Jamaican and Caribbean businesses must strive to ‘build back blue, build back green, build back better’, following the blow dealt to the global economy by COVID-19.

So says Eleanor Jones, who chairs the Energy, Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ).

Vital to that effort is the attention to the marine and terrestrial environment as a resource, and to environmental considerations as essential to the operation and management of any entity.

“The ‘building back blue’ is taking care of the marine environment, which means that we handle our waste treatment (for example) in such a way that it does not end up in the marine environment,” she told The Gleaner.

Jones, who also sits at the helm of Environmental Solutions Limited (ESL), was speaking following her participation in the recent teleconference hosted by The University of the West Indies under the theme ‘COVID and the Environment: For Better or for Worse?’ It was held on World Environment Day, June 5.

“Hopefully, we will revisit our approach to the tourism sector so that we take a look at the green side of it – and not just the natural ‘blue’ assets like mangroves and so on, but also integrate our land assets,” she said.

“If we look at like health tourism, we should be protecting our mountains, all the very distinctive characteristics of our land, and having that be a part of the attraction. We need to protect those natural assets, not just for our people, but also for our visitors,” Jones said further.

 To view full presentation by Mrs. Jones on Building Back Better: Inserting environmental considerations  at FST Mini Conference on COVID and the Environment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxplDq1x_wk (go to time 2:49:30)

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