Three Youth Ambassadors are representing the Federation at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, two of whom are from Nevis.
Cordiesere Walters, a Youth Development Officer and Sybastian Manners, a Physical Planning Officer are both employees of the Nevis Island Administration, while Derionne Edmeade, Environmental Educational Officer hails from St Kitts.
Hon Dr. Joyelle Clarke, Minister for the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action, declared her support for and her conviction that the youth are the critical component in the battle against climate change and climate resilience in St. Kitts and Nevis.
She said, “We are happy that the youth are our equal partners in this climate resilience pathway with the establishment of the Ministry of Climate Action. Youth ambassadorial work is particularly important and the expectation is that the three individuals become our first youth focal point and youth ambassadors for climate action. They have been tasked with daily reflections, social media reflections, posting, networking, and connections regionally and internationally for climate action.”
The major task of the youth faction is to deliver five youth-driven actionables for the Ministry of Climate Action for 2023. They include nature, food, water, climate adaptation and industry decarbonization.
Dr Clarke said the intentional approach to expand the delegation in partnership with ROC (Taiwan) was done because they remain a primary partner in terms of bilateral relationships. Their actions within the Federation and in Taiwan, she said, demonstrate readiness and willingness to partner on climate change for Small Island Development States.
Minister Clarke emphasised, “We recognize that expanding the delegation, which is, the first time it has been done and at no cost to the government, was necessary because these negotiations and networking sessions require large delegations so that St Kitts and Nevis can benefit from the three-week conference. The technical team will be there ahead of the Ministry and will be working on a CARICOM agenda of Loss and Damage, financing the 1.5 threshold.”
The 1.5° threshold refers to countries making a concerted climate action, via the Paris Agreement, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to ultimately reduce global warming.
The Republic of China (Taiwan) fully sponsored the participation of the youth delegation while GirlsCARE Jamaica, a climate activist group, co-sponsored Cordiesere Walters.