UNEP Young Champions of the Earth finalists announced: no Caribbean environmentalists on the shortlist
- By : Thérèse Yarde
- Category : Innovation
- Tags: barbados, caribbean
The United Nations Environment Programme recently announced the 35 regional finalists shortlisted for the 2020 Young Champions of the Earth award. Not for the first time, there are no Caribbean finalists for the award, which “aims to identify, support and celebrate outstanding individuals aged between 18 and 30 with big ideas to protect or restore the environment.”
The Young Champions of the Earth award was launched in 2017 and since then there have been only two Caribbean finalists: in 2017 there was Eddy Frank Vásquez of the Dominican Republic, whose initiative focused on carbon accounting for schools, and in 2018 Gator Halpern, who works on coral restoration in The Bahamas.
What are your thoughts on the dearth of Caribbean environmentalists, entrepreneurs, and activists on the Young Champions shortlist? Who do you know of in the Caribbean who’s aged between 18 and 30 and has shown outstanding potential to create a positive environmental impact? Tell us more in the comments. My choice would be Barbadian scientists and innovators Kemar Codrington and Mikhail Eversley, whom I interviewed for Green Antilles back in 2019. Kemar and Mikhail are 28 and 27 respectively, and their company Oasis Laboratory is the world’s leading producer of sargassum-based skincare products.
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