The importance of an integrated approach to the management of land and water resources and the need for collaboration among key sectors will be the focus of discussions when technocrats gather tomorrow for a workshop at the Accra Beach Hotel.

Participants will discuss ways in which stakeholders can establish proactive alliances in water resources management that are representative and participatory at the community, institutional and national levels. They will also brainstorm about how Barbados can align national programmes as well as similar initiatives in the region and internationally, thereby benefitting from wider experience and know-how.

In addition, they will talk about possible steps this island can take to improve water governance, through the promotion, enhancement and effective implementation of legislation, policy programmes and institutional regulatory and administrative frameworks. 

Participants will be exposed to the use of environmental indicators, and potential interventions that the Global Environment Facility-funded Integrating Watersheds and Coastal Areas Management (GEF-IWCAM) Project can make in the future to assist Barbados.

To date, water resources management here has already benefitted from support by GEF-IWCAM and the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI) in a number of areas. They include the establishment of an environmental indicators database, laboratory strengthening and the development of Geographic Information Systems capability.

Emphasising the importance of this meeting, Technical Coordinator of GEF-IWCAM in Small Island Developing States of the Caribbean Project, Sasha Beth Gottlieb, said: “Uncoordinated activities by international donors, projects, technical agencies and others can result in duplication of efforts and a waste of valuable human and financial resources.”

The seminar is being hosted by GEF-IWCAM, in collaboration with the Coastal Zone Management Unit, the Barbados Water Authority, Caribbean WaterNet and CEHI.

Permanent Secretary (Special Assignments) in the Ministry of Health, National Insurance and Social Security, Irvine Best, will deliver remarks at the opening of the workshop which starts at 8.30 a.m.

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