College of The Bahamas president signs Presidents’ Climate Commitment
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Embracing the spirit and ideals of a carbon neutrality agreement endorsed by a network of over 600 American colleges and universities, College of The Bahamas President, Dr. Betsy V. Boze today signed the Presidents’ Climate Commitment. The agreement commits institutions of higher learning to minimizing the emission of greenhouse gases that cause global warming which has special significance for small island developing states (SIDS) like The Bahamas that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
Dr. Boze signed the agreement at the Wyndham Nassau Resort, Cable Beach, where experts are attending a SIDS/UNESCO Meeting on Climate Change for Sustainable Development and Adaptation in Small Island Developing States. The accord recognizes the unprecedented scale and speed of global warming and its potential for large-scale, adverse health, social, economic and ecological effects and commits colleges and universities to exerting leadership in addressing climate change.
“It is particularly significantly signing this agreement today with a globalized view of extending such an initiative to our colleague colleges and universities in our community of small island development states,” said President Boze.
SIDS are especially susceptible to the effects of climate change due to geographic and socioeconomic factors including their vulnerability to sea level rise and storm surges, dependence on freshwater ground resources and weak institutional structures. An addendum to the agreement includes commitments for colleges and universities in SIDS and considers their specific challenges and opportunities.
“The signatories to this document believe that by integrating sustainability into the curriculum, an institution puts itself in a position to better serve our students and meet our social mandate to help create a thriving, ethical and civil society. These are beliefs and goals that we at The College of The Bahamas strongly endorse and commit to, building on ways that will have enduring impact for The College and, indeed, the wider Bahamas,” said President Boze.
“In signing this today, we underscore our commitment to this initiative and share our enthusiasm with other institutions of higher learning in island states like ours,” she added.
His Excellency Dr. Davidson Hepburn, President of the General Conference of UNESCO, was also present for the signing and endorsed the commitments related to SIDS.
“I am very happy to see that The College of The Bahamas has adopted the idea of using Small Island Developing States as an addendum to the whole programme. I know sustainability was started in The College of The Bahamas almost two years ago and I hope that this is helping to spur on more action…” he said. “I am looking forward to coming back to The Bahamas and working with this programme and helping to promote it.”
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