THE Government's environmental advisory committee has been re-named, given broader terms of reference and had its membership expanded to include all the major green groups.
The move has been welcomed by the environmental groups who had lobbied for a stronger role.
The former Environmental Pollution Advisory Committee, or EPCOM, is now known as the Advisory Council on the Environment, or ACE, and its membership was announced yesterday.
The World Wide Fund for Nature will have a seat on the council for the first time, as will the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries, in recognition that conservation issues will be addressed.
The committee has been boosted by two, to 17 members.
Unlike EPCOM, ACE's terms of reference will not be limited to outdoor pollution but will take in conservation, indoor air quality and any other issues related to the environment.
EPCOM previously was barred from discussing non-pollution issues, most prominently when it was told it could not discuss the controversial Shalotung golf course because it was not within its terms of reference.