Customs and Border Control Officers last week participated in a three-day workshop aimed at building capacity in enforcing Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs).
Head of the European Union Delegation to Guyana, Robert Kopecky joined the Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) Commissioner-General Khurshid Sattaur along with Caricom Secretariat General Counsel Safiya Ali and other dignitaries for the opening ceremony held at the GRA headquarters, Camp Street. The workshop was a collaboration among the said agencies and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, a report from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.
In his remarks, Kopecky hoped that the sessions would further enhance the level of professionalism of officers from the GRA and other related agencies. Stressing the importance of such a workshop, he noted that it was taking place at a very critical juncture as the negotiations of the post – 2015 development agenda and the ongoing negotiations on sustainable development goals are ongoing. Further, Kopecky said that while the event may seem small, it is very important as it is part of the global effort that highlights challenging and important environment-related issues.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner, Customs, and Trade Administration Jameel Baksh underscored the importance of capacity building. “The human aspect of any organisation is of utmost importance and therefore, these sessions seek to raise awareness of roles and responsibilities of custom officials and other agencies as it relates to trade and trans-boundary movement of environmentally sensitive commodities,” he said.
Over the years it has been noted that environmental problems have a global impact that can only be effectively addressed through international cooperation and shared responsibilities, which is possible through MEAs. “As CARICOM member states, we are party to one or more of these MEAs and as mandated through our mission to protect our borders we have a responsibility to institute to ensure compliance and deal with the relevant enforcement issues,” Baksh said. Addressing his officers directly, Baksh said he hoped that they would see the training session as an opportunity to clarify any ambiguous issues as they are frontline workers in enforcing customs law.
In her address, Caricom’s General Counsel hailed Guyana’s efforts at endorsing all the MEAs. “Guyana is to be commended for being one of the few countries in the region to ratify all the MEAs to be covered in this workshop. Guyana has set an example for the region by being the only CARICOM country so far to ratify two relatively new Environmental agreements,” Ali said. The two agreements are the Nagoya Protocol and the Minamata Convention both of which Guyana has signed onto and started implementation.
“The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation (ABS) to the Convention on Biological Diversity is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity,” GINA said. “It provides a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources.” In addition, “The Minamata Convention on Mercury is an international treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.”
According to Ali, Caricom is already examining ways in which it can assist in upgrading the training to include more of the new agreements as more member states continue to sign on. “…In the meantime Guyana is leading this field, demonstrating a strong recognition of the importance of MEAs not only for protecting this country’s priceless natural resources, but also for combating international environmental crime.”
The MEAs regulate the cross-border movement of items, substances and products, mainly in the form of imports, exports and re-exports, the report said. They are legally binding global accords that seek to address several global environmental issues which give the front line Customs and Border protection officers a very important role of controlling trade across borders and protecting the national and global environment.
GINA noted that Guyana is party to a number of key MEAs that are significant for sustainable development nationally and globally. Some are particularly important to the capacity building initiative/workshop and, under the purview of the Natural Resources Ministry include the convention for the international trade in endangered species of wild flora and fauna.
