British High Commission begins consultation on Marine Economies Plan

The British High Commission in collaboration with a number of local stakeholders commenced consultations on a Marine Economies Plan (MEP), which seeks to tackle the dreadful effects of climate change.

At the simple opening ceremony hosted at the British High Commissioner’s residence in Bel Air, Georgetown, it was pointed out that Guyana is the first country to sign up to create a Marine Economies Plan. The British Government started this project in 2016 with a commitment to help develop small islands and developing states to build their ‘blue economy’ capacity.
The plan is intended to help locals to better understand the events taking place in the marine sector, given that a vast amount of the population are still ignorant of some basic facts.
One of the main goals of the plan is to better inform mariners on the usage of the waterways. It was explained that large foreign vessels would sail on Guyana’s waterways unaware of the regulations.
Another objective, according to the Commissioner of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC), Trevor Benn, is to address certain issues relating to surveys.
“We have not remapped our country for more than 50 years and it’s having an effect on the data that is available to help us in making informed choices (and) decisions on what to tell our investors (and) how to deal with them when they come,” Benn said.
He said that far too often, when investors visit Guyana with data acquired privately, locals cannot validate the information. However, he expressed hope of this being addressed with the Marine Plan.
In his remarks, he said he was well pleased to be part of the activity, given the importance. Along with the other objectives of the Programme, he outlined some other areas the plan will hopefully address once completed.
Meanwhile, the British High Commissioner to Guyana, Gregory Quinn, noted that the plan aims to identify sectors of the maritime industries that foster sustainable development, and to prepare a tailored action plan to address gaps, overcome obstacles and build capacity to grow those sectors.
In this process, he said it will consider the Government’s short, medium, and long term priorities.
The plan will be developed in accordance with the principles and concepts of the ‘blue economy’, sustainable development goals and the achievement of SGD 14, including climate change impacts and mitigation.
Some of the agencies that participated in the event were the Natural Resources Ministry, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency and the Business Ministry.