The OECS Secretariat has launched a series of national consultations in Member States aimed at finalizing the revision process of the St Georges’ Declaration (SGD) of Principles for Environmental Sustainability in the OECS.

The consultations will be held in each OECS Member country through to the end of April. Each country consultation will involve the input of persons from the public and private sectors and non- governmental and community based organizations. The national consultations are spearheaded by the OECS Environment and Sustainable development Unit (ESDU) and coordinated through the OECS national focal points responsible for the environment.

The consultations are an important step on familiarizing and sensitizing a broad range of persons within the Member States to the revised SGD. Review of the main issues of the SGD include that of monitoring and reporting obligations under the international agreements, as well as national reporting  in the OECS region.

The SGD is being reviewed as part of a mandate in Principle 21 of the Declaration that requests a revision of the format and content of the Declaration every three years.  The review process of the SGD is also taking place in the context of the current revision of the OECS Treaty of Basseterre, which re-affirms the commitment of OECS Members to implement the Declaration.  

The ultimate aim of the OECS-ESDU is to have the SGD embedded in the psyche of key persons in Member States especially given that the SGD is a major policy tool for environmental management in the OECS region. The revised SDG text together with a list of potential targets and indicators, have already been drafted while the development of instruments to monitor and report on progress with implementation of the revised SGD is to be developed.

These monitoring and reporting instruments are to be used at the national and regional levels.

It is expected that the revised St Georges’ Declaration will consider changes in the regional and global policy environment and will make direct linkages with other policy commitments, in particular, those that contain regional and global conventions and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The declaration was endorsed by the OECS Environmental Policy Committee in November of 2000 and was officially launched on April 10th 2001. All nine OECS member countries have signed. This year marks the 5th anniversary of the St. Georges’ Declaration.