In the face of global and national challenges Caribbean nations must do more to manage their resources efficiently and create a sustainable way of life in the long term.

These requirements were noted by Minister of Physical Development and Environment Elizabeth Thompson, who officially opened the two-day National Assessment Process Caribbean Regional Workshop, focusing on the environment on Thursday at the Island Inn Hotel.

"It is the SIDS (small island developing states) of the world, especially the tourism dependent ones, that fully appreciate the nexus between the maintenance of a pristine environment and economic growth. Economic well-being and environmental well-being are two sides of the same coin and can be the only currency of our countries," she said.

"While larger, richer nations have a greater capacity for coping with the many challenges that confront us, vulnerable small island states like Barbados are afforded no such luxury."

The workshop, attended by Government and NGO representatives from 19 countries, was held in preparation for next year's World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa, a follow-up to the historic Earth Summit held ten years ago in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) sub-regional office, Rosina Wilson, said such a sharing is important so that countries which have not yet completed their WSSD national reports could learn from other nations' successes. She said it was also important because the Caribbean islands' perspective could be lost in the global meetings, but "it is important that their voices be heard".

Thompson agreed, saying the region needed to "speak with a single voice" to access the global financial and technical support that would promote sustainable development. She lamented "the failure of the international community to deliver the financial resources necessary to achieve the goals of sustainable development" in the region thus far. She, however, asserted "national governments in the region have sought to achieve the goals articulated both in Agenda 21 [born of the Earth Summit of 1992], and the Barbados Programme of Action".

The minister boasted of the Barbadian effort, saying that this country's national report had been submitted since June, and that "during the past ten years we, in Barbados, have started the process of erecting the necessary building blocks for a sustainable society". However, she said, there was still a lot more to be done. "We owe it to future generations."