‘Climate Change and the SDGs in the Caribbean: Youth led virtual forums advocate for action’
'Climate Change and the SDGs in the Caribbean: Youth led virtual forums advocate for action' at the
Sixth Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) held at Columbia
University's Morningside Campus in New York.
Since the UWI STAT Corps aims to mobilize Caribbean young people prepare for climate impacts, we posited a research that asked the following question: Could the development of a climate change advocacy network unify advocacy on climate change issues?
This would mean linking existing youth groups which sometimes operate in silos, to create a strong unified Caribbean voice. This was the centerpiece of our research that was accepted by Sixth Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD).
The project’s work would therefore involve diving deeper into:
- Hypothesis,
- Testing (Primary and Secondary Gathering),
- Results
And - Future Work.
The future work section was projected as a result of our predecessors’ 2018 climate change forum which reported and shared youth recommendations for sectors such as:
1. Industry & Commerce – Youth Involvement in Legislation > Lower Carbon Emissions+ Concessions for climate smart entities/ electric & smart cars
2. Agriculture – Organic farming + natural fertilizers & new “crops” eg. Sargassum
3. Tourism Sector to adopt Renewable Energy
3. Legislation & Climate Change – More sustainability policies in industry, commerce & agriculture.
The research project essentially therefore revealed that all of this would have needed a Climate Education movement as it’s bedrock if it were to stand upright. Ie. “We can register what is happening with satellites and scientific
instruments, but can we register it in our imaginations, the most sensitive of all our devices?” (Rousell, 2020, p.12)
Impact
Therefore at this presentation, we argued that the concept behind the Advocacy Network was to bring climate enthusiasts together from around the Region with the aim to galvanize and mobilize persons in the process since a critical part of the advocacy is education.
Therefore, as we release our monthly newsletter, we have also been visiting and going to students and youth in schools to educate on the importance, the need for mitigation and how we can play our part. That proposal has since evolved now into a wide network of over 300 advocates.
Representing our team in-person in New York was Clayton Mitchell – VP of Disaster Mitigation & Climate Change; Celia Davidson-Francis – Director and Regional Coordinator; and Asha-Gaye Cowell- Alumni Ambassador and Past President.
Readers may access an article link highlighting the poster presentation: