Saint Lucia
WWViews on Biodiversity
On Saturday September 15th 2012, thousands of people around the world took part in a global event: “World Wide Views on Biodiversity”. The project engaged ordinary citizens in 25 countries in the process of policymaking and awareness raising to sustain a living and healthy planet. About hundred citizens in each participating country attended day-long meetings to learn about biodiversity issues, make up their minds about them, and express their views. The meetings started at dawn in the Pacific and continue until dusk in the Americas. All meetings had the same agenda and used the same approach in order to make results comparable and useful for policymakers gathered in October 2012 in India to discuss future policy measures for preserving biological diversity.
THE SAINT LUCIA NATIONAL TRUST
The Saint Lucia National Trust (SLNT) was established in 1975 specifically to preserve buildings, objects of historic and architectural interest and areas of natural beauty together with their animal and plant life, for present and future generations.
The trust is not only the longest serving environmental and heritage membership organization on the island, but also the only membership organization with a legal mandate to conserve both the natural and cultural heritage of Saint Lucia. Currently, there are some 1000 members.
WWViews Venue
The citizen consultation on international biodiversity politics in Saint Lucia will take place on September 15th at the Palmville Conference Room at Coco Resorts in Rodney Bay.
Palmville Conference Room
RODNEY BAY
GROS ISLET
Directions: The Palmville Conference Room is located close to Scotia Bank in Rodney Bay.
Results from the meeting in Saint Lucia
Link to the results from the meeting in Saint Lucia
Find more photos from the citizen meeting in Saint Lucia on Flickr
Recruitment Strategy for WWViews meeting in Saint Lucia
In order to contact potential participants, the following strategies were used:
Invitation letters were sent to approximately 1500 citizens/groups in Saint Lucia with a call to take part in the WWViews on Biodiversity meeting on September 15, 2012. Addresses/emails were provided by the local directory and the Saint Lucia National Trust database and allowed a diverse selection of citizens.
The Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN) Saint Lucia, a regional network and the Sustainable Development and Environment Division were also used to spread the word.
Additionally, the citizen meeting was advertized on various media like Helen Television System, Radio Caribbean International, Rhythm Fm, Blazin FM, the Voice Newspaper and the Star Newspaper. Press Releases were also disseminated to both print and electronic media, which resulted in follow up interviews which were published and aired on several newscasts/newspaper. We also advertized the event on our website and facebook page and flyers were also placed in a few locations with high traffic, for example the Pigeon Island National Landmark.
In order to make the results comparable, the participating citizens of the WWViews meeting around the world were seleceted according to the same set of criteria.
The citizens were invited to join the meeting and out of those who signed up for the event, about 120 were selected according to certain parameters aiming to reflect the distribution of the general population. The main parameters used for the selection were age, geneder, residence, education level and occupation.
Documentary on the process and the results of World Wide Views on Biodiversity
Information Material for Citizens
World Wide Views on Biodiversity – Information Videos for the Citizens – English
1. Introduction to biodiversity, 2. Biodiversity on land, 3. Biodiversity in the sea, 4. Burden and Benefit Sharing