The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis continues to push forward with its plans and preparations for the 28th Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which will convene from November 30 to December 12, 2023, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This was according to the Minister of Environment and Climate Action, the Honourable Dr. Joyelle Clarke during the Prime Minister’s Press Conference with Cabinet Ministers on January 18 at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Conference Room.

“We are going to COP 28, and we have made a decision to expand our delegation. The Department of [Environment] has been working very closely with the New York Mission in terms of selecting persons. We have selected another young person who would be part of our Oasis Delegation, so they have one full year of training and development to lend to the Loss and Damage Conversation,” said Dr. Clarke. “We joined the regional conversation to identify focal points and regional heads to sit on the transitional committee for Loss and Damage and we supported delegates from Barbados and Suriname.”

Dr. Clarke said that the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis continues to work locally as a mandate from COP27 to “have what we call a mini-COP so that more young persons could join the needed conversation on Loss and Damage.” One of the successes coming out of COP27 in Egypt in 2022, was the establishment and operationalization of a Loss and Damage Fund which aims to provide financial assistance to nations most vulnerable and impacted by the effects of climate change.

Important to note, Dr. Clarke said that there is a need for people to be educated on environmental and climate matters.

“In the Prime Minister’s State Visit to Taiwan, one of the things that stood out is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the fact that their mandate started with the preschoolers. We are now in conversation with the Ministry of Education, as well as the Department of Gender Affairs in terms of getting the students involved at the preschool level to understand the message of recycling, the 1.5 to stay alive, as well as bringing more young women onboard with our 1.5 to stay alive and Loss and Damage,” said the Environment Minister.

The “1.5 to stay alive” arose from a goal stipulated in the Paris Agreement to hold the global average temperature increase to 1.5℃ (degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels. The aim is to implement measures to reduce massive greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.