“We are not interested in inheriting a planet in crisis wrapped in promises. We want to help manage it—now.”
This was the call to action from St Kitts and Nevis CARICOM Youth Ambassador (CYA), Aquanjé Robinson, during his remarks at the opening of the Global Sustainable Islands Summit 2025, which was held in St. Kitts and Nevis from 25 – 30 May.
The summit comprised a series of in-person events dedicated to advancing sustainable development across islands worldwide. Building upon the momentum of the 2024 SIDS4 Conference, the summit addressed the pressing challenges faced by island communities, focusing on water sustainability and the energy nexus, agricultural resilience and climate adaptation, Climate-Health Interactions, and Geothermal Energy.
Vanessa Burke, Dean and CYA for the Cayman Islands; Samantha Rampersad, CYA for Trinidad and Tobago and Vice Dean of Regional Initiatives; and Joshua Andall, CYA for Grenada, also participated in the summit.
Aquanjé strongly advocated for youth involvement in the Region’s strategy for climate resilience.
He stated, “We were born into this digital, climate-altered era. This age did not slowly reveal itself to us; it greeted us as a native land. How can we not be trusted to lead in the very world we were born to navigate?
So today, I issue a clarion call to leaders, policymakers, parliamentary secretaries and the like. Let spaces like these not end at speeches. Let them feed real policy. Let them open doors to planning, to budgeting, to impact. Exploitation is built into the DNA of humanity, and as long as we turn a blind eye to the vulnerable suffering under its oppression, we will never escape those origins. We’re not just leaders of tomorrow. We are capable contributors today.
Aquanjé provides an in-depth explanation of the importance of youth involvement in climate resilience below.
