The Tribune

MINISTER of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell is expected to return to the Bahamas today after representing Prime Minister Perry Christie at the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Mr Mitchell, along with a technical team made up of representatives from the BEST Commission, the Ministry of Tourism, the Met Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended the conference and pledged to devote resources for public education and youth development.

Pointing out that the goal of sustainable development lies at the heart of the conference, Mr Mitchell said the declaration adopted is one which the Bahamas recognises as offering significant opportunities.

In his address to the conference on Wednesday, Mr Mitchell said it is abundantly clear that the Bahamas, as an archipelagic nation, is challenged by the increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters, including hurricanes, which are due in large part to the effects of climate change.

"These factors together with other external forces such as the economic recession have left our economies tenuous with deep and lasting wounds. Further, the national debt and dependence on fossil fuels and other imports which exhibit significant price volatility, constrain efforts to develop sustainably and eradicate poverty.

"Despite these constraints the Commonwealth of the Bahamas embraces sustainable development and strives to eliminate exploitation, poverty and deprivation.

"We are a people inextricably linked to our environment, our shallow blue seas and our way of life. The environment sustains our lives and livelihoods. The environment is the very foundation of our economic activity," he said.

Mr Mitchell noted that tourism is the main driving force of the Bahamian economy, and said the government is fully aware that the future of the sector hinges on the plans and strategies put in place to protect the resources upon which it relies.

"Under the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea we have initiated actions to preserve our fish stock by introducing penalties for overfishing.

"We have taken action to ban long-line fishing, to establish the Bahamas as a shark sanctuary and to establish and expand marine protected areas.

"Accordingly, the Bahamas has commenced a process to engage and incorporate our partners in efforts to overcome the challenges we face, to recover, to expand job creation and deal head-on with the vexing problems of crime and youth unemployment.

"These challenges form part of the context in which our sustainable development efforts are undertaken and we must make certain that sustainable development is for all; that is the future we want."

Mr Mitchell said governments are obligated to make policies that are "people-centric".

"We commit to engage and sensitise our citizenry in clear and concise terms through public education. People must be involved in the process and informed of the costs and benefits of implementing sustainable development policies. We are particularly focused on the need to engage young people in our public education efforts.

"In consideration of the Green Economy, the Bahamas is guided by principles of the Rio Declaration. Additionally, we must ensure that our pursuit of a Green Economy will enhance our efforts without compromising our current improvements.

"More importantly, we must ensure that greening initiatives do not place our macro-development at risk and or, increase our dependence on technologies which may be incompatible with preserving our environment. Much like our fellow SIDS, in order to appropriately address the transition and eventual implementation of Green Economy initiatives there are some preconditioning fundamentals we must adhere to. That is, we must strengthen our institutions and enhance our technical and economic capacities," he said.