Government to Government Environment Expertise: Working Together For A Clean and Prosperous Future (Trinidad and Tobago and Nova Scotia)
LEFT: Mr. William Lahey; Mr. Mark Parent; Alderman Murchison Brown;
Dr. Wayne Adams, Mr. Craig Morrison and Mr. Joshua Hodgson
TriniView.com Reporters
Event Date: July 11, 2007
Posted: July 15, 2007
On Wednesday 11th July, 2007, a delegation from Nova Scotia paid a courtesy call on the mayor of the city of Port of Spain, Alderman Murchison Brown, to discuss the introduction of environmental management and technologies from Nova Scotia to Trinidad and Tobago. Talks were already held earlier in the week with Minister of Public Utilities and the Environment, Mrs. Penelope Beckles, on the same issues of environmental management and the transplantation of new technologies from Nova Scotia to Trinidad and Tobago but it was thought that the Port of Spain mayor should also be privy to these ideas.
A summarized version of their proposal was presented to the mayor by Deputy Minister of Environment, Nova Scotia, William Lahey in power-point format. Before beginning his address, Mr. Lahey recognized the relationship that Trinidad and Tobago and Nova Scotia have had for over fifteen years working together on environmental policy and regulations, and their collaboration on many projects across public and private organizations. Mr. Lahey also commended the long years of amicable trading relations that are due in part to the similarities in demographics and the nature of their coastal communities. He then made note of the personnel exchange between the two jurisdictions, and the yearly trade missions and business development trips in both directions.
Retuning to the issue at hand, Mr. Lahey spoke about some of the challenges in Nova Scotia which were comparable with Trinidad and Tobago and what technological innovations were used to remedy these environmental problems. He therefore recommended that Nova Scotia and Trinidad and Tobago work together to combat environmental mismanagement and other problems brought on by industrialization and modernization. This, he suggested could be done if Trinidad and Tobago and Nova Scotia made their relationship more intimate and if Trinidad and Tobago would be willing to implement environmental technologies from Nova Scotia. Some of the strategies he said were employed by Nova Scotia to better their environment were the development of excellence and leadership in environmental governance, the development of a new solid waste environmental strategy and the creation of an Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act.
In terms of the proposed partnership areas, it was recommended that cooperation between Trinidad and Tobago and Nova Scotia should be in the areas of public consultation, policy development, legislation, economic opportunities and sustainability. This partnership, it was stressed, is already possible because of the good (yet ad hoc) relationship between Trinidad and Tobago and Nova Scotia. It was suggested that it was time for this relationship to evolve and that this project can facilitate the strengthening of these ties.
The specific areas of communication proposed by the Nova Scotia contingent are: air quality, pollution prevention, protected and natural areas management and waste and water management.
The result of their assistance in the way that we manage our environment, they predicted, would be the development of 'Social Capital' in which cultural change can be affected and the development of environmental sensitivity realized while at the same time addressing public sentiment. This they said, would be the right policy and regulatory choice which would respond to the needs of the citizens.
Also in attendance in the brief meeting were Dr. Wayne Adams, C.M., CC ; Director, Trinidad and Tobago/Nova Scotia Liaison Office, Mr. Craig Morrison; Environment and Labour Minister, Mr. Mark Parent; Senior Trade Commissioner, Mr. Joshua Hodgson, C.I.T.P. and Acting Corporation CEO of the Port of Spain City Corporation, Mrs. Laraine Alexander.
At the end of the formal discussion, it was promised that the advice given by the Nova Scotia contingent would be taken into consideration by Trinidad and Tobago.
T&T and Nova Scotia Discuss the Environment in pictures:
www.triniview.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=188113
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