Inaugural Girls’ Climate Justice Summit Being Hosted In St. Kitts & Nevis

Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 24, 2022 — Four young women (Nataliyah Thomas of Cayon, St Kitts along with Cordiesere Walters, Aleyah Powell and Kesharna Stapleton of Nevis) are co-leading the planning of the inaugural Girls’ Climate Justice Summit on June 30, 2022. The event is being hosted in Nevis at the Malcolm Guishard Recreation Park, in partnership with the Department of Youth (Nevis) and the Cayon High School and the CHS Environmental Club. The young women are mentees in the regional GirlsCARE (Climate Action for Resilience & Empowerment) programme. 

The Girls Climate Action for Resilience & Empowerment uses an intersectional approach to teach young women how to approach climate action within frameworks of climate justice and gender justice. This year the programme welcomed 25 mentees from across the Caribbean – The Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis and Trinidad & Tobago. They will be supported by 16 mentors from across the region.

The aim of the programme is to enhance the capacity of the young women to continue their climate advocacy and amplify their collective voices globally. In the Caribbean, as with, many countries in the Global South, women and girls are championing climate action but with structural and resource limitations which limit their reach. 

The recently published Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reiterated the severe risks posed by climate change. The report also noted that vulnerable and marginalized communities will be among the worst affected. The intersectional approach toward climate action is pivotal to ensuring gender-just solutions, accessible climate finance and a just transition to achieve the targets of the National Determined Contributions (NDC). 

The event will engage twenty (20), young women, from St. Kitts & Nevis in conversations around climate change, including climate adaptation, mitigation, loss and damage and climate justice. These topics are central to current conversations in global climate change discussions and are of importance in the shaping of national policies and plans for climate action in St. Kitts & Nevis. 

GirlsCARE received funding from Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation this year as one of 18 organizations in the Caribbean working on climate justice. The founders are encouraging young women and girls to advance their own solutions and actions to address the climate crisis.

For more information contact Dr. Joyelle Clarke (GirlsCare Mentor and Coordinator of the CHS Environmental Club) by email at joyelle.clarke@girlscare.