Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 10, 2011 (SKNIS): The
March 8 and 9 Caribbean Conference on Climate Change
and Ethical Principles in St. Kitts and Nevis was
hailed a success, and policy makers along with
delegates, have vowed to do more to raise the
population’s awareness and promote behavioural
change on related issues.
St. Lucia’s Minister of Environment Honourable
Richard Frederick commented on the sessions during a
press conference, Wednesday night.
“Our level of success was judged by the
enthusiasm, the passion and the content of our
deliberations and obviously having persons
representing Governments at the highest level gives
you an indication as to the seriousness we in the
Region take climate change and I think so far, given
the contents of the draft communiqué, we can judge
it a success,” he said. “It is now for us to put
whatever we said into practice and to have UNESCO to
just meet their end of the bargain in terms of doing
what’s necessary to protect our low lying areas
against the possible effects of climate change.”
President of UNESCO’s General Conference Dr.
Davidson Hepburn praised the zeal of the Ministers
in attendance and explained that he had been to many
similar meetings and was particularly impressed by
the high level of interaction and dedication
exhibited by the policymakers and other delegates at
this conference.
Minister with responsibility for the Environment
in Antigua and Barbuda, Honourable Hilson Baptiste
said he was moved by the presentations and intends
to take firm action. He noted a subsequent
discussion he had with officials from the OECS
Secretariat.
“And we have asked them to collaborate with all
of the agencies in the area to begin the education
process now,” Minister Baptiste stated, adding that
primary and even kindergarten level educational
institutions should be included. He revealed a
desire to see television programmes produced, in
addition to regular news articles broadcasted and
printed.
“I’ve seen some pictures [during various
presentations]. If you see them you will be amazed
as to what is happening in the world, or in the
Region itself. If you can put those images on
television screens to show the people of the entire
Region what is happening, I think we will begin to
get serious about climate change and the effects on
our lives,” Minister Baptiste stressed.
Meanwhile, Honourable Karl Hood, the Minister
responsible for the Environment in Grenada stressed
that a paradigm shift is needed among research
agencies as what he termed “a disproportionate
amount is being spent on the consultancy process and
not enough spent on the work on the ground.”
“If you have an 80:20 consultancy fee as opposed
to what is actually being done, then to me you’re
wasting the time. You should have a 20:80, 80
percent being that which is on the ground, which
educate persons [and] causes the sharing of
information so that the … masses of people will
understand what needs to be done to change their
behaviour so that we can mitigate against the
problems,” he disclosed.
Host Minister Honourable Nigel Carty, who chaired
the event, expressed pleasure with the two-day
conference and thanked his colleague Ministers and
participating delegates for their inputs, as well as
UNESCO for collaborating with his Government to
bring the high level meeting to St. Kitts and Nevis.
He also extended appreciation to the Chairman of
the implementation and steering committee Dr.
Leighton Naraine and subcommittee members for
organizing the logistics and promotion of the event.
The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Foundation received an
ovation for its magnanimous support as well as local
sponsors Kittitian Hill, C&C Superfoods, PetroCaribe
and Windsor University.
Contact: St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service
e-mail:
sknisgov@gmail.com
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