Regional Consultations on GSDS continues countrywide
DPI, GUYANA, Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Over three hundred persons recently participated in the Department of Environment, Ministry of the Presidency, regional consultations on the Green State Development Strategy (GSDS).
GSDS workshops hosted in Region Three.
The discussions were conducted under the theme, “Time to Think” – which encourages Guyanese to consider how Guyana should be developed economically and sustainably over the 20-year GSDS timeframe and to share their ideas and vision.
The initiative is a collaboration with the GSDS Coordinating Office/UN Environment and was hosted by the Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs), in collaboration with the Ministry of Communities and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs with support from the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs).
Consultations are being conducted across the ten administrative regions during May and June 2018. They began at Bagotville/Vreed-en-Hoop at the Barnwell Conference Hall, Barnwell, Parika on April 26 and May 2, 2018; and in Region Four at Pakuri Village on April 27.
According to the Department of Environment, participants will learn about the “Framework of the Guyana Green State Development Strategy and Financial Mechanisms” – a document developed in 2017 and approved by the government that has established key sectoral and central priorities of the GSDS.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, under whose purview the Department falls, said “it is very important for citizens to make a special effort to attend these consultations, which will provide the opportunity for Guyanese from all walks of life to ensure that their concerns and aspirations for themselves and their communities are taken into account in the design of the GSDS.”
Consultations scheduled this week will take place in Region Five at the Mahaicony Community Centre on May 8, and at the St. Alban’s Anglican Church in Belladrum Village, West Coast Berbice on May 10.
GSDS workshops hosted in Region Three.
By: Stacy Carmichael
Editor’s Note: The Department of Environment oversees the activities of environmental compliance and management, protected areas development and management, national parks management and wildlife conservation and protection and has supervisory powers over the Environmental Protection Agency, Protected Areas Commission/National Parks Commission and the Guyana Wildlife Conservation and Management Commission.