Peter Espeut
I SUSPECT That with crime on the front burner, few of us will have remembered that today is World Environment Day; and even fewer will spare a thought for this other important part of our lives. When we solve our crime problem, we will still have a relatively poor quality of life if our natural environment is degraded.
If it is true that an important function of government is to provide an environment of peace and security, it is also true that it is an important function of government to provide a national context for sustainable development. Sustainability means that we think ahead about the long-term implications of what we do today. A major flaw in our political arrangements is that our elected officials have a five-year mental span. Nobody can think ahead further than the next election, and I want to suggest that this is an important cause of our national poverty: it begins with a poverty of thought - of vision.
A country like Jamaica cannot just be managed for its present citizens; our present natural resources are not just to be used up for the benefit of us who now inhabit Jamaica's 4,400 square miles, but must also sustain those Jamaicans yet unborn. Sustainable development means being fair to future generations. This is why the impacts on our natural environment of all planned activities (called EIAs Environmental Impact Assessments) must be considered before projects are permitted to proceed. On this World Environment Day, each of us should commit ourselves to consider our own personal impact, our own ecological footprint, upon this land.
The trouble is, government has no moral authority to take any leadership in environmental matters. Jamaica's laws require private citizens and companies to follow certain procedures which too many government agencies themselves seem unwilling to follow. The truth is that the Jamaican government is environmental enemy number one! The worst threats to Jamaica's
natural environment today are the very ministries and departments and agencies of government itself! I'm sure many individuals and companies ask themselves: Why must we obey the environmental laws when the Government itself isn't?
Environmental impact assessments are the foundation upon which sustainable development decision-making is based. Fundamentally, what an EIA does is predict the range of impacts of the project on the health of the environment as well as on the social and economic well-being of human beings. EIAs suggest mitigating measures which may be taken to minimise or eliminate negative impacts, but there is a common myth that has crept into local practice like a virus, infecting how Jamaica does development.
The myth - encouraged by government agencies themselves - is that every negative impact can be mitigated, which is simply not true. Many can, but not all. Some negative impacts are so severe that the project cannot be allowed to go ahead. Because of this possibility, judgement on every project has to be reserved until the EIA has been properly completed.
But Jamaican ministers of government are in the habit of doing "development by announcement", announcing projects as done deals with no caveats before the terms of reference for the EIA are even drawn up. This puts pressure on the firm hired to do the EIA (if they recommend against it, they may not get any more work), and on the National Resources Conservation Authority to issue a permit for the project (civil servants who ask too many uncomfortable questions, or insist on rigour and thoroughness, may find themselves transferred, or retired early). And when we environmentalists insist that the proper procedures be followed, we are dubbed "anti-development".
We could do no better on this World Environment Day 2005 than to reflect on the changes in mindset ours and that of the government and the private sector required to reduce social and environmental unsustainability. And as Police Commissioner Thomas has blown the whistle on corruption in the police force, I wonder who is going to reveal the corruption taking place in the environmental domain?
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is executive director of an environment and development non-governmental organisation.
