| answer text |
<p> </p><p>The Overseas Territories are highly dependent on the assets provided by
their natural environment – their terrestrial and marine ecosystems – for their economic
wellbeing. The long-term management of these assets is essential for the development
of sustainable (‘green') economies in the Territories.</p><p>The objective of the
environmental mainstreaming initiative is to assist individual Territories to identify
the key issues that need to be addressed to ensure the environment is properly taken
into account in all aspects of economic and infrastructure planning. Key issues include
proper provision for waste management and the need to better understand the value
of the environment to local economies and communities.</p><p>To date, three environmental
mainstreaming projects have been managed by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee
on behalf of the FCO and Defra, in the Falkland Islands, British Virgin Islands and
Anguilla.</p><p>In addition, we have also funded projects in Anguilla through our
Darwin Initiative Challenge Fund in 2012 and they are now developing a National Ecosystem
Assessment using Darwin Plus funding. The purpose of this is to move towards a green
economy by strengthening environmental management and sustainable growth, raising
awareness of the value of ecosystems to the economy and providing evidence-based implementation
of green policies.</p><p> </p>
|
|
