Guyana leads the charge for Caribbean Land Management Initiative

Oct 21, 2018 News

By Kemol King
Guyana is hosting and spearheading the Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management (PISLM), a plan which aims to revolutionise land management in the Caribbean region. Representatives from the various participating member states congregated at the Marriott Hotel on Friday for the facilitation of a press conference.
The group is working on formulating a long term strategic plan which will guide the management of lands, through activities concerned with the management of land as a resource, from economic and environmental perspectives. This includes farming, mining, property and estate management, and the physical planning of towns and the countryside.
Community Development Minister of Jamaica, Desmond McKenzie, commended Guyana and the Lands and Surveys Commission for leading the charge for better management of Caribbean lands. He said that the plan will consider how best the CARICOM region can collectively preserve, maintain and improve on the quality of its natural resources.
One of the most daunting challenges of such initiatives, the team indicated, is the lack of data on land management issues faced by the member states. Calvin James, executive director of the initiative, said that the compilation of such data and the execution of a comprehensive plan will depend on the complete participation of all states at a ministerial level.
The partnership recently held three sessions of high level meetings of Ministers from Small Islands Developing States (SIDS). These meetings included ministers and other representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname. Guyana has been represented by Minister Joseph Harmon and Mr. Trevor Benn, who is the current Chairman of the PISLM Task Force, as well as Commissioner and Chief Executive of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission.
The initiative is being funded by a mechanism established under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

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