Submission 21

Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2022 8:45 PM
To: Constitutional Reform
Subject: A case for environmental protection issues within the framework of the proposed constitution of Barbados

Good evening

I believe it would be necessary , considering the existential crisis that climate change and it's related environmental impacts are causing for Barbados, to entrench the notion of environmental protection within the proposed constitution. I think it is reasonable to state that over the period of our history, we have made trade offs in our national development that have compromised our natural resources and diminished to a significant degree, our patrimony. The past trajectories we have employed must be arrested and new developmental approaches must of necessity be pursued. This new republic of ours should be the place where this intent is located. I believe this is where the new vision of Barbados should be encoded within our national DNA.

I'm not sure what mechanisms could be employed to make any such considerations legally binding, however I believe given our inherent vulnerability as a small, ocean dependence society, that the location of this issue within the body of our national constitution would signal an intent to decisively and frontally address what will, if it isn't already,be the most pressing issue that we as a people will face in the future. I believe that there is precedence for such in other jurisdictions in the developing world and I think we can add greater relevance and value to these deliberations by the adoption of a longitudinal perspective which incorporates such considerations

My warmest regards to you and I also wish to thank the Commission for its sterling work