Human Security & Environmental Protect are Main Focus on C.C.A. Congress
Orlando Habet
Belize’s Constitution, as it is, speaks about human security and environmental protection and in a national context, the country has a national climate change policy and strategic plan which looks at thirteen sectors that have direct links to the environment. Minister Orlando Habet says that the congress looks at targets embedded within the sustainable development goals.
Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development, Climate Change & Disaster Risk Management
“Enhancing human security and environmental resilience are targets embedded within our sustainable development goals. When speaking about enhancing human security and environmental resilience, one must remember that the targets are interconnected and achieving one will be interdependent on achieving the other. Several studies like that produced by the environmental performance index, the EPI, by the Yale Center for Environmental Policy and Law and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Colombia have found that economic and social prosperity is directly associated with a cleaner environment. The general objective of this congress is therefore to strengthen regional collaboration for natural resource management, continue economic empowerment and sustainable development in Central America and the Dominican Republic. The specific objectives include to present the results of the main regional initiatives, programs and projects that C.C.A.D. and its strategic and cooperation partners are implemented as part of the regional environmental strategy, known in Spanish as ERAM, for the sound management and protection of natural resources in the countries of Central America and the Dominican Republic, especially those shared among the countries and to promote the exchange of information, experiences, lessons learned, knowledge management and South-South and Triangular Cooperation on the region’s main environmental issues.”
The congress includes various technical session, which will be held on Thursday. Those sessions include presentations on water management from a watershed-to-sea approach, water security for the SICA region, the implementation of water management instruments and the role of the private sector. There will also be sessions about the Mesoamerican Reef Eco-region and the lessons learned on the stony coral tissue loss disease; the Blue Bond Agreement of Belize and a panel discussion on regional initiatives.
