26 April 2023

CXC® Celebrates Earth Day 2023 with Mangrove Replanting & Port Royal Clean-up

KINGSTON, Jamaica – On Friday, 21 April 2023, on the eve of Earth Day 2023, staff volunteers from the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC®) were joined by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and students from The Queen’s School, Campion College, Wolmer’s Trust High School for Boys and Wolmer’s Trust High School for Girls for a mangrove replanting exercise at the Palisadoes-Port Royal Protected Area (P-PRPA).

The event, themed “Celebrating 50 with 50 for 50”, was held in recognition of CXC’s yearlong 50th anniversary celebrations. With 50 volunteers, the Council coordinated a clean-up of one of the mangrove restoration sites within the Protected Area located in Kingston, Jamaica. The Protected Area is a Wetland of International Importance and the world’s seventh largest natural harbours. It is home to threatened mangrove communities, which are essential for the overall biodiversity of the area.

Speaking on the significance of the occasion while on site at the replanting activity, Dr Eduardo Ali, Pro-Registrar and Deputy CEO, CXC® remarked, “The Council continues to be attentive to opportunities to serve our Caribbean stakeholders. As we celebrate 50 years of providing quality service to the region, today marks a very special opportunity for us to both recognise the great importance of the natural environment within the region that we call home, while also working shoulder to shoulder with some of our most valued stakeholders – students.”

Under the guidance of NEPA, the organisation with management responsibilities for the P-PRPA, the 50 volunteers comprising CXC® staff based at the Council’s Western Zone Office in Kingston, and students from four secondary schools across the Corporate Area, successfully collected nearly 50 bags of both recyclable and non-recyclable waste from the mangrove site before planting 50 red and black mangrove seedlings.

The group of trees and shrubs often found in the coastal intertidal zones, known as mangroves, are being replenished and protected to strengthen its core functions of absorbing Jamaica’s storm surge impacts and preventing soil erosion. This activity lends support to NEPA’s ongoing strategic plan to develop and maintain the protected area, which was designated in 1998, through key corporate partnerships.

The activity follows a similar beach clean-up hosted by the Eastern Zone Office at Miami Beach in Barbados on 18 March 2023 as part of a national clean-up day coordinated by The Future Centre Trust. More than 271 pounds of garbage were collected.

CXC’s 50th anniversary celebrations will continue with planned activities across the Caribbean involving regional and international educational stakeholders. One key activity planned for later this year is the Council’s hosting of the 48th Annual International Association for Educational Assessment (IAEA) Conference, which will take place on 24-29 September 2023 at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

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For further information, kindly contact us at +1 (246) 227-1700 or email cxcezo@cxc.org (Barbados),

or for queries in Jamaica at + 1 (876) 630-5200 or email: cxcwzo@cxc.org

 

 

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For further information kindly contact us at +1 (246) 227-1700 or email cxcezo@cxc.org (Barbados), or for queries in Jamaica at + 1 (876) 630-5200 or email: cxcwzo@cxc.org