SLYOU Magazine Issue 2 | Page 66

ENVIRONMENT SPOTLIGHT Two OECS climate change activists raise awareness internationally OECS Media Release Two young environmental activists from the OECS earlier this year participated in the third edition of the Peace Boat’s Ocean & Climate Youth Ambassador Programme. Saint Lucian Jevanic Henry and Montserratian Ashneil Jeffers have seized this opportunity to draw the attention of the international community to the urgent necessity to accelerate climate resilience actions in the countries of the Eastern Caribbean – which remain among the most impacted nations in the world despite being minor contributors to climate change. For many years, Henry has been deeply involved in a series of initiatives to raise awareness on environmental issues in his home country and regionally. Thanks to funding from the Peace Boat’s Ocean & Climate Youth Ambassador Programme and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the 22-year-old was able to take his message to the international arena. Additionally, Jeffers, who has been engaged in non-governmental organisations as a volunteer for many years, also participated in the programme, thanks to 64 SL-YOU | It’s All About Business funding from the Government of Montserrat and the Waitt Institute. Both OECS nationals joined a group of six youth ambassadors who represented other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), including Fiji, Tuvalu, Palau, Singapore, Seychelles, and Trinidad and Tobago. The young leaders boarded the Peace Boat on a mission which aimed to amplify the call for action to address climate change and ocean degradation. “Climate change and ocean degradation are issues which will www.slyoumag.com | September-October 2019