MCDONALD... cited the benefits of using popular culture in conveying the message of environmental organisations

THE first of two workshops being staged to heighten environmental awareness among Caribbean nationals opened in Kingston Wednesday with environmental professionals and artistes sharing ideas on how to use popular culture as an educational vehicle.

Conference organisers, the Caribbean Regional Environmental Programme (CREP), say they intend to utilise the talents of an estimated 50 artistes from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua, St Lucia, The Bahamas, Belize, St Kitts, Dominica and Barbados in the programme.

LOVINDEER... noted for crafting environment song

Charges like "Culture is mostly a human adaptation to one's natural environment" and "many people are not aware of the social and economic risks involved if the environment is further depleted" were the logic of the day at the Jamaica Conference Centre.

Franklin McDonald, guest speaker and executive director of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), noted the influence and scope that artistes command in the region, and the benefits of using popular culture in conveying the message of environmental organisations. He cited NEPA's own use of local artiste Lovindeer in crafting an environmental song in the past.

Yesterday, the artistes were expected to formulate ideas, having heard the environmental experts from the previous day. Presenter Winston Wirht, of Wirht Consultancy Services, challenged the artistes "to show the trap of excessive consumption, which is tied to the ideology of unlimited economic growth as the solution to our problem".

He was alluding to the problems of the region's consumption desires which are beyond the carrying capacity of the environment.

Artistes deemed eligible to produce what is being termed 'envirocultural products' will be granted money to complete their work for release in January 2003.

Cathel Healy Sing, CREP programme manager, quelled possible fears of insufficient funds, saying that 600,000 euros was allocated to the artistes and that more cash would be generated from that initial amount. "One needs money to make more money," Sing said.

CREP is a programme designed to strengthen regional integration through the awareness of environmental issues in the Caribbean Forum of ACP States (CARIFORUM). It seeks to demonstrate that the region's natural resources and biodiversity can be better protected. CREP was implemented through the Caribbean Conservation Association with a budget of approximately 8,900,000 euros.

The conference will continue in Trinidad and Tobago next week and is a forerunner to next month's Environmental World Summit in South Africa where approximately 64,000 international delegates, including over 100 heads of government are expected to gather.

Sing said that if the artistes' creativity was stimulated, then the conference would be a success.

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