A youth exchange called Sustainable Synergies: Fostering Climate Awareness and Cultural Diversity took place on the island of Sint Maarten between 22 January and 1 February 2024. It brought together representatives from six countries (Germany, Spain, Romania, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and, of course, Sint Maarten) to to foster a greater understanding and awareness of the effects of climate change among young individuals.
About Sustainable Synergies
The Sustainable Synergies project aims to address several pressing issues, particularly the consequences of climate change in the Caribbean region, with a specific focus on Saint Martin, and the need for promoting cultural diversity and understanding among participating countries. By bringing together young people from diverse backgrounds to engage in climate action and foster cross-cultural relationships, the project will empower youth to become agents of change within their communities.
Understand
Enhancing the participants' understanding of climate change, its impacts, and the importance of sustainable practices in addressing this global challenge.
Encourage
Encouraging young individuals to adopt more sustainable behaviors in their everyday lives, leading by example and inspiring others to follow suit.
Learn with locals
Providing opportunities for participants to learn from experts and local communities about the specific challenges faced in the region and the innovative solutions being implemented to combat climate change.
Interact
Facilitating meaningful interactions and exchanges between young people from diverse backgrounds, fostering crosscultural understanding and promoting a sense of global citizenship
About the SXM island
Sint Maarten is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The population of Sint Maarten is a little bit more than 37000 people, and the capital is Philipsburg. The official languages in Sint Maarten are Dutch and English, and the official currency is the Antillean guilder. Still, you can also usually pay with US dollars and, in some places, in Euro. The northern part of the island is called Saint-Martin, and it is an overseas territory of France. There is a possibility that you will fly to the north part of the island, so keep that in mind when booking tickets and double- check which airport you are flying to The official language in Saint-Martin is French, and the currency is Euro.
The Caribbean region, and especially Saint Martin, is particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. In 2017, Hurricane Irma caused an estimated USD 2.1 billion in damage on the island (AICESIS, 2018). The Netherlands has established a trust fund of $550 million over a 7-year period for the rebuilding of Saint Martin. However, there remains a general lack of awareness and understanding of these issues, particularly among young people. This project aims to address this knowledge gap and equip youth with the tools and information needed to take meaningful action in their local communities.
According to AICESIS (2018), Saint Martin is ranked number one in the Caribbean for carbon dioxide emissions, with 20 tonnes per person. The limited physical size of Saint Martin means that the island may not be able to physically adapt to the changing conditions brought on by climate change (AICESIS, 2018). With over 120 different nationalities residing on the small island of Saint Martin, it is an ideal location to promote cultural understanding and respect among people from diverse backgrounds.
Day by day
23 January 2024
The first day was in the spirit of getting to know each other. In addition to a few name-remembering activities, we also tried out some in-depth interviews to better understand the motivations for participation, and were introduced to the Secret Friend game.
24 January 2024
On the second day, we partially continued our introductions, mugs from our countries were exchanged, and another background game was introduced, this time Secret Killer. We learnt what the Erasmus+ key actions are, what the YouthPass certificate competences are and worked in teams on various social media promoting the project.
25 January 2024
In the morning we focused on the topic of cultural diversity. We had to divide into groups, each of which would come up with a name, slogan and handshake, make a list of countries visited for the whole group and try to estimate what ecological footprint their travel had, share at least seven habits leading to a better sustainable life they have in common and take three photos of a sustainable action on the spot). In the afternoon, there was a hike over the nearest peak to the French side of the island, with a short visit to the town of Marigot and then another part of the program in Frayar's Bay.
26 January 2024
In the morning we were welcomed by Professor Jan van Beek, MEd., CHE and Dr. Gale Rigobert, Dean of the University of St. Maarten and former Minister of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development of St. Martin. We learned so much information about the island that we would otherwise have had a hard time obtaining. In the afternoon, we conducted prepared workshops on sustainable living for three after-school classes at our community centre. And later we went to clean up a nearby park of litter to show goodwill among fellow citizens and set an example. For all the effort, we were treated to a delicious barbeque for dinner.
27 January 2024
The theme of the morning session was both visiting Fort Amsterdam and making short videos with local people and tourists about how they are experiencing climate change on the island. In the afternoon we went to the national park to a local attraction, the David's Hole Arch, where an underwater cave has caved in and created an interesting rock formation. We watched the sunset in the town of Grand Case.
28 January 2024
A day of exploring local culture and customs first-hand, as we went in groups to the north of the island, to the jungle to observe monkeys and parrots, to St. Barthélemy Island, or otherwise - as one wished.
29 January 2024
The natural protected area around Pinel Island was our target. We observed land turtles, an incredible number of iguanas and enjoyed some active time with beach volleyball or in the waves. For dinner we had a delicacy from the participants' cooking with Italian roots and in the evening there was a national presentation of the Dutch participants.
30 January 2024
Cleaning the beach after the big party at Mullet beach took us the whole morning. But we did manage to make it to nearby Maho beach, for which the island of St. Marteen is so famous, as planes stop right next door. The afternoon was filled with all sorts of activities, from social media dissemination, to editing and sharing videos with locals, to sharing our findings from the week. There was also time for presentations on local realities of sustainable events and programs in our home countries. And we were also able to reflect on the evaluation, say our goodbyes in turn, and acknowledge all those from whom we had learned or learned something new during the week in a nice circle activity. In the evening there were national presentations by participants from Spain, Germany and St. Maarten.
31 January 2024
In the morning we hit the road for a tour of Yellow Sage farm, the only hydroponic farm on the Dutch side of the island. In addition to their decade-long vision, we were of course able to see and learn about vertical gardening as well as, for example, taste wasabi arugula from their production. The afternoon was followed by individual time to wrap up the whole experience and a farewell party.
What I have learnt?
Almost everybody on the island has a car. Using a bike is not much of a custom here, since people need to shower after the ride due to high temperatures and humidity. Moreover, there is missing infrastructure for cycling here.
Many people live in poor conditions, since the hurricane Irma took their houses. Only the airport is renewed in a price of 2 million USD. Plus, some of the richer inhabitants, or people working in a tourism business, build their house (or houses for rental) with big windows that cannot survive the hurricanes, despite there is the knowledge from the past of how to build houses that can manage.
Almost everything is imported, especially food, from USA which makes it very expensive. Many local people go to shop in Chinese shops, which are much cheaper. Does it create dependency on Chinese economy?
There is not much trash separation in the island, only metal that is shipped to the mainland to be easily processed. In addition, since the cruise ships leave their trash on this island, it is becoming quite an issue.
Professors are sometimes paining for scholarship of some of their students in order them to not drop out of school. The fee for semester is 1 500 USD per person. But, in the other hand, it is custom here to give tips to almost everybody. Some boys who pack the goods into the paper bags in the stores can easily make even 80 USD per hour like that.
This youth exchange co-funded by the Dutch National Agency within the programme Erasmus+.
