Judith Wedderburn, Deputy Chairperson

Association of Development Agencies

The National Environmental Societies Trust welcomes the National Environmental Education Action Plan for Sustainable Development. The plan comes at a time when Environmental Non-Government Organizations (ENGOs) and other agencies, having worked assiduously to create a climate of awareness of the need to protect and conserve the environment, are committing themselves to the creation of a future which will ensure the availability of the resources required to sustain all life forms.

Because ENGOS have been in the forefront of environmental education in Jamaica, this plan can but build on their achievements, and because the process of developing the plan has been a participatory one, it can only extend and support their efforts.

The plan seeks to increase the participation of all sectors of the society in environmental education activities for sustainable development and that is a most welcome approach. The members of the Trust look forward to working in partnership with all parties as we strive to develop our country without destroying our resources for lack of vision and planning. The Environmental Education Action Plan for Sustainable Development provides a framework, which will help us to achieve our goal.

Maureen Rowe, Executive Director

Degradation!   Dirt!   Drought!   Disease!    Disaster!

The Environmental and Sustainable Development are priority issues for youths throughout Jamaica. Environmental education is lacking with respect to increasing the awareness and understanding of critical issues; environmental legislation, as it stands, is not tight enough to significantly impact on the way we live our lives and sustainable development and the state of the environment are directly linked to the economic and social well-being of young people throughout the world.

Unless these issues are placed at the centre of all our agendas then they will continue to be ignored until the state of out planet has been destroyed beyond repair.

George Cooke

Chairman – National Youth Service

In light of our present state of environmental decay, this plan is just in time to cure the Environmental illiteracy of another generation. Environmental education is most important to the youth of Jamaica, because we are the ones who need to be educated, and who will inherit Jamaica. This plan will help ensure that we are properly tooled and equipped to make the best environmental decisions. Education will also help us to have a stronger voice in the environmental struggles of today. Education is the main KEY that can be used to turn the lock of environmental ignorance and open the door to an environmentally active and literate Jamaica.

As mayor of black river in the parish of St.Elizabeth, which possesses the longest river in Jamaica with its many tributaries and which has been subjected recently to serious degradation, I am duty bound to take note of the preparation of National Environmental Education Action Plan for Sustainable Development in Jamaica (1998 - 2010) as this is the only way forward for sustainable development. Such development plan will have far reaching impact upon not only the farming community but the development of South Coast tourism.

The National Environmental Education Action Plan will have unlimited sources of development, particularly in respect to the southern section of the parish of St. Elizabeth, which has been described as the bread basket of Jamaica and which can become the bread basket of the Caribbean if we are able to articulate and devise innovative ways of bringing not only irrigation but potable water without degradation of the environmental.

Environmental education must inevitable integrate the concept of human development, socially and economically with sustainable natural resource use and environmental protection in a holistic and inter disciplinary conceptual framework.

J.A.G. Myers O.D., J.P.

People's relationship to nature is the greatest issue facing the world at the turn of the millennium, and all over the world young people have shown enormous enthusiasm for environmental action. Jamaica is noexception, and we in ICWI Group Foundation are committed to the development of young Jamaican leadership. We support children's involvement in shaping their own and their communities' futures through the environmental education-for-action-now.  The Foundation's Science Learning Centre, along with teachers and generous donors, has published a resource manual - "The Environmental Action Now Cookbook". The Cookbook encourages the participation of young people in decision-making regarding Jamaica's resources. Hopefully, it will enrich education for sustainable development.

The importance of a healthy environment for the sustainability of life has been increasingly recognized as one of the most critical factors confronting people everywhere in the world today. In Jamaica, the gifts of our natural environment provide us with one of the mainstays of our economy. For it is on the resources provided by our seas, beaches, climate and countryside that our tourism industry tourism industry has been built.

As people we have to learn how to manage our environmental resources better than we have done so far. We must prevent them from being seriously depleted - as our forests are in danger of becoming - or polluted. As is threatening our harbours and rivers. If these trends continue, our options for future development will be considerably reduced.

All Jamaicans, therefore, have a responsibility to protect the environment and both our public and private sectors should institute wise environmental practices in their own spheres in order to secure for all a sustainable future.

For these reasons, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) has placed a high priority on environmental education, through our Environment Committee. We are seeking to inform and advise our members on how successful environmental management can be achieved in their businesses.

The PSOJ is therefore pleased to participate in and support the wider effort of the National Environmental Education Committee in preparing and implementing an Action Plan for the nation. We regard such a plan as being urgently needed.

Clifton Cameron

President

The Plan is of great importance to workers because they are central to the development process of the country. If they fail to access training or re-training they could easily be left behind.

With the focus on wide spread development, increased productivity and the enrichment (through training) of the human resources, the Environmental Education for Sustainable Development has significant role to play in preparing the country for a sustainable future.

Environmental education has a vital role to play in preparing Jamaica for sustainable development. Without proper environmental education awareness will continue to be low, environmental degradation will proceed as usual, and sustainable development will continue to be a dream.

Mike Laris

Outreach Officer

To ensure a viable, responsive, dynamic and results driven education system a National Environmental Education Action Plan for Sustainable Development is not only timely but also indispensable. The reason is not far-fetched. Learning and outcomes based education as required for a knowledge based economy are dependent on the existence of a conducive social and physical environment that is self-renewing and that generates and maintains growth. The plan assures such a situation.

The enabling values and attitudes for achieving the sustainable lifestyles we must seek, have to be learned through a radical, dynamic education process, which prepares citizens for change and action - in sum, Environmental Education for Sustainable Development (EE for SD).

Our formal education sector constitutes a mighty vehicle for EE for SD. This Plan offers the sector, at a particularly timely point of review, an orderly framework within which to evaluate past and present efforts, and provide vision and guidance for the future.

Joyce Glasgow, PhD. (Retired) Senior Lecturer

In order to take advantage of rapid technological changes and achieve economic growth and prosperity, many nations have recognised that education is a priority. The educational process must include a component on environmental education for sustainable development. Environmental education would not be limited to just the school system, but must reach the policy and decision makers, the implementers of policies and plans as well as the communities at large. If this approach is not taken, then in a very short time the limited resources of a small island state such as Jamaica will be rapidly depleted, with no hope for resuscitation.

It has become essential that our people acquire the culture of Sustainable Development if Jamaica is to participate successfully in the global community of the 21 st century. Instilling such a cultural outlook requires an educational thrust extending from early childhood onwards. Within this scheme, the University of the West Indies has an commitment to prepare and equip our young men and women with the most appropriate education and tools to take leadership positions in making sustainable development work.