Environment plan implementation to be more open

Environment principal secretary Rolf Payet has pledged to follow up on calls to introduce greater transparency to the implementation of the Environment Management Plan for Seychelles.

Speaking at the final meeting of the EMPS 2000–2010 review process, held recently at the National Institute of Education, PS Payet said that one of the key points raised during the review consultations was the need for greater openness in the work of the EMPS steering committee.

The review process has been based around three stakeholder consultation meetings – one with members of the National Assembly and district administrators; one with government and parastatals; and one with non-governmental organisations and the private sector – designed to draw out concerns surrounding the EMPS implementation.

According to PS Payet one of the main messages to come out of the United Nations Development Programme funded consultation was the need for greater transparency.

"We have tried as much as possible to be a transparent committee, but this has tended to be transparency amongst friends, meaning that it has been transparent to the people on the committee, but not the outside world," said the PS.

In response to this concern he said that the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MENR) would implement a project designed to provide a platform for discussion of the EMPS, "Creating the chance for people to get involved and releasing the information and the minutes of the meetings (of the EMPS steering group)."

While the final report, being prepared by environmental consultant John Neville, still some weeks away, PS Payet has said that attending the meetings and reading through draft reports has allowed for pre-emptive work to get under way.

Describing the consultation process as very healthy PS Payet said that most of the proposals made did not require increased funding, merely a change in the way of doing things.

Mr Neville said that part of the review process was to "embrace a broader community input," which he said was one of the initial aims of the EMPS.

He said that in addition to greater transparency, the consultations had also drawn out the need for a more targeted dissemination of information to stakeholders, greater capacity in the coordinating unit and broader implementation of the EMPS process.

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