Conservationist and former agriculture minister Atherton Martin is commending the efforts of a number of persons who go unrecognized for their attempt towards “going green”.
Martin made these remarks at a press conference this week as the Executive Director of The Development Institute, to officially commence a Green Investment Dialogue with the Private sector today currently underway.
Martin said a number of private individuals in Dominica has already started the process but has failed to get media exposure.
“There are a lot of little examples of people in Dominica going green … the farmers in Bellevue Chopin for example, where they have converted their little farming area into an organic farming area. They have created jobs in composting, and crated a brand for their area … if you go to Giraudel there is another green product that has emerged over the past five years that have received international acclaim, where people are doing tourism in a way that requires them to take better care of their environment,” he said.
He also highlighted the need for waste management on the island.
“If you train people not to create waste you have created a cleaner society. One of the biggest and fastest growing businesses of the green economy is waste management; we create 80,000 used motor car tires every year in Dominica alone. Those same tires can be turned into products that can be sold,” he noted.
AT LAST………GOOD………NEXT.
Mr Martin,
I hope you can read this…
I think that Dominica should lead the way on biodegradable products. For example, new products are available that are made from fallen palm leaves. Why doesn’t Dominica set up a factory for that and ban all polystyrene from the island. This will give a lot of PR for the island, and will stop people trashing it with their fast food waste that is now in the rivers, the sea, over what is meant to be the ‘nature isle’.
Dominica could be the only country in the world where that is banned, and they would have created their own solution. You can then sell your product to the other islands and other global countries. There are so many fallen leaves here.. you would have a free product in terms of materials, just the building, machinery and labour is required.
I want to see Dominica be a leading ecological force in the Caribbean… that is where I feel your strength lies. You dont’ have those white sand beaches, the financial field didn’t work out – time to move onto something new! This idea is worth a government investment.