Ministry of Sustainable Development et al officially launches Sustainability Month

BASSETERRE, St Kitts, 1 November – The Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment, Climate Action and Constituency Empowerment officially launched Sustainability Month during its Intra-ministerial Coordination Mechanism Management Team (ICMMT) meeting on 1 November 2023 at the Solid Waste Management Corporation’s Conference Room.

Sustainability Month runs from 1-30 November 2023, and merges the efforts of all units of the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Ministry of Environment, Climate Action and Constituency Empowerment, Parks and Beaches Unit and the Solid Waste Management Corporation.

The overall objective for the month of Sustainability is to highlight the fusion of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the Sustainable Island State (SIS) Agenda. For the Ministry, the journey to becoming a Sustainable Island State and taking urgent steps to build climate resilience needs partnership.

The highlights of the month are the launch of the Department of Environment’s SDG Superhero, school outreach, a career fair in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy and the St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank and public awareness activities surrounding the upcoming plastic ban. 

Minister responsible, Hon Dr Joyelle Clarke said the month of Sustainability generally will focus on the departments doing strategic visioning and planning for their work toward the SIS Agenda and also to apply sustainable practices.

In addition to the official launch, the ICMMT, at the time of adjournment, produced four main outcomes that included the Statistics Department leading on reviewing the Ministries’ data collection tools to prioritize gender separation. Another outcome included the intensifying of the communication plan as it is the primary way the department intends to roll out its SDGs and SIS Agenda. 

Thirdly, each Department within the Ministry was tasked with promoting a legislative agenda that would revisit legislation specific to said Department. The final outcome supports a special project geared towards repurposing the waste material generated by coconut vendors.

The ICMMT meets every two months to review, monitor and evaluate the progress and impact of projects; advise on best practices and review and approve public awareness and engagement strategies considering sustainable development, environment, climate action, constituency empowerment, and health and environmental networks.