Above: Minister of State, Ministry of Environment Phenton Neymour (BIS Photo/Patrick Hanna)

More than 100 experts are gathering in the Bahamas to discuss the importance of climate change education for small island developing states at the UNESCO Conference on Climate Change Education.

“For quite some time, scientists and environmentalists have been sounding the alarm and focusing attention on the acute problem of global warming and the drastic shifts in weather patterns that have coincided with this state of affairs,” said Bahamas Education Minister Desmond Bannister.

Bannister said he was eager to see the UNESCO Teacher Education course on climate change implemented, although it is still in the development process.

“We all recognise that teachers are the best channels of knowledge in our world and therefore, we must equip them with the knowledge and confidence to lead in this global mission to educate our citizens about how their lifestyles and their unchecked desires for comfort have made our planet vulnerable,” he said.

While small island states like the Bahamas produce less than 1 percent of global greenhouse emissions, their geographic and economic characteristics make them highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, possibly more so than anywhere else in the world, according to Phenton Neymour, Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment.

“Many SIDS like the Bahamas share economic characteristics that present challenges to sustainable development,” he said. “In fact, SIDS comprise 12 of the 50 least developed countries designated by the United Nations.”

–Bahamas Information Service