NEWS RELEASE june 13, 2003
For immediate release
NEPA Stages Second Workshop in Judicial Symposium Series…
.American Environmental Court Judge Invited to Participate
In a bold effort to sensitise the Jamaican
judiciary to new developments in environmental and planning laws, the National
Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), has secured $3.5 million dollars
to fund three sets of symposia. The first ever symposia of their kind in
Jamaica, will provide guidelines to Resident Magistrates, Appellate and
Supreme Court Judges for presiding over environmental and planning related
issues in their jurisdictions.
The second leg of the symposia is scheduled
to get underway at the Renaissance Jamaica Grande Hotel, in Ocho Rios, St. Ann at 3:30p.m, from June 20 to 22, 2003. Under the theme "Environmental Management Issues in Jamaica:
Perspectives”, American Environmental Court Judge Merideth Wright
of Vermont, has been invited to share her experiences
with those in attendance. The workshops will end in July and will be targeted
to Clerks of Court.
Minister of Land and Environment Minister,
Hon. Dean Peart and Minister of National Security
and Justice and Attorney General, Hon. A.J. Nicholson Q.C. have also been
invited to participate.
Other invited guests include Solicitor
General Michael Hylton Q.C., Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe Q.C., Deputy Public Prosecutor Kent Pantry,
Q.C. and President of the Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Forte, Q.C.
According to NEPA’s Legal
Services Division Director Laletta Davis-Mattis, “there is an urgent need
to place some of the more pertinent issues affecting agencies charged with
regulating the natural and built environments on the national agenda.”
Members of the judiciary are being targeted as part of this process.
Sponsored by the United States Agency
for International Development’s Ridge to Reef Watershed (R2RW) Project
and by the Canadian International Development Agency’s Environment Action
(ENACT) Programme, the workshops are aimed at achieving heightened awareness by the judiciary
of the trends and challenges in Environmental Management in Jamaica.
Both ENACT and R2RW are jointly supported by the Government of Jamaica, through NEPA.
