-with inter-agency compliance collaboration

RESIDENTS of the town of Mabaruma and the community of Port Kaituma, Region One (Barima-Waini) aired matters affecting them during the second Stakeholders Engagement convened by the Natural Resources and Environmental Sectors Inter-Agency Compliance Collaboration Forum.

The stakeholders’ engagements were held on June 26 at Mabaruma and on June 28 at Port Kaituma.

Technical officers from several agencies under the Ministries of the Presidency and Natural Resources were part of the outreach geared towards meeting with residents, hearing their concerns, and seeking to have them solved.

The agencies represented were the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, the Guyana Gold Board, the Guyana Forestry Commission, the Guyana Wildlife and Conservation Management Commission, the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The first such engagement was held in the town of Bartica on April 29, 2019.
The initiative was born out of a recognition that in the conduct of the routine course of operations, there may be overlapping in terms of jurisdiction. It was decided that on an operational level, agencies with overlapping interests have an input so as to help solve issues whenever they arise.

At the respective events, residents questioned the officers on sector-related issues regarding forestry, land distribution, gold mining and wildlife trading issues, as well other matters of concern affecting them.

It was a revelation for many who attended and had concerns that the issues could not be addressed by a single agency. As a result, some of the attending agencies saw the need for follow-up meetings to be conducted.

Derrick Lawrence, Director of Compliance at the Ministry of Natural Resources and chairman of the stakeholders’ engagements noted that the occasions provided the opportunity for citizens to engage with the regulatory agencies in relationship building and information sharing, rather than the more common compliance monitoring and enforcement exercises.

He emphasised that compliance in the natural resources and environmental sectors should be predicated on knowledge and awareness.

“This is the beginning of a dialogue between, you, the stakeholders and the regulatory agencies in the sector,” he assured the residents.

He also encouraged the residents and stakeholders of the various communities to express their concerns with candour and the confidence that representatives of the various agencies in attendance were competent and prepared to address them.

Similar engagements by the Natural Resources and Environmental Sectors’ Inter-agency Compliance Collaboration Forum are in the planning stages for towns of Lethem and Mahdia, in the coming months.