Earth Day Message from National Olympic Academy – Sports and the Environment Commission

Kingstown, April 22 2010.

On April 22, we celebrate the 40th Anniversary Earth Day. In Rio de Janeiro in 1992, at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), most of the world’s nations adopted Agenda 21 as a global action plan to protect the Earth’s environment and non-renewable resources.

This Agenda 21 was adopted by the International Olympic Committee in June 1999, and was subsequently endorsed by the entire Olympic Movement.

The St. Vincent and the Grenadines National Olympic Academy Sports and Environment Commission’s programme of action for sustainable development includes 1) The improvement of socio-economic conditions through the values of Olympism;

2) The conservation and management of non-renewable resources through capacity building / public awareness programmes;

3) The strengthening of role of sporting organizations to implement Agenda 21.

The theme for 2010 is “Greening” and the Sport and the Environment Commission has been enhancing the Arnos Vale Sports Facility through Tree Planting, the erection of Billboards with the message, “Play Your Part! A Clean Environment for a Healthy, Active Lifestyle.”  At the Chateaubelair Primary Methodist School donations of potted plants were made for enhancing the school environment.

Earth Day for us here in St Vincent and the Grenadines must be a time to focus attention on the call to protect our environment and join the fight to conserve the integrity of our non-renewable resources.