The Environmental Awareness Group (EAG) wants mechanisms put in place to
ensure the decisions arrived at during the current Fourth International Conference
for Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) ‘trickle down’ to the levels of the non-
governmental organisations.
The EAG’s Off-shore Islands Programme Coordinator, Shanna Challenger said
arriving at key decisions such as the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS
(ABAS) is good but the people at the grassroots level need to be part of the process
of implementation of these decisions.
“If these decisions stay among the government (the public sector) they may not
trickle down to civil society organisations, the grass-roots people who are doing
the work. So, the topics that are being covered, we want to emphasise the role that
we play in training up the next generation of officers who will attend the
conference at the end of ten years who will be technicians helping to fight the
climate crisis,” she stated.
The EAG official said her organisation’s hope is for the conference not to end up
as ‘just another’ talk-show, but that is followed by meaningful action.
Challenger noted that organisations such as the EAG have been monitoring what
has been happening with the environment globally and so they were not surprised
at the current heat-wave affecting many parts of the globe.
“Our partners at the National Park Authority told us that at thirty feet down under
the water, they recorded temperature at up to 86.5 degrees. If the water that far
down is so hot, this means you can’t go under the water to escape the heat
anymore,” she observed.
Representatives from the EAG have been attending several of the side meetings at
the conference that address matters related to the environmental protection.
