Parliament

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The Environmental Action Plan for Jamaica (ENACT) has been granted a sum of $109 million to carry out further work in the new financial year.

This provision is set aside in the 2006/07 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives.

The money will enable the programme to continue its activities geared towards promoting sustainable development by supporting capacity building of key Jamaican organizations involved in decision making and the use of the island's natural resources.

During this fiscal period, the programme, which falls under the Ministry of Local Government and Environment, will undertake the training, documentation and implementation of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Policy, as well as the publication of a Stewardship policy, and effect broad based sensitization on environmental stewardship.

It will also undertake the establishment of monitoring and management mechanisms to support the implementation of environmental stewardship policy and guidelines within the public sector. In addition, it is expected to support the implementation of the sewage regulations through the development of guideline documents for internal and external clients of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), revise the existing legal framework for environment and planning, and develop and implement public awareness activities on various environmental issues in public and private institutions, among other things.

Achievements under the programme up to March 2006 through NEPA's component saw over 200 persons from the public and private sector being trained in various areas of environmental management. The draft Stewardship Policy was also reviewed while the guidelines for conducting Environmental Impact Assessment were revised.

Meanwhile, under the environmental education component of the programme, over 5,000 teachers were trained at the grades 2, 3, 5 and 6 to incorporate environmental issues into the Revised Primary Curriculum and supporting materials. The National Environmental Education Committee (NEEC) was strengthened as the catalytic node for Environmental Education in Jamaica, while support was given to the delivery of outreach activities for the NEEC membership and the general public. It was also instrumental in the development of an Energy Management Position Paper for the Manufacturing Sector, among other things.

ENACT, which is funded by the Government and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), is aimed at enabling the development of a national framework for environmental management and the implementation of measures for environmental protection and conservation as it relates to the physical environment.

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