GSDS awareness workshop targets Local Govt officials

A seminar held at the Grand Coastal Hotel at Le Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara (ECD), on Wednesday is seeking to accelerate the Government’s Green ‘economy’ agenda in the regions.

The Administration and the United Nations (UN) Environment Programme have partnered to host the one-day awareness forum on the Green State Development Strategy (GSDS).
Region Four Chairperson Genevieve Allen explained that the forum, the first of its kind, targets a wide cross-section of local government officials in order to promote leadership and ownership of the strategy.
Allen urged the participants to emulate the recommendations of the workshop and to implement them in their respective communities, in order to propel the Government’s agenda.
“We will hope that you will not allow the conversation to conclude within these walls, but that you take this conversation to all the corners of Guyana, that you will engage all the stakeholders, constituencies at all levels within your community so that coming out of these deliberations, we can have contribution for inclusion in the GSDS,” the Regional Chairperson said.

UN Resident Coordinator Mikiko Tanaka said that though this was the starting point of the countrywide awareness workshop, the strategy could be considered quite ambitious.
Meanwhile, Ndibi Schwiers, Director of the Department of Environment, Ministry of the Presidency, said that the focus of the GSDS created a different pathway for the country regarding its coming oil production market as opposed to other countries that did not implement policies to safeguard their environment.
“We have the benefit, or we have the gift of hindsight. We are in a very fortunate position as we can now learn from those societies. We can do what they did not do, the Green State Development Strategy is intended to bring together all of our sector policies and various sector strategies,” Schwiers said.
She added that the lack of policies and strategies when dealing with the economy and development of a country could lead to a catastrophe hence the implementation of the GSDS.

Schwiers reiterated that using the GSDS would holistically ensure that benefits are reaped from the country’s resources as a way to guarantee the good life for future generations.
The aim of the GSDS is to guide the country’s economic and socio-cultural development by diversifying the economy, and reducing dependence on traditional sectors, while creating new sustainable income and investment opportunities.
This Strategy also aims to achieve the goals set in Agenda 2030 – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to attain the establishment of a Green Economy assured by the Government. (DPI)