A consultation on the Guyana’s Maritime Economy Plan was yesterday held with the aim of addressing issues affecting the sector as well as formulating plans to ensure the environment is protected and effectively managed.
The event was held at the Bel-Air Gardens residence of British High Commissioner to Guyana Greg Quinn.
Quinn, who spoke at the event, said that Guyana was the first country to sign up to create a maritime economy plan.
“That, I believe, is a reflection of the vision of the government and all of the agencies,” he said, while noting that the country’s future rests on effective conservation in all economic sectors.
Quinn lauded the steps Guyana is taking to develop a maritime economy plan and noted that lots of benefits can be derived from it.
The plan, he said aims to identify maritime sectors that foster sustainable development and to address gaps, overcome obstacles and build capacity to grow those sectors.
“In the process, the plan will also consider the government’s short, medium and long term priorities,” Quinn noted.
The plan, according to Quinn, will be developed in accordance with the principles and concepts of the Sustainable Development Goals and the achievement of SDG 14- ‘Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources’ – which includes climate change impacts and mitigation.
Meanwhile, Commissioner of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) Trevor Benn said that in August, 2018, the Commission officially commenced discussions with the British High Commissioner to Guyana on the Commonwealth economic marine economies programme specifically on the development of Guyana’s Maritime Economy Plan.
In addition, Benn said the Commission also embarked on a series of activities and initiatives, all of which are intended to ensure that Guyana’s maritime environment is protected and effectively managed.
Benn noted that Guyana is one of the 17 Commonwealth Small Island Developing States that will benefit from the UK’s Commonwealth Marine Economies (CME) Programme and he noted the challenges the country currently faces, such as outdated navigational charts that may be required to attract more modern and bigger ships to encourage trade and tourism, the high degree of vulnerability to external economic and environmental shocks, ocean acidification, extreme weather events, pollution, over-fishing, loss of habitats and lack of modern hydrographic data.
Among the stakeholders involved in the consultation were the GL&SC, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Guyana Defence Force, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Legal Affairs, the Department of Environment, and the Department of Forestry.
