Concurrent with the Council of Minister’s meeting in the Virgin Islands, the Exhibition on Environmental Sustainability will be re-opened to the public at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College. Photo: OECS/Facebook

Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley (R7) said the COM:ES meeting was unexpectedly and necessarily deferred by the catastrophic impacts that Hurricane Beryl caused in several Caribbean countries, including three Member States of the OECS. Photo: GIS/File

The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Eleventh Council of Ministers: Environmental Sustainability (COM:ES 11) initially scheduled for July 2 to 4, 2024, will now be held on from Wednesday, July 24 to Thursday 25, 2024, under the theme 'From Aspiration to Focused Action'. Photo: OECS

The conference held as an annual meeting of all ministers of Environment and Sustainability in the Eastern Caribbean will be hosted by the [British] Virgin Islands.

Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley (R7) said the COM:ES meeting was intended to cap off the observance of Environment Month; however, it was unexpectedly and necessarily deferred by the catastrophic impacts that Hurricane Beryl caused in several Caribbean countries, including three Member States of the OECS.

Dr Wheatley said the destruction by Beryl was very reminiscent of the experience the Territory had in September of 2017 with Hurricane Irma.

“Serving as this year’s Chair of the Council, Premier, and Minister of Environment, Natural Resources, and Climate Change, I am deeply saddened by the damage and loss suffered by our regional counterparts and simultaneously motivated to see the outputs of this year’s meeting yield marked advances in building the necessary capacity for resilience in all of our small island states,” Dr Wheatley stated at a press conference on Friday, July 19, 2024.

‘Urgent & critical topics’ to be discussed

The Premier said the conference, which will be attended both physically and virtually by Ministers and senior technical officers with responsibility for environmental management throughout the OECS, will discuss in great detail urgent and critical topics such as climate change, biodiversity and ecosystems, ocean governance and fisheries, food security, chemical pollution and waste, land and water conservation, and sustainable energy. 

The OECS is made up of eleven countries comprising Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Martinique and Guadeloupe.