Focus geared towards making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Several key stakeholders will convene at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa in Montego Bay, St James, next week for the second staging of the Caribbean Sustainable Cities Conference.

The conference, which will be held from November 16 to 18, is being hosted by the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Western Jamaica Campus. The theme is ‘Adaptability and Resilience – Technological Transformation Driving Change and Sustainability in Communities and Cities’.

This year’s theme is in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #11, which is to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Dr Patrick Prendergast, UWI Western campus director for The UWI, said the theme “looks at sustainable cities and communities, and so what we want to do is bring together people who are in academia and are doing research in sustainable development, industry players, policymakers, urban and rural planners, environmentalists, and students, to reflect on where we are now and how well we have done in meeting that particular SDG”.

He said the conference will also explore connections among critical areas highlighted by other SDGs. Important among them are SDG 3 and 13, which speak to health and well-being and climate change, respectively.

According to Prendergast, “the whole idea is to protect our ecosystems, whether land or sea and, because of where we are in the city of Montego Bay, we thought that it would also be good to look at what it means to realise peaceful and inclusive communities”.

Persons interested in attending the conference may do so by registering at  https://www.wjcsustainablecities.org/conferenceregistration and will have the option of choosing among seven packages, the cost ranging from US$60.00 to US$215.00.

Prendergast told the Jamaica Information Service that, on the first day of the conference, there will be a special workshop for students, which will give them the opportunity to explore what is happening in coastal life, in relation to its management and sustainability. There will also be a second workshop that will connect them to what is happening in the technological and digital space.

“When we get into the conference itself, we are going to be looking at the theme coming out of the COVID-19 experience and where we see the application of digital technology at almost every stage of our lives,” Prendergast said.

Speakers at the conference will include Homer Davis, minister of state in the Office of the Prime Minister; British High Commissioner to Jamaica Judith Slater; and Montego Bay Mayor Leeroy Williams.