Saturday, June 16, 2012

Hope fades for benefits from Rio+20 Earth Summit

2 comments:

Wilson Jn. Baptiste said...

Sir Sanders:

There has been a deliberate by the polluting countries through their corporations to muddy the waters on environmental issues. As a result, there currently exists an impasse in academia on the basic definitions of sustainable development and environmental preservation. The Caribbean is vulnerable to this approach due to its heavy reliance on tourism. The irony with tourism is such that the very touristic assets which attracted visitors in the first place are being destroyed by these very same visitors. In addition, the very same industry which was designed to alleviate poverty is responsible for deepening poverty due to the negative impact on culture, increased costs of real estate and inflation. As a result, the corporations, through their so-called pro-environmental agents have introduced the concept of "pro-poor tourism." This concept is aimed at bringing benefits directly to poor people in their very own environment. The LesValles in Brazil is such an example. How can Caribbean countries mitigate against such threats? The economic crisis has made it more difficult to control due to the initial high costs of putting measures in place. And as you correctly pointed out, human resource development to tackle these problems are being ignored. The emphasis on training for the tourism sector is based on increasing arrivals to the detriment of the environment, the culture and heritage. The options are tough. However, the solutions to these problems must not be worse than the problems themselves.

Unknown said...

Great article....well written.