VALUATIONS of the environmental costs and benefits of development projects are needed so that technically defensible positions can be presented for such projects in all areas of Guyana.
So said Managing Director of Ground Structures Engineering Consultants, Mr. Charles Ceres when he issued the challenge to stakeholders in the natural resources sector recently.

Citing the issue of mining in the New River Triangle as an example of both a dilemma and a challenge, Ceres said they needed to be addressed in the quest to balance economic development and environmental stewardship.
The occasion was a stakeholders workshop on the environment hosted by the portfolio Ministry.
Ceres said that with respect to the New River Triangle issue, for example, the primary reason advanced by those critical of the proposed action were security and biodiversity preservation.
He declared that at the moment, anything can occur in the area since there is no significant monitoring capability in there.
As to concerns about biodiversity though, Ceres posited that they were related specifically to environmental preservation as opposed to environmental sustainability associated with economic development, a big difference in perspectives.
He stated that, as a result an important concept which was never factored into the discussions was the environmental costs and benefits as opposed to the economic costs and benefits of mining in the triangle.

TYPICAL ELEMENT
Ceres maintained that a typical element of the environmental cost would be willingness to pay for a jaguar or other biodiversity resource in the area to ensure no mining at the location.
He said a typical environmental benefit would be savings to people who can afford better health care and enhanced education opportunities for their children based on income generated from mining in New River Triangle
He asked whether it is correct to stymie economic development because of the absence of awareness of the usefulness of environmental stewardship through the responsible use and protection of the environment by conservation and sustainable practices.
The environmental sustainability of these operations may be questionable only if they can have significant health implications and health costs for individuals in the proximity, Ceres contended.
However, on the other side of the coin, he added that he had personally encountered naturally occurring suspended sediment levels in the gold mining sector which are in excess of those mandated by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Ceres argued that these standards required some miners to expend resources to attain end of pipe discharge limits which are, in fact, less than natural occurrences and which, in no way, enhances the quality of the receiving waters.
He said:“We need to ask ourselves if we are placing an onerous burden on small and medium scale miners to attain discharge limits below natural levels.”

SIGNIFICANT EXPENDITURE
He said standards set by environmental stewards should not result in significant expenditure for mere marginal increases in human health levels.
He also emphasised that the regulatory and sectoral agencies of the Ministry are challenged to develop technically defensible positions for all mandated environmental standards.
“This is best done if the environmental stewards develop environmental standards resulting in economic development while, at the same time, ensuring the outcomes mandated by environmental stewardship.”
He said that inadequacies in regulations and standards in this day and age of technological pollution can result in significant economic burdens if resources have to be expended to mitigate unintended environmental damage.
By Clifford Stanley