ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2010: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Office within the Department of Economic and Technical Cooperation of the Ministry of Finance, coordinated and hosted a national workshop on “Identification of National Priorities for the Global Environment Facility - Fifth Cycle (GEF-5) in 2011”, from December 16th and 17th 2010 at the Grenada Red Cross Conference Room, Lucas Street, St. George. In his feature address at the opening of the Workshop, the Minister for Finance, Honourable V. Nazim Burke lauded Grenada’s achievements under the GEF Small Grants Program within the last two years. He highlighted the fact that with dynamic leadership and strong commitment, Grenada was able to turn around its performance to become the number one performing country in the programme in the region. Minister Burke also spoke of the unique partnerships among the GEF donor countries and implementing agencies and charged the participants to seize the opportunities being provided under the various Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) to bring about positive results at the local levels. He said “Our Mantra over the next four years should therefore be PERFORMANCE and RESULTS”. Under the GEF-5, Grenada will be allocated substantially increased grant funding to support the work in the national focal areas of Biodiversity Conservation, Climate Change Mitigation, Land Degradation, and Chemicals and Persistent Organic Pollutants. Such focus should result in enhanced sustainable environmental management in Grenada. The Workshop brought together 65 participants which included key persons involved in environmental management from the community based organisations (CBOs), non-governmental organisations, private sector entities and Government ministries and departments. They deliberated on the environmental threats and national priorities for Grenada in 2011 and beyond. Presentations were made, by Grenadians involved in the field, on the four (4) focal areas: Mr. Paul Phillip presented on Biodiversity Conservation; Ms. Aria Johnson presented on Climate Change Mitigation; Mr. Augustus Thomas presented on Land Degradation; and Mr. Paul Graham presented on Chemicals and Persistent Organic Pollutants. The workshop was jointly facilitated by Dr. Reynold Murray- Programme Manager, Energy and the Environment,-UNDP (Barbados and the OECS), Mr. Giles Romulus – Sub-Regional Coordinator GEF Small Grants Program UNDP (Barbados and the OECS), and Ms. Tracy Phillips of the UNDP – (Barbados and the OECS).