A EUROPEAN UNION-funded project to protect critical land and marine resources in Negril has been launched in Negril.
Called the Negril Amenity Area Demonstration Project, the $32 million initiative is targeted at areas like the Negril Morass and the Royal Palm Reserve.
The project will be implemented through the Caribbean Regional Environment Programme (CREP), which is intended to promote regional co-operation in conservation management.
VALUE
Twelve other projects have been identified throughout the region covering sites with significant ecological, social, recreational and economic value.
Speaking at the launch, which was held last Wednesday at the Negril Community Centre, Felice Zaccheo, Head of Rural Development at the European Commission in Jamaica, explained that the chosen sites "would be used as practical demonstrations of how conservation and protection of natural resources must be balanced with economic development, in order to ensure their sustained existence for generations to come."
Furthermore, he said, the project would facilitate and strengthen collaboration between government agencies and non-government organisations in protecting the environment.
EQUALS
As such, he pointed out, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the Negril Environmental Protection Trust (NEPT) and the Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society (NCRPS) were expected to share as equals, the management decisions as well as the responsibility for implementing the project's activities.
Mr. Zaccheo said the Negril project was implemented as part of the EU's commitment to support the efforts of the Caribbean towards sustainable development and poverty reduction.
At the end of the projects, Dr. Smith said there would be an assessment of capacity and plans to address those capacity needs.
"The output of that project is to development other projects, which will look at addressing those needs," he explained.
He said that already, two other UNDP funded initiatives were in progress, one was a US$155,000 project to phase out the use of chloro fluoro carbons (CFCs) within the next two to three years, while the other was to eliminate the use of organic pollutants, which is being implemented at a cost of US$250,000.
