NEWS RELEASE

March 18, 2002

For immediate release

NEPA hosts regional conference on Pollutant Registers

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) hosted a Regional Conference on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) March 19-20 2002, at the Le Meridien Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. The conference was sponsored by the Government of Jamaica (GOJ)/United States Agency for International Development Coastal Water Quality Improvement Project (CWIP), the GOJ/Canadian International Development Agency Environmental Action (ENACT) programme and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

PRTRs are used primarily to compile and report on releases of toxic chemicals from industrial facilities. They contribute to public knowledge about the pollutants that are being transferred and released from industrial facilities, encourage industry to decrease the volume of these releases and adopt responsible environmental practices. Governments also use them to identify priorities for attention.

The conference intended to raise awareness in the English speaking Caribbean about PRTRs and the importance of implementing them in their territories.  The approximately 120 participants (including representatives from seven Caribbean countries) also examined the issue of making PRTRs relevant to Caribbean needs and realities. One of the major topics of concern was how to design Caribbean PRTRs so that they take into consideration the relatively low level of industrial activity in most territories and the region’s high dependence on ecological assets for the success of tourism. Reporting on potential damage to adjoining ecological assets is not normally a feature of PRTRs.

The main speakers at the two-day conference included Minister of Land and Environment, the Hon. Horace Dalley, NEPA’s CEO, Franklin McDonald and representatives from Environment Canada, Canadian Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations and industry, USAID and UNITAR.

Contact: Rosemarie Chung, 754-7575/906-1394