legislation to improve environmental management or adopt environmental best practices, it was necessary to employ economic incentives.
He pointed out that there is a need to encourage landowners to practise conservation measures to reduce the risk of loss of biodiversity, as well as to encourage individuals, communities and businesses to choose long-term management of the natural resources rather than the exploitation for short-term benefits.
Mr. Batson was speaking last week Tuesday at a Ridge-to-Reef Watershed (R2RW) project workshop aimed at discussing a report entitled 'Development of incentives for private sector investment in improved watershed management in Jamaica'. The workshop was hosted jointly by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), and the USAID, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.
"We need to take the private sector initiative to the next level," he said, noting that there was a growing recognition that reducing environmental contamination and ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources would not be achieved solely through the enforcement of laws and regulations.
Mr. Batson explained that the strengths of the R2RW Project have been the dynamic sustainable partnerships with the public and civil sectors and facilitating the Sustainable Watersheds Branch of NEPA, which among their other duties, serves as the secretariat for the Cabinet's National Integrated Watershed Management Council (NIWMC).
The report conducted by Dr. Wilberne Persaud, economist and senior lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona, and Dr. Winston McCalla, environmental lawyer and natural resource management policy specialist, cited a number of current policies that would support watershed management, as it relates to incentives. These include property tax exemption; income tax relief against profits derived from agricultural activities, including forestry; and zero-rating of certain types of planting materials under the regulations of the General Consumption Tax.
