National Conservation Law Review Committee Meets

The National Conservation Law Review Committee, led by chair the Premier, Hon. Alden McLaughlin, met for the first time last week at the Government Administration Building.

At the start of the meeting, the Department of the Environment provided a presentation on the law and answered questions from committee members.

Members discussed the need for a review of the law and agreed that the Terms of Reference (ToR) should be sufficiently broad to allow for wide ranging discussion as the committee does its work. The ToR will be settled at the next meeting.

Premier McLaughlin noted that while Government has its own concerns with certain aspects of the law, the expectation is that the committee would discuss these alongside any public concerns.

Accordingly, as part of the review process the committee will invite feedback from the public on any concerns or suggestions that they have on improving the law or the processes guided by it.

In addition its deliberations will consider the impact of international conventions to which the Cayman Islands is a party, as well as regional and international best practice, among other things.

Decisions by the committee will guide the development of drafting instructions for revisions to the law that would help address these concerns. The committee will meet every two weeks and must submit a report of its findings to Cabinet within a month of the review process ending.

The committee comprises a number of individuals with expertise across a range of sectors, such as environment, tourism, legal and development.

Members include: