NEPA’s new boss urges stakeholders to hold him accountable
LEONARD FRANCIS, the newly appointed chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), is urging the relevant stakeholders to hold him accountable for his stewardship of the agency which oversees the country’s environmental protection, natural resource management, l and use and spatial planning.
Francis assumed the role of CEO three weeks ago.
“If I am failing, as a good supervisor, you say, ‘Mr Francis, you are failing based on these, you are failing… .’ Nuh wait till the end of the year, always keep my foot there, because... I want to remain humble,” he said.
Francis, who is also a trained economist, told The Gleaner he was very seized of NEPA’s role in fostering an environment for sustainable development, stressing that the agency “is not driven by any rich developers”.
“As far as I’m concerned, we will be seeing development happening, but it’s going to be responsible, we’ll be protecting the natural environment, but we will also be catering to the needs of every class of persons, everybody in Jamaica,” he said.
In the meantime, Sophia Frazer-Binns, Opposition spokesperson on land, environment and climate change, is imploring Francis to assert the entity’s independence in how it addresses issues that fall under its remit.
She told The Gleaner that the public does not believe the agency acts independently, a view she said the new leadership has an opportunity to disprove.
DEBUNKING PERCEPTION
“I believe that the way in which NEPA handles matters that come before it, whether it is planning matters or strictly environmental matters such as pollution matters, will, to a large extent, either support or debunk the perception,” she said.
She outlined that this point of view is supported by the fact that NEPA is housed in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation. With that being the case, she contended that instances where environment and economic growth interests clash, the latter supersedes environmental concerns “notwithstanding the varying conditions that may or may not have been attached to the decisions”.
According to Frazer-Binns, these occurrences are even more evident when decisions of NEPA are overruled by the minister, an authority she notes is given to the minister under the Executive Agencies Act 2002.
While noting that NEPA can only play a “merely persuasive role”, she stressed that the agency should be removed from that ministry and wants consideration to be given to whether NEPA should have its own legislation so it can “stand on its own as a true independent regulator”.
Frazer-Binns argued that this will become increasingly important as issues of climate change and sustainable development become more pressing and people become more environmentally conscious.
“I believe that, until the legislation has been changed, that what NEPA has control over has to do with how it treats with issues before it, and the very new leadership of NEPA, under Mr Francis, can change the perception that persons have of NEPA,” she said. “I believe that, given his experience and his own academic training, that he is more than qualified to lead the charge and change the perception of NEPA,” she added.
CONFUSING FRAMEWORK
But Diana McCaulay, founder of the Jamaica Environment Trust, outlined that it is the “untidy and confusing” regulatory framework under which NEPA operates that is of greater concern as opposed to the ministry where it is housed.
“The fact that we have a Natural Resources and Conservation Authorities Act… but basically don’t have a NEPA Act... . The NRCA Act calls into being a statutory authority for the Natural Resources Conservation Authority and people who are appointed to that statutory board sit around and decide what permit will be issued, but the CEO of NEPA reports directly to the minister,” she noted.
McCaulay stated that Francis should agitate for a law specific to NEPA, highlighting issues in the NRCA Act such as low fines, lack of environment impact regulation and the “chipping” away at public consultation guidelines.
“I do think that the whole legislation framework for the environment does need a rethink and a relook, but I am afraid it’s going to take 25 years,” she said.
McCaulay is also hopeful that Francis’ tenure at the agency will see it being “far more effective” and “more understanding of what its actual mandate is”.
Francis succeeds Peter Knight, who had led NEPA since 2009.