MINISTER OF THE Environment and Drainage, Dr Denis Lowe, has been nominated as Vice President to represent the Latin America and Caribbean region on the Bureau of the 2nd United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).
That nomination took place in Cartagena, Colombia, during the 20th Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean in March.
The Minister said he was looking forward to advancing the region’s environmental and sustainable development agenda.
“I view my term on the Bureau as an opportunity to deepen relations and cooperation between English and Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America and the Caribbean region,” he stated.
During that meeting, Lowe called for the region to be “true to its people, the planet, peace, prosperity and partnership”, and stressed that citizen engagement was a critical factor in the process of achieving the national sustainable development goals.
He also reminded his ministerial colleagues that the effective implementation of the environmental sustainability dimension of the recently-adopted Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development required political champions for environmental sustainability at the national level.
Lowe is presently heading a team at the upcoming global environment policy-making forum which gets under way in Nairobi, Kenya, from Monday, May 23, where approval for his nomination will be sought.
Once approved, Lowe will hold the office for two years, and join his colleague, Minister of the Environment of Costa Rica, Dr Edgar Gutierrez Espeleta, as the new representatives for the Latin America and Caribbean region group (GRULAC). Espeleta has been nominated as President to the UNEA.
The Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean was established in 1982 by the United Nations Environment Programme as the political forum for Environment Ministers of the region.
The Forum analyses and reviews critical issues on the international environment agenda, and seeks to develop regional strategies to address them. It acts as the region’s environment policy-making body.
Barbados served as president of the Forum from 2000 to 2002. (BGIS)
