Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Management in Barbados website.

The Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Management in Barbados website.

Members of the public can now visit www.sustainablelandmanagement.gov.bb to find out more about legislation governing the island’s environment, its biodiversity programme and the departments of the Ministry of the Environment and Drainage.

The Biodiversity Conservation and Management website was launched at the Ministry’s Warrens Tower II, Warrens, St. Michael headquarters today by Minister of the Environment and Drainage, Dr. Denis Lowe.

He explained the website provided members of the public with a point of access to basic information on biodiversity and sustainable land management in Barbados, along with news and activities of the Ministry of Environment’s programme.

In addition, Dr. Lowe said the website would provide official Government information, such as reference documents, scholarly articles, legislation and case studies, along with the work done by the Ministry’s Biodiversity Section.

These include the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing; the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands; the Convention to Combat Land Degradation and Drought; and the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region.

“Having the website in place therefore allows persons who want to obtain information on how to obtain a CITES permit for trade in endangered species to do so online, and also review the requirements of the legislation,” he explained.

Dr. Lowe added that students were not left out, as the website would also provide them with useful information to be incorporated into their programmes.

Meanwhile, Environmental Officer in the Ministry, Kim Downes Agard, said the website represented the work undertaken by the Biodiversity Conservation and Management Sections in the areas of biodiversity; sustainable land management; and the implementation of biodiversity-related environmental agreements, various projects and public awareness activities.

julia.rawlins-bentham@barbados.gov.bb

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