Minister Doran approves establishment of a Nature Policy Plan

The Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment, and Infrastructure (VROMI), Honorable Egbert Doran, has established the first Nature Policy Plan for country Sint Maarten. This plan aims to serve up until the end of 2025 as a foundation for sound decision-making and provide support for the allocation of resources and funds as relate to nature.

According to the National Nature Ordinance (Landsverordening grondslagen natuurbeheer en –bescherming (A.B. 2013, GT no. 809), the Minister of VROMI is required to establish a national Nature Policy Plan (Natuurbeleidsplan) and a Nature Plan (Natuurplan) once every five years.

The Nature Policy Plan serves as a general framework for nature policy and the Nature Plan outlines a framework of the tangible activities that will be realized during the planning period to achieve the objectives and priorities of the Nature Policy Plan.

Overall, the vision of this Nature Policy Plan 2021 – 2025, and accompanying Nature Plan, is to embody a shift in traditional attitudes toward nature conservation by embracing the value and importance of nature as a tool to develop resilience towards a changing climate and an asset necessary for economic growth and stability, and citizen well-being.

This document is intended to guide government entities, non-governmental organizations, industry, research, and the community as a whole.

Since this is the first Nature Policy Plan published as country Sint Maarten, it embraces a range of ambitious policy objectives that were developed in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders and originates from the local, regional, and international obligations that Sint Maarten must adhere to.

The policy calls upon the cooperation of a wide range of stakeholders to achieve its objectives. Therefore, both documents were further placed on public review for the month of June 2021, following an initial approval by the Minister of VROMI.

Comments received were incorporated into the policy as appropriate. To download the documents, please visit: http://www.sintmaartengov.org/government/VROMI/Pages/Ministry-Policies-and-Reports.aspx

“As Minister of VROMI, I remain committed to working with the various stakeholders on the island to collaborate on different initiatives to preserve our natural assets,” said Minister Doran.