#BTColumn – Don’t let our environment be eroded

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados TODAY Inc.

by Dr. Denis Lowe

My fellow citizens I had a recent conversation with some friends who were insisting that the issue of the environment needs to return as a key discussion in the national discourse.

I quickly agreed with them and added that this moment in our national journey required us to give some focused attention on matters of this important national, regional and global issue.

I well recall that Barbados took a frontal role in the global conversation on all things environmental including Climate Change, Green Economy, Renewable Energy, Biodiversity, Green Energy and Land Degradation and the like.

Barbados led the fight alongside the other member of the Alliance of Small Island State (AOSIS) for the 1.5 to stay alive issue.

This was a call for all UN parties to support Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDC) in the call to keep sea level rise at a level that would ensure the survival of these territories.

Barbados also worked with other countries on the all important sea temperature rise issue.We also looked at the issue of coral bleaching due to the acidification of ocean waters, beach erosion, the flight of reef fish and its negative impact on ocean-based livelihood, and the death of our national coral stock.

We would have to agree that our planet is undergoing significant climatic and atmospheric changes that are putting our people and nature at risk. These climate-related impacts are altering the natural spaces that provide us with healthy soil to grow our foods, provide us with clean drinking water, healthy green cover to clean our air, as well as clean oceans to sustain fisheries and ocean-based livelihoods.

Barbados also led the global efforts with other countries for the actualisation of the Green Economy. Barbados became one of the first seven countries world-wide to complete the Green Economic Scoping Study (GESS).

This study became a model for the region and was widely used by regional governments to assist them with their GESS programme. It was executed with the combined efforts of the the Government of Barbados, the University of the West Indies and the United Nation Environment Programme. It was completed in 2012 and was launched on World Environment Day which was host right here in Barbados.

It was the first time in the history of World Environment Day that it was hosted by a SIDS. This was noted as a very significant achievement for Barbados.It is therefore important that the country continues to engage its bilateral and multilateral partners in meaningful dscussions on the environment.

These relationships allowed Barbados to benefit from significant grant funding from partners including USAid, GEF, UNEP, UNDP and PAGE among others. Thus, continuing these relationships is vital in building out its great work in this domain, while at the same time proactively executing a progressive holistic environmental domestic agenda.

Barbados has become a world leader on environmental matters and leadership. We must not allow our great achievements to disappear.

Dr. Denis Lowe is a former Minister of the Environment in a Democratic Labour Party administration.