Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 31, 2023 (SKNIS): The Ministry of Tourism’s annual Green Tourism Camp was deemed a tremendous success.
The Camp was held at the St. Kitts Eco-Park from July 24-28, 2023, under the theme “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” and the slogan for this year was “P3-Protection from Plastic Pollution”. The Camp hosted forty (40) students, ages 8-12 years, from four primary schools: The Sandy Point Primary; Newtown Ground Primary; St. Paul’s Primary and the Dieppe Bay Primary.
The interactive sessions, field trips, and other activities of the camp were designed to inspire the young students to become advocates for sustainable tourism development and to equip them to contribute positively to the sector and to nation-building. The Camp also aimed to bring awareness to climate change and pollution and to educate the students on creating a green society.
The Camp was successful through a collaboration among the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Environment, the Sustainable Unit within the Ministry of Tourism, and representatives from the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The Taiwanese Embassy made a presentation on recycling; the Department of Environment presented on the topic “Harmful Effects of Plastic on the Environment” and the Ministry of Tourism held a session on Sustainable Tourism. A camp recycling competition was also conducted to teach campers the importance of recycling and community clean-up of the environment.
At the closing ceremony of the Green Tourism Camp on July 28, Minister of Tourism, the Honourable Marsha Henderson said, “Plastic pollution has become an alarming global issue, threatening not only our environment but also the well-being of our communities where we live and our ecosystem.”
Continuing, she emphasized that the camp’s core activities and initiatives have centered around safeguarding against plastic pollution while saying that she believed that the camp had accomplished its objective.
“As we sit here today, we have achieved an amazing milestone in raising awareness of this critical challenge and empowering ourselves to make a difference,” Minister Henderson said.
Also, she mentioned that the camp delved into inventive approaches and exemplary methods with the aim of diminishing plastic waste, advocating recycling, and fostering sustainable consumption habits.
“We have learned that our individual choices and collective actions have the power to shape a greener, cleaner future for all and this is a realization that can happen sometime soon,” she said.
“I am immensely proud of each and every one of you for your active participation, dedication, and commitment to protecting our planet from plastic pollution,” Minister Henderson said in congratulating the students.
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