The Cabinet approved the draft national population and sustainable development policy as a green paper for public consultation and tabling in Parliament.

This was noted by the Minister of Education, Youth and Information, the Hon. Fayval Williams, during the post-cabinet virtual press briefing, Wednesday October 6.

In 1983, Jamaica was among the first developing countries to formulate and adopt an explicit national population policy.

The national policy and program of action on population and development were revised and adopted in 1995.

Ms Williams said the policy has been revised again in 2021 and remains consistent with the agenda of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Vision 2030 Jamaica, Agenda 2030 and other platforms. -relevant forms of action.

She noted that the revised policy was developed to advance achievements and address unmet goals in the implementation of the 1995 policy.

The Cabinet also approved the National Policy for the Environmentally Sound Management of Hazardous Waste as a White Paper to be tabled in Parliament.

The policy encourages the management of hazardous wastes and calls for the enactment of several legal instruments to address some of the issues that hamper the environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes in Jamaica.