The Climate change Mitigation training workshop opened today (19th March) at the Grace and Truth Campsite in Layou and will continue until March 23rd. It was addressed by a number of Caribbean representatives including Dwynette Eversley, Programme Manager, Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) and Barbara Andrews, Youth Advisor, Caribbean Youth Environment Network.

Minister of telecommunications, science and Technology, Hon. Jerrol Thompson while addressing the participants said the world is changing at a rapid and alarming pace and industrialization and development have been rapid, this mainly fuel by energy. Development he said has brought with it the excesses of over consumption and this has created the thirst for more and more energy. He noted here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines government is looking at the installation of a new wind energy farm, between 5-10 megawatts at Ribishi point. According to him this will allow the country to achieve its goal of fifty percent (50%) energy through alternative energy sources.

During the week participants will discuss topics on climate change which includes - challenges and implications, analysis of regional survey, climate change issues in the Caribbean, and enterprise development. They will also be engaged in a field visit at Richmond and Spring Village.

Participating countries are Suriname, Haiti, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Dominican Republic, St. Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Belize, Grenada and host St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The project is funded by the Commonwealth Youth Programme Global Environment Facility and Small Grants operated through the UNDP in Barbados.