WESTERN BUREAU:
THE MINISTRY of Industry and Tourism is cranking up its strategies at the local and international levels to make Portland, an internationally certified 'Green Destination.'
Aloun N'Dombet Assamba, Tourism Minister, explains that the 'greening' of Portland would not only entail making the tourism entities in the parish more environmentally-friendly, but would also engage entire towns and communities in Portland in environment conservation measures.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
She said that efforts to transform Portland into a Green Destination are part of the thrust to ensure the sustainable development of that parish, as well as fine-tune the destination management approach in Jamaica's tourism sector.
The Tourism Minister was speaking on Tuesday at the official opening of the 'Youth and the Environment Conference 2004' in Montego Bay, St. James, which will end today. It is being attended by 120 young persons.
Mark Nolan, Chief of Party of Ridge-to-Reef Watershed Project (R2RW), noted that last year's inaugural staging of the conference made significant inroads in changing the lives of youth by giving them hands-on-experience in exploring and protecting the environment.
