Country Profiles

National Commission on Sustainable Development - former

Contact

Name: Ms. Gayle Francis Vaughan

Position: Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Water Resources and Drainage

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Phone: +1 0246 310 5711

Address:

1st Floor, S. P. Musson Building

Hincks Street

Bridgetown, BB11144, Barbados

Barbados200

Mission Statement

The Commission’s overarching mission was to educate the public and decision-makers on the National Sustainable Development Policy and to encourage the public ‘to inculcate the recommendations of the policy into their practices as applicable’. Its role was to:

  • Finalise the National SD Policy and prepare an action plan for its deployment;
  • Advise Government on measures required to integrate environmental and economic considerations into the decision-making process and on global issues of sustainable development;
  • Facilitate national level co-ordination mechanisms on sustainable development;
  • Promote greater understanding and public awareness of cultural, social, economic and policy opportunities to attaining sustainable development in Barbados, including a ‘Public Awareness/Education Strategy’; and
  • receive and review the annueal report of actions in pursuit of sustainable development, prior to its submission to Cabinet and the UNCSD.

Composition and Membership

The NCSD was appointed by Cabinet in 1998 to oversee the development of the national sustainable development policy which was launched in 2004. Since 2004, the commission ‘has been in abeyance but the reconstitution of a new National Commission on Sustainable Development and the Green Economy has been identified as a national priority and the Cabinet approval process has commenced.’

The Commission comprised 30 members representing Government and all major groups including NGOs, Community-Based Organisations, trade unions, Women’s Organisations, the academic community and the wider private sector. The Ministry of Housing, Lands and the Environment facilitated the work of the NCSD by acting as the Secretariat.

Role and Functions

  • advising on government policy or making policy recommendations, including NSDS; and
  • stakeholder engagement


Recent Activities

The NCSD established 8 Steering Committees to consult on and provide recommendations on the following cross-sectoral themes:

    • Indicators of sustainable development;
    • Implementation mechanism, assessing progress made and steps required to go forward;
    • Science and technology, assessing research and development of alternative renewable energy sources;
    • Natural resources;
    • Man-made resources and the built environment;
    • Waste management and pollution control;
    • Human resource development; and
    • Public awareness and education.

The work of these Steering Committees combined with the results of 5 ‘national dialogues’ held in 1997 on Sustainable Water Management, Energy, Youth and Community, Solid Waste Management and Agriculture, to draft the National SD Policy. The NSDC has also produced a set of National Indicators of Sustainable Development.