The University College of the Cayman Islands hosted a recent two-day workshop to gather views on how it could become a regional sustainability champion.
It invited staff, students, civil society groups, government and private sector representatives to its campus on 30 Nov. and 1 Dec.
Earlier this year, the facility received a €1 million grant from the EU’s Resilience, Sustainable Energy, and Marine Biodiversity (RESEMBID) programme to fund a sustainability plan.
The objectives of the comprehensive plan are:
- To engage and serve the diverse academic and social needs and interests of the university community.
- To provide a roadmap for UCCI to enhance its sustainability practices through benchmarking, monitoring and evaluation.
- To promote synergistic collaborations and partnerships.
- To identify and address the specific issues associated with the sustainable development of the university through recommendations.
The initiative is led by the project’s steering committee and facilitated by Green Caribe Consulting under the guidance of managing director Christine Young.
‘Important milestone’
Day one of the workshop was for UCCI faculty, staff and students, while day two was for public sector and government, private sector and civil society groups.
Each day included a plenary session with remarks and presentations by government officials, UCCI representatives and project partners.
A breakout session followed to allow for the collection of preliminary data from sustainability stakeholders.
Speaking during the opening of the second day, Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, Minister of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency, congratulated UCCI for “reaching this important milestone”.
She said events like these are vital because they bring together decision makers, and shine a spotlight on the next generation of business, community and political leaders.
Joining on Zoom, RESEMBID representative Andrea Floudiotis said the EU programme directly supports the sustainable human development efforts in the 12 overseas countries and territories of the Caribbean region, including Cayman.
“The RESEMBID programme’s impact is certainly only made possible by the creativity, dedication and intentionality of its implementing partners such as UCCI,” he said.
Floudiotis said he takes pride in supporting the university college’s commitment to contributing to the overarching sustainability goals of the Cayman Islands as well as its vision of transforming into a regional champion and its campus into a sustainability model.
“We’re thrilled to witness the key stakeholders that are converging today to actualise this vision,” he said.
Student representative Chad Powell said Cayman is in the “somewhat unique position” of being a very small collection of islands with a very large collection of talented people.
“We have the ability to be world leaders in not just our sustainability efforts but our achievements as well,” he told the audience.
“We can’t just look to others for examples, but we continue to strive to be that example and push for the change that we want to see in the world.”
Other speakers included Deborah Beal, UCCI associate professor in STEM and health; Jennifer Ahearn, chief officer in the Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency; monitoring and evaluation consultant Elizabeth Lloyd; James Whittaker, chair of Cayman Energy Policy Council; Jon Schutte, of Plastic Free Cayman; and Young, of Green Caribe Consulting.
Related Videos
