Many developers are known for setting up lucrative enterprises that, along with the revenue they generate, carry the huge cost of devastation to the environment, but at Point a Pierre on the island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago today, the emphasis was on demonstrating how this unsustainable practice hurts the peoples and countries of the Americas and what can be done to ensure that the environment does not suffer unnecessarily on account of grand schemes for enterprise and growth.
It is a very important issue in an age when countries around the globe are moaning in agony over the world financial crisis and the need to increase production, create new jobs to replace those shed by the recession, and grow economies.
Petroleum is a key factor in the world economic crisis, as fuel prices which hit record highs in July 2008 are still an issue of concern, but even more so are the concerns that high dependence on fossil fuels needs to be replaced with more sustainable means of meeting our energy needs.
In fact, sustainable development was one of three main areas of focus of the Fifth Summit of the Americas held this weekend in Trinidad and Tobago, and in that vein, twelve spouses of heads of states – prominently among them Belize Prime Minister’s wife, Mrs. Kim Simplis-Barrow, led discussions on Saturday, April 17, at the Petrotrin Pointe a Pierre Club Spouses Dialogue on sustainable development initiatives and challenges in their respective countries. The event was hosted by Senator and Local Government Minister, Hazel Manning, wife of Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
After remarks from Petrotrin executive chairman, Malcolm Jones, Mrs. Barrow (global ambassador for special Olympic movement for Special Olympic International, founder and director of Lifeline Foundation, and director of Liberty Children’s Home in Belize) made an informative presentation on Belize.
Barrow said that Belize has a small but growing population, with youth unemployment being double the national average at 24% and 33% of people in the country living below the poverty line — 10% of them being indigent.
“Self-evidently, the need to earn a living in any way one can, poses a number of threats to environmental sustainability,” she said, adding that the challenge is now to determine how to use environmental sustainability to help reduce poverty and unemployment rather than allowing poverty and unemployment to reduce environmental sustainability.
She also noted that female unemployment in Belize is twice that of males, but she pointed to two projects in Belize to help correct these social disparities affecting youth and women – The Tumul Kin Center of Learning in Toledo and The Maya Center Women’s Project – both integrating sustainable development platforms.
She pointed to these initiatives in Belize’s southernmost district of Toledo as examples of actions to correct the problem.
According to Mrs. Barrow, Belize has put into effect measures which fulfill UN Millennium Development Goal #7 – to ensure environmental sustainability.
She noted that 26.2% of Belize’s territory is under legal protection by the Government, while 17.8% constitutes private protected areas and 70% of the forest remains standing.
In highlighting Belize’s work towards achieving sustainable development, she referred to her country’s “resolute commitment to environmental sustainability” and “determined effort to assist rural communities to sustainably earn their livelihood.”
“Ultimately, Belize recognizes that its development must be sustainable. We also recognize that in sustainable development, there is an opportunity to help poor communities generate income and maintain the environment…When communities’ livelihoods depend on the environment, they have a stake in its integrity.”
In 1996, said Barrow, Belize passed a Protected Areas Conservation Trust Act which mandates a charge to be paid by visitors on departure and a commission to be paid by cruise passengers – cruise ship passenger fees.
“These monies go into the trust which in turn funds the implementation of projects. In this way, small community-based organizations are able to access financing to engage in projects that are environmentally sustainable.
“It goes without saying that there remain huge challenges on Belize’s road to tackle the challenges we face with poverty in a manner that will achieve environmental sustainability,” she concluded.
Apart from Mrs. Kim Simplis-Barrow, the spouses of heads of state of Mexico, Suriname, El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago made similar presentations.
Mrs. Barrow also screened a video on Belize’s sustainable development efforts at the spouses’ dialogue, which was attended by roughly 200 guests from the region.
Following the presentation, the group went on tour at Wildfowl Trust – a 42-year-old independent, national, not-for-profit environmental park encompassing two lakes and about 25 acres within the estate of the Petrotrin oil-refining complex near the southwest coast of the island.
Tour guides said that the trust is an example of how development and environmental preservation function together to achieve positive results.
On entering the park, Amandala observed a colorful wild peacock perched in a tree and on departure, we saw an albino peacock drinking water from a receptacle. Both are rare birds that are being kept alive on the nature reserve.
At the end of the tour, park managers released a small flock of 3-year-old ducks into the wild in demonstration of efforts to replenish the wild with a bird specie that has traditionally been overhunted and literally curried as a part of the island’s long standing culinary tradition. The release of the ducks into the wild was symbolic of human interventions that could be made to reverse and mitigate some of the harm development may do to the environment.