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In 1992, Caribbean states were among over 150 states, who adopted, by consensus, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Principle 10 of that Declaration emphasises the role of participatory rights at a national level in the achievement of the goal of sustainable development. It articulates what are now commonly referred to as the three 'pillars' of procedural participation in environmental matters: access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice. In the two decades which have followed since the Rio Declaration, regional studies have demonstrated that Caribbean countries continue to struggle with the meaningful implementation of these procedural environmental rights. The focus of this study will be on the evaluation of the mechanisms relating to access to justice and public participation in two Commonwealth Caribbean countries: Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. The objective is to understand the gaps or deficiencies which exist in the legal frameworks of the selected states which may create barriers to the effective implementation of these access rights. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters will be used as the primary yardstick to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the current domestic regimes. Finally, recommendations for reform are made which can help to improve the strength and implementation of the procedural rights in the selected jurisdictions.

Already one of the most impoverished countries in the world, Guyanas economy is experiencing a downward spiral under IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programs (SAPs), which ironically, were designed to boost the economy. This claim is analyzed with respect to three of Guyanas most important industries: logging, mining and sugar.<p>However, while SAPs have been a major force in influencing Guyanas recent development path, the nations colonial inheritance must also be considered. Specifically, this legacy set the conditions under which Guyanas two major political parties, the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) and the Peoples National Congress (PNC), both claiming to be adherents to socialism, came to power. Their policies and actions, influenced by the colonial inheritance, eventually led to Guyanas adoption of austerity measures designed by the international financial institutions (IFIs). This analysis therefore begins with an examination of the rise of these two dominant political parties, the role of colonialism in their emergence and the impact their actions and policies have had in laying the foundations for SAPs. It then turns to examining specifically the effects of SAPs on three major areas of the economy, logging, mining and sugar.<p> This study is significant because it draws attention to the problems associated with SAPs. While structural adjustment has become a widely accepted form of financial assistance over the past two decades, upon closer examination, its negative effects far outweigh the positive ones. Therefore, SAPs should be better tailored to the specifics of Guyanas economy.

Already one of the most impoverished countries in the world, Guyanas economy is experiencing a downward spiral under IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programs (SAPs), which ironically, were designed to boost the economy. This claim is analyzed with respect to three of Guyanas most important industries: logging, mining and sugar.<p>However, while SAPs have been a major force in influencing Guyanas recent development path, the nations colonial inheritance must also be considered. Specifically, this legacy set the conditions under which Guyanas two major political parties, the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) and the Peoples National Congress (PNC), both claiming to be adherents to socialism, came to power. Their policies and actions, influenced by the colonial inheritance, eventually led to Guyanas adoption of austerity measures designed by the international financial institutions (IFIs). This analysis therefore begins with an examination of the rise of these two dominant political parties, the role of colonialism in their emergence and the impact their actions and policies have had in laying the foundations for SAPs. It then turns to examining specifically the effects of SAPs on three major areas of the economy, logging, mining and sugar.<p> This study is significant because it draws attention to the problems associated with SAPs. While structural adjustment has become a widely accepted form of financial assistance over the past two decades, upon closer examination, its negative effects far outweigh the positive ones. Therefore, SAPs should be better tailored to the specifics of Guyanas economy.

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The goldenrod genus Solidago L. is one of the larger genera in the flowering plant family Asteraceae. The genus is primarily North American and was recently revised in Flora of North America. In contrast, Solidago in South America is not well understood and has been thought to be represented by one group in one subsection the S. chilensis complex with only two species. However, among specimens borrowed to analyze the Solidago chilensis complex were a small number of collections of two additional species, S. missouriensis Nutt. and S. virgaurea [synonym: S. patagonica], from two different subsections not previously reported from South America. Using multivariate morphometric analyses on a matrix of 50 traits of 160 specimens (stepwise discriminant, classificatory and canonical analyses), the distinctiveness of the Solidago chilensis complex was tested and found to be statistically different from three morphologically similar North America species. Using just the 104 specimens of the Solidago chilensis complex, the previously published classification dividing the complex into two species was tested and found to be supported statistically but with many misclassifications a posteriori. Alternative ways of dividing the complex into species and varieties were explored in order to create a statistically strongly supported revised classification of the Solidago chilensis complex with two species, S. chilensis and S. microglossa.