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Small
Island Voices ring out loud
Contact
between students in small islands is on line for increasing. Students
and teachers from the two Bequia Secondary Schools attended the
official launching of Phase 2 of the UNESCO Small Island Voice
Programme (SIV). This was at the Bequia Community High School
last Monday, February 3.
The
move is an ongoing activity which began in St. Vincent and the
Grenadines in September 2002. It is used for inhabitants of small
islands to voice their views on environment and development issues.
The purpose is to contribute to the review of the Programme of
Action for Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing
States in 2004.
The
internet was used for discussion of issues affecting small island
states such as sea level rise, health and the environment, culture
and traditions, and globilization.
Young
people in small island states took part in Phase 1 of the SIV
Youth Forum. This targeted students from St. Vincent and the Grenadines
and St. Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean, the Cook Islands and
Palau in the Pacific, and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.
An
article by four students from the Bequia Community High School
about problems encountered by young people living on small islands
was chosen as the first to be posted on the SIV Youth Forum website.
Responses were invited and posted on the website, leading to lively
discussions among peer groups in the different islands around
the world.
More
island nations have been invited to join the on-line discussions.
They enjoyed a slide show and presentation by the SIV Local Coordinator,
Herman Belmar, outlining the merits and possibilities of SIV.
Other schools from St. Vincent and the Grenadines will be asked
to join the project, contributing their views on-line on issues
of importance to young people today. They will also take part
in the Sandwatch programme, launched by the Bequia Community High
School in 2000 under the auspices of UNESCO and the University
of Puerto Rico, which monitors the state of the nation's beaches.
To
read the views expressed in SIV check out www.sivglobal.org.
The username is siv and the password is global.
Searchlight,
7 February 2003
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