Community-led environment management stressed

Recognizing the need for a concerted effort towards environmental sustainability, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) stressed yesterday the need to forge partnerships in the community level to protect the environment and help alleviate poverty.

UNDP Resident Representative Terence Jones made the call at yesterday’s celebration of World Environment Day, which was highlighted by the awarding of certificates of appreciation to volunteer individuals and organizations to the Small Grants Program (SGP) under the Global Environment Facility.

The SGP, Jones said, is rooted in the belief that one of the best ways to address global environmental problems is at the local level with the support and involvement of local people.

In view of the worsening global environmental degradation, he cited the need for "macro-micro" linkages between policy and grassroots action with projects such as the SGP-GEF.

The SGP-GEF supports small-scale activities geared toward solving four main environmental problems: global warming, pollution of international waters, destruction of biological diversity and depletion of the ozone layer.