Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to share in this evening's proceedings, on the occasion of your launch of a Merit Scholarship for the Bahamas Environmental Steward Scholars Programme (BESS).

Your institutions the Island School and by extension the DeepCreek Middle School, both strategically located on the island of Eleuthera, have been established to bring focus to the care and development of our natural environment.

We are cognizant of the importance of this timely intervention that seeks to educate your students, through research and practical experiences, of the need to be good stewards of the environment.

The Bahamas is blessed with beautiful marine and terrestrial features that have come to be the envy of many of our friends be it our aquamarine waters that is home to varied species of marine animals or the wonders found in our caves that boast of stalactites and stalagmites...