CASTRIES, St. Lucia – Youth delegates to the Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx) called for effective regional action on global warming and for more education to assist youth in making the region’s destinations “climate friendly”.
In a declaration adopted at the CMEx session in St. Lucia last December, youth participants voiced serious concern about “the separation and segregation of the Caribbean region” and called on governments “to aggressively encourage stakeholders to resume efforts to unite the Caribbean and market the region as a one.”
In addition to working with the media to disseminate travel and tourism messages in the Caribbean, the youth expressed concern at the lack of education in the tourism and environmental fields: “We believe that through education, tourism can become a more sustainable business, and we can teach every citizen how they can benefit from this industry.”
CMEx Director Lelei LeLaulu in dialogue with St. Lucian secondary school students at CMEx.
Photo Credit: Margot Jordan
Focusing on the importance of youth – the future leaders of the world, the declaration urged young people be given “all the resources to do a better job than their predecessors with governing their communities, regions, countries and the world.”
Cognizant that sustainable tourism “transcends environmental policies and practices and includes the social, economic, cultural and community impacts of responsible travel”, the delegates asserted climate change “is the first universal calamity too important to only be addressed by politicians and scientists.”
Urging all Caribbean countries to become members of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the delegates called on all relevant governments and educational institutions to educate the youth “on the importance of the tourism industry and the value of protecting their environment – teaching students how to get involved in sustainable tourism and encouraging them to think innovatively.”
“Determined that the media needs to have a greater presence at CMEx symposia – to help focus media and public policy on climate and tourism,” the students, drawn from secondary schools, asked businesses to “create, foster and nourish meaningful relationships with the media.”
Challenging the media to craft messages that “engage the target audiences through a multi-tiered campaign,” the youth declaration requested “regional governance mechanisms for climate change initiatives in the Caribbean, and literature so tourists understand what climate change and ‘going green’ mean on a more personal level.”
The youth firmly proposed implementing criteria and guidelines that individual island nations have to meet “to be recognized as a climate friendly destination, and to encourage hotels, restaurants, and related industries to launch climate friendly initiatives.”
The student delegates were sponsored by CMEx as part of its commitment to ensuring the best and brightest of the region’s youth select sustainable tourism as the first, and not last, resort, as a career.
Since 2001, the Caribbean Media Exchange (CMEx) has produced 18 conferences and symposia throughout the Caribbean and North America to underscore the value of the region’s largest industry, tourism, in bettering the health, education, culture, environment and wealth of communities in a climate friendly fashion.
