On June 26, the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) convened a hearing on the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to waive the need for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for a proposed Guyana Stockfeeds rice mill on the East Bank of Demerara.

The hearing was not a novel one as several others had been held in relation to developmental projects. What was heartening was that in addition to corporate interests, a group of citizens banded together and presented their concerns about the project via a petition. Whatever the outcome of the appeal before the EAB, citizens’ input in environmental protection is a vital cog in the wheel and must be encouraged. An example for this had been set by residents of Ogle and nearby areas who are opposed to the Ogle aerodrome expansion project on environmental grounds.

The EPA itself should be at the forefront encouraging residents to register their concerns about possible impacts on their environment from development projects. Its mandate is about protection of the environment and it is not enough for it to simply advertise a development project in one or two newspapers and invite citizens to express their concerns. In a real sense, the Guyana of recent decades has had little exposure to education on environmental issues and how they can influence their lives. The Omai cyanide spill into the Essequibo River was an exception because of its enormity. In this calamitous event riverain folk were severely affected in terms of drinking water and their fishing livelihoods and this was clearly evident.

Residents of coastal Guyana would have other concerns which are often not apparent until it is too late particularly in relation to air quality, obstructed drainage and traffic issues. Residents therefore need the help of environmental officers within the EPA and other interest groups to help them understand what possible impacts could arise from a sand quarry, a hatchery or a fish farm in their area. It is all part of raising awareness and if each resident becomes more attuned to his/her environment they begin to own it and respect it. The object of increasing their participation is not to oppose development projects on spurious, unfounded or trivial grounds. This must be guarded against and the appropriate balance struck between environmental protection and important development needs. The object is sensitizing them to their surroundings so that they become environmental foot soldiers.

A good case for this was made out in a report on solid waste disposal recently presented at a seminar in Georgetown. The report highlighted the well-known and chronic dumping of garbage all across the country and up and down the coast. In Georgetown, it was estimated that 10% of the waste generated every day - 25 tonnes in all - was simply dumped into the city’s waterways. A lot more simply ends up on parapets, in empty lots, on the roads and in every other conceivable area.

Citizens who are attuned to their surroundings would be less likely to dump garbage indiscriminately and they would also serve as lookouts for possible environmental damage. Last week, an oil slick was sighted from the air on the Demerara River and information transmitted to the EPA. Officers from the agency found nothing when they were eventually dispatched probably because they had been notified too late. Many might have seen the slick on their day to day travels on the river and done nothing about reporting it because they felt it wasn’t important or wasn’t their business.

This is the type of apathy and complacency that the EPA must battle if it is to discharge its mandate. Aside from relying on the public, the EPA has to spread its wings and have its officers check potential trouble spots all across the country. Photographs were recently carried in this newspaper of a dredge on the Mazaruni River showing what appeared to be significant tailings build-up. The dredge was also being used as living quarters and how human waste and other pollutants would be disposed of was clearly an issue. Is this the kind of lead the EPA would follow up? Mining pollution, of course, poses a whole range of other challenges to the EPA such as staffing, resources and the interface with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission.

In coastal Guyana, where the main population centres are, the EPA can certainly do more to raise awareness of environmental issues and in turn be helped by the average citizen to discharge its very crucial mandate.