The National Environment Agency (NEA), in collaboration with stake holders, last Wednesday, validated the phase  II document of the Gambia Environmental Action Plan (GEAP), at a ceremony held at the Paradise Suites Hotel.

The first phase of the action plan was implemented in the 10-year period (1992 to 2002). The document for the implementation of the second phase (2008 to 2018), has been prepared as part of the UNDP-sponsored project, Capacity Development for Achieving Environmental Sustainability.

Deputising for the secretary of state for Forestry and the Environment, Momodou Kotu Cham, the permanent secretary, Nyada Baldeh, said GEAP was first produced in February 1992 to be implemented in the ten-year period, and the document, he went on, was produced under the auspices of the National Environment Management Council to essentially provide framework for planning and decision making, on national environmental issues and natural resources management.

He added that GEAP arose as a result of the serious environmental problems the country is facing. GEAP, Baldeh continued, will focus on natural resources management, social services and environment and development. SoS Cham, through his PS, expressed optimism that by the end of the implementation period, numerous policy level changes would have been achieved.

He also dilated on the significant achievements registered in the process of implementation of phase I, pointing to the increase in public awareness on environment issues, and the reversing trend of numerous environmental problems. He expressed hope that by the end of the validation with the institutional and technical diversity of participants present, the document would receive the most professional attention it deserved.