AGRICULTURE Minister Navin Chandarpal said Monday he is not optimistic about the upcoming World Summit on the Environment and Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, next month.

Declaring open a two-day international workshop on Biodiverity Capacity Building in the Caribbean, he said while there has been some progress made at various fora since the Rio Summit in 1992, the general trend has been disappointing, with little or nothing achieved.

The minister recalled that, at the Conference on Small States and Islands Development (SIDS) about three years ago, the donor community had requested the English-speaking Caribbean to prepare priority projects for possible funding.

About 103 proposals were submitted but, so far, only a few have been approved, Chandarpal told the audience including locally and internationally known scientists and academicians, at Hotel Tower, Main Street, Georgetown.

The seminar was organised jointly by University of Guyana (UG), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and CARISCIENCE, under the theme ‘National Biodiversity Systems Building Inter-Generational Capabilities for Conservational and Sustainable Use’.

Chandarpal pointed out that, 10 years after the Rio Summit, out of which emerged the principle that people must be at the centre of development, the present day reality is a contradiction.

He said rice and sugar, the two major industries in Guyana, are under threat and people, therefore, may turn to other resources in their quest for survival.

Chandarpal said biodiversity conservation forms an essential part of this country’s approach to economic development under the National Development Strategy (NDS) and he emphasised the importance Government is placing on it.

He said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established a division that deals specifically with issues pertaining to biodiversity and wildlife and developed a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.

Chandarpal also alluded to the Iwokrama Rainforest Project which he called a “living laboratory given to the world” for research into the sustainable development of rainforests but said adequate recognition of this has not been forthcoming from the international community.

He said, though significant steps have been made in capacity building for conserving biodiversity, critical elements are to be addressed and urged that the thrust must be linked to the economic developmental process.

“It will only have meaning when it is translated into the enhancing of economic well-being,” the minister argued.

Delivering the main address, UG Chancellor, Professor Calestous Juma contended that the key to ensuring capacity building is achieved is to successfully implement policies and programmes on biodiversity conservation, linking the knowledge base and operational institutions.

He said, too often knowledge is located in separate places where research is carried out by academic institutions but the entities which are involved in the operations are apart.

Juma identified three major areas which have to be addressed for the development of capacity in biodiversity - human competence, organisation and policy making to create the ideal environment.

“First, universities and other knowledge-based institutions will become more practical in their orientation and establish conservation programmes that build on the research. Second, conservation organisations will set up research wings, in order to generate the knowledge needed for their work and, third, the prospects of overlap will inspire the creation of a wide range of partnerships between universities and research institutions on the one hand and conservation organisations on the other,” he explained.

But Juma said, to make those things achievable, Governments have to initiate the relevant policies.

“Smart Government policies will create institutions that support the three trajectories for the evolution of conservation efforts in the 21st century. But these smart policies will only emerge if research institutions and conservation organisations design inter-generational strategies based on a better understanding of the dynamics of capacity building at the human, organisational and social levels,” he maintained.

Juma called for curriculum reform to meet education demands in the context of the biodiversity conservation need and, in this regard, said greater attention and emphasis should be placed on the now neglected study of ecology.