Caribbean News
CDB’s Youth Fire Forum talks Climate Change & Mental Health
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, June 15, 2022 – Young people across the Caribbean had the chance to make their voices heard in the Caribbean Development Banks Youth for Innovation and Resilience or Youth FIRE Forum on Tuesday, June 7th, on Facebook as part of the annual general meeting proceedings.
The forum was split into two sessions, session one ‘Climate Change and Health’ was moderated by Dr. Keron Niles and focused on how the reality of climate change affects health in youth, specifically mental health. It is not often that mental health is associated with climate change but Niles put it succinctly by saying,
“Can you imagine being afraid of the rain? Because you’re afraid it’s going to be another hurricane that could ruin your life?”
Dr. Anya Malcolm-Gibbs, a licensed clinical psychologist in the Turks and Caicos, agreed, referencing the severe effects of hurricane Irma in the Turks and Caicos, she explained that extreme weather can negatively affect youth mentally. Malcolm-Gibbs called on regional governments to be proactive in their efforts.
“There must be stronger efforts for integrated support with various stakeholders, psychological first aid training and resiliency planning need to be at the forefront of intervention.” she maintained.
Onika Stellingburg-Benn Regional Coordinator of the Caribbean of the Royal Commonwealth Society, concurred with Malcolm-Gibbs noting that:
“Our health ministries should collaborate with other ministries to ensure that health implications are included in the design of any climate change intervention.”
Quacy Grant of the Guyana Youth Council stressed that the link between environment and man was impossible to untangle and the health of one affected the other.
“Usually when we think about health and healthcare and when we think about the person that is ill, we limit that person to a disease… we forget that that person has a bio, socio, psycho component. We cannot take a person out of the environmental context in which they live, and we can’t take from the environment those organisms that live in it…the health of the environment will affect organisms…we have to remember that climate change has an effect on our health”
He explained that during interventions, for example, moving people to shelters the mental toll must be considered as well.
Panelist Jamilia Sealy who is a part of the Caribbean Youth Entrepreneurship Network quoted a recent survey that proved that the knowledge surrounding climate change and its effect on health was limited and its effects were often mistakenly ignored.
“In the last weekend, the CYN in Barbados did a survey on climate justice…and from what I’ve seen only 21.5 percent of the 300 respondents noted that they thought health was an impact of climate change…I believe that maybe they’re not as aware of the impacts and might not include mental health as an issue.”
Sealy stressed that it was something we all had to work on. Colin Young, Executive Director of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, or 5Cs, explained that climate change was ‘cross cutting’ the Caribbean, affecting every single area of our lives in ways we might never have thought about. He explained the Caribbean is dealing with multiple blows like pandemics and the worsening climate situation all at once and we need to be prepared.
“It’s stressing our health systems and our ability to cope, on [both] the mental health side and the physical side. So, this conversation is absolutely vital,” he said.
Young expressed that while some steps were being taken it was not yet enough.
“Unfortunately, as a region we do not undertake the type of research that will allow us to understand the effects of climate change on our youth’s mental health”
Young said a study was done on climate change and mental wellbeing on 10 000 young people in over 10 countries and found that:
“Across the countries, 59 percent of those interviewed were extremely worried about climate change, 84% of those were moderately worried and more than 50% reported emotions of sadness, anxiety, powerlessness, helplessness, and guilt.”
So how do we combat all of this?
Referencing the emerging issues Young said understanding them was key to creating programs within our health system that could combat them more efficiently.
Grant added that one way to get ahead of the issue was to carry out more operational research rather than academic research to find out what interventions will work best to ensure we have evidence-based tools to combat the effect of climate change on health.
For the everyday tools that youth can put into practice Sealy said, being aware of how climate change affects us and taking care of ourselves mentally and physically to reduce those impacts was important. Things as small as: cooling down on a hot day and wearing lighter clothes to make ourselves more comfortable were important.
Additionally, Sealy said educating ourselves about climate change from reputable sources and understanding the global reality was paramount. Grant insisted that this climate change education must include active change.
“We should not educate the populace on climate change and health just for them to be aware, but we want some behaviour change. I think it starts in the home,” he said.
Stronger government response to disasters equals quicker recovery, getting back to normalcy quicker and thus possibly reduced trauma on youth, Young had several suggestions on how regional governments could make this happen, they included:
- Having access to real-time data integrated across all disaster response services
- Ensuring that disaster response is prepared for new climate emergencies
- Upgrading the quality of hurricane shelters.
