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| Minister of the Environment and Drainage, Dr. Denis Lowe (left), receiving a certificate of appreciation from Administrative Director of the Future Centre Trust, Nicole Garofano (second from right) as Trust Director Kammie Holder and Chairman, Vivian-Anne Gittens look on. (G. Brewster/BGIS) |
Government wants to create an Environmental Science Commission to be based at the Ministry of the Environment and Drainage.
In making the call for the Commission, Minister Dr. Denis Lowe said he believed the way forward in sustainable development was to build a platform that was deeply rooted in scientific elements.
"We will not get far if we do not create the enabling environment to ensure the institutions of choice are given the best opportunity to do what they are good at doing," he said.
Speaking during a courtesy call by officials of the Future Centre Trust recently, Dr. Lowe made the point that there was a need for the Ministry to move the core of its operations to one that was more science-based.
He reasoned that an Environmental Science Commission at the Ministry would help in shaping the way forward as well as create a work programme that could be replicated across time and space.
"We have to be driven by our vision that we are part of a mission to plan the academic culture of Barbados. We have to put out some real scientists," the Minister stated.
During the meeting, Dr. Lowe, gave the assurance that time would be spent working on the logistics to create a Science Commission with Cabinet’s permission.
He said that if the operations of the Ministry were science-based, then it would make it more difficult for changes in Government to affect the platform. "We need to create a platform that can be replicated and sustained. In the Government’s pursuit for a sustainable environment that is the way it should be," he stated, stressing that he did not anticipate that it would compromise politicians.
The Minister was joined in this view by project manager of the Solid Waste Project Unit, Ricardo Marshall, who noted that there was a need for applied science within the Ministry of the Environment.