From Jamaica Gleaner

Jamaica is to today host the Caribbean’s first symposium on climate change and world heritage at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

The three-day symposium,which is being held under the theme: ‘Rallying for the Protection of Culture and Heritage in SIDS Under a Sustainable 21st Century Climate Change Agenda’, will begin with an opening ceremony, starting at 9 a.m.

The meeting is being hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, in collaboration with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization Cluster Office for the Caribbean, the Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO (Participatory Programme), and the Climate Change Division of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

Some 40 delegates from 12 Caribbean countries with existing world heritage properties are expected to attend.

SYMPOSIUM’S AIM

Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Dr Janice Lindsay, said the symposium aims to bring awareness to the threat of climate change among site managers and policymakers, as well as the main elements of useful management strategies to respond to climate change.

Delegates are expected from Barbados, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Suriname, Antigua and Barbuda, Curacao, Belize, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

“These are persons who manage the sites. They have major administrative roles. They are able to speak on how the sites function, but importantly we will also have policymakers who will be able to speak to the various government responses from the different islands,” she said.

For more on this story go to: https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20170529/jamaica-hosts-first-caribbean-world-heritage-symposium

IMAGE; OMICS International