Deputy Mayor of Montego Bay and Councillor for the Montego Bay South Division of the St. James Municipal Corporation, Richard Vernon is now in Katowice, Poland, attending the 11th session of the World Urban Forum which runs from June 26 to 30 June.
Councillor Vernon will be one of the featured speakers at the forum and will be presenting at a networking session on the topic “Promoting Green, Resilient and Pro-Poor Urban Developments in Small Island Developing States”.
“This forum presents an opportunity for me to inform the world through the United Nations Habitat, UN-HABITAT, of the many and varied things that Jamaica in general and Montego Bay, St. James in particular have been doing in improving the lives of citizens”, is how Councillor Vernon reacted to being invited to the forum”, Councillor Vernon stated.
In fact, Councillor Vernon is the only Jamaican who will be addressing the forum and will be joined by speakers from St. Lucia, The Solomon Island, Mauritius and representatives of UN-HABITAT.
Deputy Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Richard Vernon at the 11th session of the World Urban Forum in Katowice, Poland.
He added that the forum will be looking at how climate change has been putting pressure on governments across the world, especially those in small island developing states.
Councillor Vernon said “the impacts of climate change worsen daily and this has been putting pressure on governments across the world, especially those in small island developing state to safeguard citizens and at the same time take action to bring more awareness to the issue”.
He added that “small island developing states are particularly affected due to their vulnerability to climate change, natural disasters and their high dependency on tourism. In light of the risks posed by climate change, small island states must play a leading role in the establishment of a comprehensive economic recovery plan”.