In an effort to improve compliance in meeting obligations to Multilateral Environmental Agreements, (MEAs) all stakeholders must be on board and the Caribbean must work together in sharing best practices and lessons learnt.

This is the view of Suriname’s Minister of Labour, Technological Development and Environment, Honourable Ginmardo Kromosoeto, as he gave the keynote address to more than forty participants at the first regional workshop on mainstreaming MEAs into policy development and implementation, which officially opened in Paramaribo, Suriname on Tuesday.

The four-day workshop has been organized by the CARICOM Secretariat with full support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded Integrating Watershed and Costal Areas Management (IWCAM) project and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). It is part of a broader capacity building project being implemented by the CARICOM Secretariat and coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with funding from the European Union to build the capacity of CARIFORUM countries to implement MEAs.

In acknowledging the support of the partners, Mr Kromosoeto noted that such partnership was absolutely necessary to build capacity and strengthen institutions that would facilitate the implementation of MEAs. This he said would eventually lead to sustainable development and a better quality of life for the peoples of the region. “It is also necessary that we as vulnerable countries work towards creating strategies for the sharing of best practices and lessons learnt,” he reiterated.

Minister Kromosoeto told senior analysts and policymakers that Suriname had not only ratified all major environmental conventions but had been working towards removing the barriers that were hampering the implementation of those MEAs.

To this end, he said Suriname had made significant progress in establishing an environmental structure that would ensure a well coordinated management system for environmental issues. This structure, he added, included an advisory body to the President, an environmental institute responsible for the enforcement and implementation of provisions stated in the National Environment Framework Act and establishment of cross-functional teams on the environment.

He concluded his address by challenging all participants to draw on the resources and knowledge of others and continue to network in order to build capacity.

Also giving remarks at the opening ceremony were, Her Excellency, Esmerelda Herandez-Aragones, Charge d Affairs , EU Delegation in Suriname; Mr Garfield Barnwell Director Sustainable Development, CARICOM Secretariat; Ms Andrea Salinas, Program Manager, Regional Coordinator Division of Early Warning and Assessment, UNEP / ROLAC; Mr Christopher Corbin Programme Officer, Assessment and Managemental Pollution for the GEF-IWCAM project and Ms Anya Thomas, Senior Project Officer, Sustainable Development, CARICOM Secretariat.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org