A small delegation of youth ambassadors will represent the Cayman Islands at the upcoming COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
The 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, known as COP26, begins on 31 Oct. and will be attended by representatives of 197 countries. The two-week-long summit will bring together governments, NGOs, and business and community leaders, as well as scientists and environmental activists, in a bid to accelerate action towards limiting the planet’s temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050.
Among those attending from Cayman will be Dejea Lyons, 18, who has been selected as a student representative for all the UK Overseas Territories and who will speak on an ‘Oceans Panel’ at the global conference.
Isabela Watler, who, like Lyons, is involved with Cayman youth advocacy and conservation group Protect Our Future, also will be representing the jurisdiction as a youth ambassador, while Dinara Perera of the Mangrove Rangers will be attending the public events associated with the conference.
Catherine Childs, the National Trust’s environmental programmes manager, will also be attending. The National Trust chose the youth ambassadors from what it said was a broad field of inspiring and talented individuals.
Childs told the Compass, “We’re very lucky to have this calibre of students representing the National Trust and the Cayman Islands at this international conference.”
Lyons, who attended Prospect Primary, Clifton Hunter, and Cayman International School, is on an academic scholarship from the Ministry of Education, pursuing studies in Global Development and Sustainability at Bath Spa University in the UK. While at CIS, she was vice president of Protect Our Future.
In the statement, Lyons said, “Since discovering my passion for the environment, I have been actively researching climate change and the impact that it will have on small island nations such as ours. Sadly however, once I became aware of these effects, I quickly came to realize that hypotheses made by scientists have started to become a reality for our islands. This includes beach erosion, coral bleaching, stronger hurricanes and more.
“Witnessing these events occur, has only fueled my passion to help strengthen Cayman’s resilience against climate change, not only for myself, but for the future generations to come. This is why I am extremely thrilled to have the opportunity to represent the United Kingdom Overseas Territories at COP26. Not only will I be able to inform others on what the Cayman Islands has been doing to alleviate the impacts of climate change on our community but I will be able to listen and learn from experts and political leaders globally about their methods of resolving this global issue.”
Lyon’s panel will take place on Saturday, 6 Nov., at 5-5:45am Cayman time, and the event will be available over a live stream.
‘Carrying the torch’
Premier and Minister for Sustainability and Climate Resiliency Wayne Panton in a statement congratulated Lyons, saying he felt confident knowing that she is “carrying the torch for our three islands”.
Panton added, “I am so very proud that Dejea is standing up, speaking out and demanding that the world acts to secure her future and those to come for her Cayman Islands and our sister United Kingdom Overseas Territories. Dejea will make an excellent ambassador when she represents us and other OTs at COP26.”
Panton will also be attending the summit in Glasgow.
Annick Jackson, executive director of the National Trust, said in the statement that Lyons was “an inspiration reminding all of us that change comes when we are bold and willing to stand for what is important to our very survival, as rapid climate change can and will challenge our survival as small island states. Dejea’s selection is momentous. Well done to her and all the Youth Ambassadors.”
Jackson, in a separate interview with the Compass, said she hoped the COP summit would give a voice to Cayman’s young ambassadors “but also provide an educational experience for them that widens their understanding of climate change and resiliency, and perhaps helps them to push the discussion or the conversation back home on what can be done, and the types of solutions that we can look at within our community.”
Youth have important role to play
Mangrove Rangers’ Perera, who was a finalist for the Lois Blumenthal Youth Conservation Award this week, says she is also looking forward to attending the conference’s public events, meeting people from all over the world “and seeing the energy there”, as well as following the outcome of the negotiations among world leaders on climate change issues.
Earlier this month, Perera represented the Cayman Islands at a pre-COP26 virtual conference, hosted in Milan, Italy, at which she did a presentation on the importance of coastal lagoon eco-systems, such as mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs, in small island states.
Perera said she felt it was extremely important that young people play a role in the climate change conversation locally and internationally.
“Young people are going to be inheriting the Earth and now we are at the point where we don’t have much time left to do something. It’s really important we do get involved and press our governments to act now… so our future can be protected,” she said.
‘Tipping point’
Governor Martyn Roper also spoke to the Compass about the upcoming COP26 conference, describing it as an “important event for the world”.
“We really are at a tipping point,” he said. “Everybody feels the pressure at the moment, because we’ve seen some extreme climate events this year, which are really a taster, I think, of what we can expect in the future if we don’t get the temperature rise under control.”
At the summit, leaders will discuss methods to manage the temperature of the planet – limiting its increase to 1.5 degrees. The aim, by the middle of this century, is that the world will be producing less carbon than it takes out of the atmosphere – known as reaching ‘net zero’.
Roper said, “The UK has done a huge amount to get as much of the world economy included in the emission target to try to get to net zero by 2050, so we are not putting more carbon into the atmosphere and causing dangerous temperature rise. There is much work to do.
“There had been some progress. I think 70% of the world economy is now included in that net zero target for 2050 which will help us to keep temperature rise at 1.5 [degrees] but we’re not there.”
He added, “What we can see is a lot of countries wanting faster progress, and clearly in Cayman we’re one of those smaller territories that will be directly affected by climate change. We want to get faster progress, so we can protect the wonderful habitats and biodiversity and our coral reefs. It’s a shocking fact if we get to 2 degree temperature increase, many of our coral reefs will disappear around the Cayman Islands. We need that temperature rise to be limited and we need the world community to step up.”
The four main aims of the summit are:
- Secure global net zero by 2050 and keep 1.5 degree temperature rise within reach
- Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats
- Mobilise climate finance
- Work together to deliver rules to implement the Paris Agreement
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