Region warned to address environmental issues

Bridgetown

Assistant United Nation Secretary General, Elizabeth Thompson, warned Barbados and the rest of the Caribbean to address environmental issues critical to the region's social and economic develooment.

Speaking at the 21st biennial conference of Soroptimist International of the Caribbean Network at Accra Beach Hotel, Thompson spoke about  natural resources such as water and oil, noting that Barbados and the Bahamas were among the most water scarce and water stressed countries in the world, ranking with sub Saharan Africa.

She predicted issues of access to water, its affordability and development were going to dominate this century. Thompson said the increasing cost of food, fuel and water in small island developing states, such as those in the Caribbean with small populations and a tiny economic base threatened to push those states to a point where the populations could not afford those cost.

Thompson is a former Minister of the Environment  in Barbados.