Samuda talks tough against plastic pollution
Published:Saturday | April 23, 2022 | 12:09 AM
With renewed plans to tighten the screws on plastic pollution across the globe, Matthew Samuda, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth & Job Creation, has indicated that tough decisions will have to be made locally to address the problem.
On the motion of adjournment in the Upper House on Friday, Samuda highlighted a number of concerns relating to the environment as countries around the world observed April 22 as Earth Day. The theme this year is ‘Investing in Our Planet’.
The government senator, who has responsibility for environmental affairs, drew attention to a historic resolution endorsed by environment ministers and other representatives from 175 nations in Nairobi, Kenya, in March this year.
The resolution, crafted from three previous draft resolutions from various nations, establishes an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) tasked with the job of completing a draft legally binding agreement by the end of 2024.
“The pattern of consumption, in terms of how we consume plastic, will not be the same in 2030 based on how I see this resolution developing and how I expect this treaty to develop,” Samuda told his colleagues in the Senate.
“We have to prepare our manufacturers so that we don’t have the fallout in income that comes to them as businesses that then create a fallout in employment,” he said.
He said that lawmakers will have to work together, along with the private sector, to get the country ready.
Retool, innovate
Senator Sophia Frazer-Binns, opposition spokesperson on the environment, echoed Samuda’s push for talks on protecting the environment.
“We will have to abandon some of our practices now that bring about economic gains because the expense to the environment is just not worth it,” she said.
Frazer-Binns stressed that those discussions with stakeholder groups are necessary because they will involve the retooling of the workforce and finding innovative economic activities to ensure that the country’s unemployment rate continues to decline.
“We are going to have that discussion and the Opposition stands ready to sit at the table to make its contribution.”
She also reinforced the need for the country to invest in sustainable agricultural practices to ensure food security.
Frazer-Binns also wants the promulgation of more modern and robust environmental laws.
As he continued his comments to mark Earth Day, Samuda said Jamaica has to consider other imperatives such as the greening of the economy, where countries transition from low carbon or net neutrality by changing their energy mix. He said this was an economic decision that has major political implications.
Samuda said that the Government has already declared that its ambition was for Jamaica to have 50 per cent of its energy source being derived from renewable sources.