Bahamas

CYEN Adviser Dr. Ricardo Taylor, represented the CYEN, Bahamas Chapter at its 14th Biennial General Congress which was held at the Brix Autograph Collection Hotel in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago from December 1st to 4th 2022.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in collaboration with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and regional umbrella Civil Society Organization, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC), recognized Caribbean Wellness Day (CWD) on Saturday, 10 September 2022. As a result, CYEN, Bahamas Chapter responded by entering three members in the National Culinary Competition where they each cooked Vegan dishes.

Members of CYEN, Bahamas Chapter hosted a poster competition on September 2nd 2022, at the Akhepran International Academy. This poster competition was held to allow students to illustrate the impacts of Climate Change on the Earth.

This toolkit was produced by the United Nations Environment Program and developed by youth from the Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) Youth Engagement and Training Initiative (YETI), to inspire young people and provide guidance on how to engage in pro-environmental change on four different levels: an individual, local & national, international and social- media level. The CYEN Bahamas Chapter used this toolkit to help students prepare their speeches for COY17. Additionally, members attended a capacity building training session on Energy Efficient Concepts.

At COP 27, CYEN, Bahamas Chapter Focal Point Dr. Jacinta Higgs participated as a panellist at the International Youth and Student Movement for the United Nations (ISMUN) side-event, “Operationalising finance for loss and damage: examples from Africa and the Caribbean”. In addition, CYEN hosted an event at the first-ever Children and Youth Pavilion. The event titled ‘Caribbean Youth Accelerating Climate and Ocean Action in Small Island Developing States’ is twinned with ‘Climate Finance in the context of Internal Displacements and Climate Refugees in South Asia.

Focal Point for CYEN, Bahamas Chapter Dr. Jacinta Higgs, CYEN Adviser Dr. Ricardo Taylor, and CYEN members Evan Hanna, Arvadranique Rolle and Jeremiah Young joined ten delegates from six Caribbean countries and participated in COY 17 and COP27 held in Sharm El sheik Egypt from 3rd November to 18th November 2022.

Members of CYEN, Bahamas Chapter participated in World Cleanup Day along with several NGOs in New Providence, Bahamas on September 17th 2022. The aim of World Cleanup Day is to raise awareness of our mismanaged waste crisis by mobilising all spheres of society to participate in cleanup actions. During this cleanup, members collected more than ten bags which included paper, bottes, car parts, and plastics, among other things.

The first ever Regional Conference of Youth on Climate Change was held in Nassau, Bahamas from July 6th-8th 2022. RCOY was organised by the Office of the Prime Minister in partnership with several stakeholders, under the theme: ‘One Ocean. One Climate. One Future. Our Collective Pathway to COP27- Centering Caribbean Youth in Climate Action.’ The aim of this conference is to increase capacity and facilitate knowledge sharing among the youth in the region. Five students from the Akhepran International Academy represented the Caribbean Youth Environment Network at RCOY. Those in attendance were Sia Wright, Jameshia Wilson, Jaden Mackey, Orthello Dames and Justinique Rouen.

On July 2022, Executive Coordinator of The Caribbean Youth Environment Network Mr. Reginald Burke and Dr. Jacinta Higgs, founder of Akhepran International Academy, met whilst attending the Caribbean Policy Development Center, Debt and Climate Justice Convention in Grenada, to discuss the vision and strategic goals of CYEN. It was there that Dr. Higgs agreed to register her school, Akhepran International Academy, to CYEN, to implement activities, initiatives, policies, programs and projects in the local community of Fox Hill Village, The Bahamas.  Furthermore, following another meeting that was held on August 18th 2022, Dr. Jacinta Higgs was appointed as the Focal Point for CYEN Bahamas Chapter. To kickstart her short tenure as Focal Point, Dr. Higgs visited several schools with hopes of gaining membership. As a result, five schools have accepted the invite to become CYEN members. All schools who accepted this offer were presented with a CYEN School Program Certificate.