IN order to obtain the goal for a ‘greener’ Negril, the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, is proposing an integrated approach to resource management and remains committed to working in partnership with the government and people of Jamaica.

Assistant mission director, Dr Alexander Dickie said the agency recognised the importance of strategic partnerships between the government, non-governmental organisations and private sector.

The agency, he said, is fully committed to an approach that is, “built and sustained by the institutional strengthening of government and non-governmental agencies and the strengthening of civil society.”

The first phase of the Greening Negril project will establish a solid waste management programme and recycling programme in Negril. Dr Dickie said that some of the work that USAID has done through its Environmental Audits for Sustainable Tourism (EAST) programme with the hotel industry in Negril has demonstrated that, adopting environmentally-sound practices can increase operational efficiency, save them money and protect the natural resource base.

“We would like to apply some of the same principles outside of the hotel to other industries and the community in general,” he declared.

The Coastal Water Improvement Project (CWIP) on the other hand, has been doing valuable work in institutional strengthening, coastal zone monitoring and management, and the building of awareness and reponsiveness to the need for environmental management systems and pollution prevention programmes both in coastal sites as well as in areas that feed into Jamaica’s rivers and seas.

In addition to EAST and CWIP, Dr Dickie noted that the agency in collaboration with the government of Jamaica has embarked on the Ridge to Reef Watershed project, thus providing a package of activities in sustainable tourism, coastal water quality and integrated coastal zone management.

He predicts that Negril will emerge as a green tourism destination built on the harmony and strength of broad partnerships at all levels within the community, government and the private sector.

Negril, he said, will be a demonstration of the linkage between the environment and sustainable economic development.