UNESCO NATIONAL COMMISSION RELIES ON STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS TO ACHIEVE GOALS

Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 26, 2021 (SKNIS): St. Kitts and Nevis National Commission for UNESCO is heavily involved in many activities that protect the environment and promote a sustainable future. The effort is costly and often requires partnerships to achieve the stated goals.

On Wednesday’s (March 24, 2021) edition of the radio and television programme “Working for You”, it was shared that the local commission is undertaking an eight-month clean-up project of the Cayon River/Ghaut, Hermitage and Keys Bay Areas as well as Hermitage Estate.

UNESCO is providing U$19,000 to help fund the initiative. However, the total is less than the committee expected. As such, local officials are seeking input from indigenous sources as environmental protection and preservation require an all of society approach.

“We look forward to the partnership of the various non-governmental organizations, even government organizations that can help us,” said Dorothy Warner, Secretary-General of the national UNESCO commission.

“We are in partnership, for the clean-up of Hermitage Estate, with the St. Christopher National Trust. We have begun to reach out to the Peace Initiative [representatives] to get the human resource element to go there with their chain saws etc and begin to cut down a lot of the overgrown trees. We look forward to the support from the Solid Waste Management Corporation, and the Parks and Beaches Unit, and the Skills Training Empowerment Programme (STEP) workers to help us by providing that manpower,” Mrs. Warner added. 

“We are looking for help from all the different places, the different community-based organizations in Cayon, the faith-based [organizations], all of those persons that can come out and give us that type of support to make the project successful,” the secretary-general said.

Alternate sources of funding are also sought. Ms. Warner explained that in 2019, funds were provided by the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) to undertake a similar initiative.

Ensuring the sustainability of environmental initiatives such as the Man and the Biosphere Sphere Project requires a regular source of funding and officials are actively seeking partners in this regard.