The Jamaica Observer reports that Shashion Thomas has been selected as one of the region’s ten Climate Change Champions. The young woman says that she is looking forward to the climate champion’s first training workshop to be held in Kingston, Jamaica, from September 17 to 19, 2010. The Caribbean Climate Champions will have access to training and information to develop the debate in their communities and implement projects that help people adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. Other Caribbean youth leaders chosen are Handy Acosta (Cuba), Nolana Lynch (Trinidad and Tobago), and Mariama Branker (Barbados).
International Climate Champions is a youth oriented program run by the British Council in partnership with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). This program is part of British Council’s global project called “Climate Generation” which is delivered through a network of Climate Champions across 60 countries and eight regions. It is directly aimed at young people aged 18-23 and through them will engage leaders and influencers in the society, as well as reaching out to the wider community. Climate Generation engages young people with a proactive interest in climate change and wish to take positive action at local, national and international levels. Climate Champions are typically young people who committed and enthusiastic about tackling climate change, are strong communicators, are in a position to show leadership, have access to networks and can demonstrate the ability to act as influencers, and can demonstrate a sound knowledge and understanding of climate change.
Thomas’ work with climate change started in 2009 when she participated in the COP15 meeting in Denmark. Since then, she has been involved with projects related to the environment and climate change. An advisor in the Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN), she was selected in recognition of her contribution to youth and climate change advocacy programming with the network.
CYEN is the largest youth environmental network in the Caribbean, with participation from 17 territories. The organization holds a distinguished track record of youth-led environmental and sustainable development advocacy. For the past five years, CYEN has focused on the issues of climate change as well as the promotion of sustainable livelihoods through the education of young Caribbean people.
A strong believer in the idea that we can all make a difference, Thomas states: “Time is the essence of life, and time is against us, therefore we must act today to ensure tomorrow. We can’t control time, but we can control climate change, even through the simple things we do.”
For full article, see http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/environment/Young-Jamaican-among-Caribbean-s-climate-champs_7928669
For more information on the British Council’s Climate Change Champions, see http://www.britishcouncil.org/india-projects-lcf-climatechampions.htm
See more on CYEN at http://www.cyen.org/
