A LOCAL body of environmental professionals is aiming to play a major role in influencing policy decisions on projects carried out by government agencies and international donors through presentations at the first National Scientific Conference on the Environment to be held today and tomorrow, April 9 and 10, 2003.
This groundbreaking Conference, to be hosted by the Jamaica Institute of Environmental Professionals (JIEP) will have as its theme: "Advancing Environmental Knowledge towards Decision Making in Sustainable Development" and will be held at the Jamaica Conference Centre, Downtown, Kingston.
According to Dr. Margaret Jones-Williams, JIEP President, her organisation will share environmental knowledge that may be used to inform decision making policies so that the nation would be able to achieve sustainable development.
"Sustainable development means utilising our resources for today in a way that does not compromise their use tomorrow so that our children and our children's children will have access to our natural resources," explained Dr. Jones-Williams.
NATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
During the two-day conference, she said, presentations will centre on a variety of environment related themes that have national implications such as, Tourism, Health and Community; Environmental Management and Decision Making; Waste, Energy and Technology and Kingston Harbour.
At the "Think Tank", Dr. Jones-Williams underscored the topicality and relevance of conference papers dealing with the recent dredging of Kingston Harbour and the coral relocation exercise done at Rackhams Cay, which she termed "learned experiences for Jamaica in terms of the size and scope of these particular projects, the potential impacts and some of the effects that were seen".
Furthermore, the theme, 'Waste, Energy and Technology' will examine the matter of cogeneration in the sugar industry, she said, with focus on the use of bagasse and other factory waste to generate fuel.
This topic, she stated, was of particular importance for a country that does not have oil resources.
EXISTING INDUSTRY
"We really need to be looking towards resources that we have, utilising waste in cogeneration, utilising solar energy and utilising wind and hydro power and so I think it will be topical and relevant to an existing industry," she explained.
As an adjunct to alternative sources of energy, the JIEP President observed that the paper on 'Waste as a Resource' would show how to utilise waste, specifically solid waste, as a resource.
"We have some real issues with solid waste management and creation of land fills and eventually land fills will take us over if we don't manage how we dispose of the waste and manage how we utilise the waste, she continued.
The matter of creating resources from solid waste presents a business opportunity as well, she observed.
Minister of Land and Environment, the Hon. Dean Peart will officially open the Conference, while keynote speaker, Hon. Professor Gerald Lalor, Director General, International Centre of Environmental and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS), will speak on environment issues related to development.
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES
In addition, there will be presentations on environmental issues from regional perspectives in the form of 'Risk Factors for under nutrition in rural villages of Guyana: The role of social and environmental variables,' which will be followed by the Barbadian perspective on 'Community Outreach: A means through which Barbados' accommodations sector is making tourism sustainable'.
Over 40 presentations will be made during the conference sponsored by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), Port Authority of Jamaica, Urban Development Corporation (UDC), Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, Alumina Partners of Jamaica (Alpart), West Indies Home Contractors (WIHCON), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Environmental Action Programme (ENACT), and Canada/Jamaica Green Fund Project.
The JIEP was formed in 2000 and has over 30 members including consulting companies, associations and individuals involved in environment related professions.