- Upgrading critical infrastructure needed for post-hurricane recovery including health and water.
All the panellists encouraged more comprehensive efforts to bolster hurricane and climate change readiness which they say is to the benefit of youth.
By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media
October 14, 2025 – It’s being called political theatre — but for citizens, constitutional watchdogs, and democracy advocates across the Caribbean, it feels far more serious. Within a single week, two national parliaments — in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis — descended into turmoil as opposition members stormed out in protest, accusing their Speakers of bias, overreach, and abuse of parliamentary procedure.
For observers, the walkouts signal a deeper problem: erosion of trust in the very institutions meant to safeguard democracy. When Speakers are viewed as political enforcers instead of neutral referees, parliaments stop functioning as chambers of debate and start performing as stages for power and spectacle — with citizens left wondering who, if anyone, is still accountable.
October 6: St. Kitts Parliament Erupts
The first walkout erupted in Basseterre on October 6, 2025, when Dr. Timothy Harris, former Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader,
led his team out of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly in a protest that stunned the chamber.
The flashpoint came as the Speaker moved to approve more than three years’ worth of unratified parliamentary minutes in one sitting — covering 27 meetings and three national budgets — without individual review or debate.
Dr. Harris called the move “a flagrant breach of the Constitution and parliamentary tradition,” warning that the practice undermines transparency and accountability. “No serious parliament can go years without approving a single set of minutes,” he said after exiting the chamber.
The Speaker defended the decision as administrative housekeeping, but critics were unconvinced, branding the move a “world record disgrace.” The opposition’s walkout triggered renewed calls for the Speaker’s resignation and sparked a wider public discussion about record-keeping, accountability, and respect for parliamentary norms in St. Kitts and Nevis.
October 10: Trinidad Opposition Follows Suit
Four days later, on October 10, 2025, the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad and Tobago staged its own walkout from the House of Representatives in Port of Spain.
The UNC accused the Speaker of partisan bias, claiming she had repeatedly blocked urgent questions, ignored points of order, and allowed government members to breach standing orders without consequence.
“The Speaker has failed in her duty to act impartially,” the Opposition declared in a statement. “Parliament is not the property of any political party or Presiding Officer.”
The dramatic exit was seen as a culmination of months of rising tension and frustration, with opposition MPs arguing that parliamentary rules were being selectively applied to silence dissenting voices.
Political analyst Dr. Marcia Ferdinand described the twin walkouts as “a warning sign that parliamentary democracy in the Caribbean is teetering on the edge of performative politics.”
“When chairs become political shields rather than constitutional referees,” she said, “democracy becomes theatre, not governance.”
A Pattern Emerging
While St. Kitts and Trinidad are very different political environments, both incidents point to the same regional fault line: the perception that Speakers — the guardians of parliamentary order — are no longer impartial.
In Westminster-style systems like those across the Caribbean, the Speaker’s authority depends not on power but on public confidence in fairness. Once that credibility erodes, parliamentary control collapses into confrontation.
Governance experts say the implications are serious: eroded trust between government and opposition, declining public confidence in state institutions, and growing voter cynicism that “rules” are flexible tools of political advantage.
Why It Matters
Parliamentary walkouts are not new in the Caribbean, but what makes these recent events different is their frequency and intensity — and
the regional echo they’ve created. Social media has amplified images of lawmakers storming out, with citizens from Barbados to Belize questioning whether the same erosion of decorum could be happening in their own legislatures.
Analysts warn that if this perception takes hold, it risks diminishing the moral authority of parliamentary democracy itself.
“Once opposition MPs believe the rules are rigged, and once citizens believe Parliament is just performance,” said one Caribbean governance researcher, “you’ve lost the most valuable currency in democracy — trust.”
Restoring Balance
Political reformers across the region are calling for tighter Standing Order enforcement, independent parliamentary service commissions, and training to strengthen Speaker neutrality. Civil society leaders say the public must also play its part by demanding transparency and refusing to normalize partisan manipulation of parliamentary procedure.
Whether these twin walkouts become catalysts for reform — or simply another episode of Caribbean political theatre — will depend on what happens next inside those chambers.
For now, democracy watchers agree on one thing: when opposition leaders feel the only way to be heard is to walk out, the entire democratic house — not just its Speaker — is in danger of collapse.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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