Harmon urges EPA to focus on technical expertise, environmental management

Minister of State Joseph Harmon, who holds responsibility for the Department of Environment (DoE) under whose purview the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) falls, on Tuesday called on the agency to place greater focus on concrete research to guide environmental management in new and developing sectors such as oil and gas, towards the generation of technically defensible position.

The Minister said emphasis should also be placed on technical expertise and environmental management, as he noted that mechanisms to promote the implementation of low impact methods, technology and infrastructure and to address or monitor trans-boundary movement of pollutants are necessary. Harmon was at the time delivering the feature address at the EPA’s one-day Staff Retreat and Capacity Building Workshop at the Mainstay Resort.
“Some of the positions taken by Government are challenged by some local experts and they are also challenged internationally. So you will find them challenging the technical competence of the EPA in the decisions that they make so that when you make a determination, we have to be satisfied that the technical basis of that determination is sound and that we can defend it anywhere in the world. That is why it is very important that we develop technically defensible positions in what we do. Also, your plans should not only be geared toward execution but also to the development of mechanisms to strengthen and enabling framework for execution,” Harmon is quoted by the Ministry of the Presidency as saying.
Minister Harmon noted that through this process, ideas for policy, legislative, institutional and procedural reforms should be generated and not only for the EPA but also for the related sectors.
He noted that as an agency under the DoE, the EPA’s role is central to guiding Government, Private Sector and civil society towards striking a balance between the exploitation of the nation’s natural resources and environmental stewardship, thus the execution of the functions of the agency to ensure conservation protection and sustainable use of Guyana’s natural resources and the established, managed and enforced environmental regulations are key elements in pursuing sustainable development and securing the nation’s patrimony.
In this regard, he commended the agency for its recent restructuring programme, where the organisational structure has been amended to target and address through separate programme areas, all aspects of environmental management. It is part of strategic planning, he said, which is needed to take the agency forward.
Meanwhile, Head of the DoE, Ndibi Schwiers, in her brief remarks, said planning strategically, which is necessary for the effective functioning of the EPA, cannot be seen as a stand-alone target. She noted that in order for the Agency to achieve its objectives, it also requires the staff to get into the habit of ‘visioning’ so that the issues, which fall under its purview, can be adequately addressed.