NEWS RELEASE                                      February 11, 2003

For immediate release

JIEP Stages National Environment Conference…

.Focuses Attention on the State of Jamaica's Environment

In a bold move to promote the value of environmental knowledge in decision-making in the public and private sectors, the Jamaica Institute of Environmental Professionals (JIEP) will be staging the first National Scientific Conference on the Environment. The two-day conference which is scheduled for April 9-10, 2003 is primarily aimed at fostering greater understanding of applied environmental principles to business development. Under the theme Advancing Environmental Knowledge Towards Decision Making in Sustainable Development, the conference will seek to provide a forum to educate the public on recent scientific achievements in the field of Environmental Sciences. The Conference will be held at the Jamaica Conference Centre.

President of the JIEP, Margaret Jones-Williams, in commenting on the relevance of the Conference, noted that there was an urgent need to increase the visibility of the work of Jamaica's environmental professionals. She said that the communication element of their work needed to be placed high on the national agenda, particularly as there is such a strong link between the environment and economic development.

The Conference is aimed at members of the public and private sectors, development organizations, funding agencies, environmental professionals and students. It will consider many areas of Jamaica's environment defined as priority and will expose the work of environmental professionals in Jamaica and other countries in the Caribbean. Informed participation by stakeholders in the process of sustainable development will also be facilitated by the Conference.

Presentations will be used to focus attention on a wide range of issues including "Dredging and Coral Relocation at Rackhams Cay", "Mitigation Banking: an Emerging Strategy for Wetlands Conservation", "Cogeneration in the Sugar Industry" and "Climate Change Impacts on Land Use Planning and Coastal Infrastructure." To date, over forty abstracts have been received and are being considered for presentation in plenary and concurrent sessions.

The Jamaica Institute of Environmental Professionals (JIEP) which was founded in 2000 aims to encourage the implementation of professional standards evenly across Jamaica's public and private sectors. Through its work JIEP intends to provide a network for communication and support for environmental professionals and to assist in the adherence to professional standards.