The Organisation of Jap Caribbean States (OECS) along with the Authorities of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) might be internet hosting its eleventh Council of Ministers Assembly on Environmental Sustainability (COM:ES11) in Tortola from July 3-4.
The aim of this assembly themed, “From Aspiration to centered ACTION,” is to strategise and make collective choices among the many Member States of the OECS in advancing the implementation of the St. George’s Declaration of Rules for Environmental Sustainability. This consists of minimising environmental vulnerability, enhancing environmental administration, and defending the area’s useful resource base for optimum social and financial advantages. It can additionally tackle urgent points equivalent to local weather change, biodiversity conservation, sustainable vitality, and waste administration.
This yr’s assembly would be the first to take inventory of actions and partnerships in help of progress, alongside the Roadmap to 2030, which was endorsed in July 2023 at COM:ES 10 in Anguilla, with its six technical thematic priorities. Ministers will think about suggestions from the newly established Ministerial-led Standing Committees on cross-cutting and enabling themes, together with complementary contributions from aligned Companions. On the heels of the not too long ago concluded fourth Worldwide Convention on Small Island Creating States (SDIS4), COM:ES 11 will characteristic a panel of Ministers and key specialists, who will deep-dive on the implications for and positioning of the OECS area in implementing and leveraging of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) in direction of resilient prosperity, by means of environmental sustainability.
Premier and Minister of Finance, Pure Assets and Local weather Change, Dr. Natalio Wheatley, is happy to welcome fellow ministers and high-level representatives, Companions and the OECS Fee to the Virgin Islands.
He said: “Internet hosting COM:ES 11 within the Virgin Islands is a big alternative for our area to debate important environmental points and collaborate on sustainable options. The Virgin Islands is dedicated to advocating for environmental sustainability within the Caribbean and past.”
The OECS will concurrently host its annual Environmental Sustainability Exhibition on the H. Lavity Stoutt Group School auditorium from July 2-4 from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., each day. The exhibition will characteristic Digital Actuality emersion, instructional movies, informational spreads, and shows on local weather resilience, environmental administration, ocean, and biodiversity, to call just a few. This yr, the Fee has additionally partnered with a The Hydrous, a non-profit organisation on a mission to encourage ocean empathy and marine stewardship, to conduct a research on the effectiveness of utilizing digital actuality expertise in reaching college students, coverage makers and different stakeholders.
Dr. Ronald Smith-Berkeley, Everlasting Secretary within the Ministry of Atmosphere, Pure Assets, and Local weather Change within the British Virgin Islands recommended the collaborative efforts in organising the occasion:
“This convention and exhibition underscore our dedication to environmental sustainability and the way forward for our area. The efforts made by officers throughout the Civil Service are really commendable.”
The assembly is principally supported by the European Union by means of the BioSPACE and Built-in Panorama Administration initiatives – two initiatives which search to preserve marine and terrestrial biodiversity, and optimise the contribution of land to agriculture, meals safety, local weather change mitigation and adaptation, and the preservation of ecosystems and the important providers they supply.
The OECS includes eleven members throughout the Jap Caribbean, together with Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Martinique, and Guadeloupe.
