By: Candice K. Stewart 

Tilling the soil, sowing the seeds…

What does it mean to plant something that will outlast us? To sow with intention, knowing the harvest may be shared by generations we’ll never meet? In the face of rising climate threats and systemic inequalities, Caribbean women continue to plant anyway. They plant stories, strategies, and systems built to endure. 

 

Soil 

Before any seed is sown, the soil must be understood. Across the Caribbean, women live at the intersection of climate vulnerability and community strength. From rising heat in Jamaica to unpredictable rainfall in Dominica, and flash flooding in Trinidad and Tobago, the land speaks and so do its people. It is here, in this rich and reckoning soil, that seeds of sustainable change are being planted. 

Reaping a good crop requires prepared soil, the right seeds, and steady care. Then comes the harvest and the renewal. Likewise, sowing seeds of sustainable solutions is a vital yet often overlooked act in climate justice: one that demands intention, care, and renewal. While it’s powerful to hold space for dialogue, constant chatter without action can become exhausting, and unsustainable for climate advocates and technocrats alike. 

It’s with that concern in mind that the Caribbean Women for Climate Justice Virtual Conference returns to move past surface-level discourse and toward actionable solutions and sustainable paths forward. 

Seeds 

This year, the three-day event (July 17–19) is rooted in the theme Sowing Seeds of Sustainable Solutions. The goal: to cultivate a space for collaboration, storytelling, and the bold reimagining of climate action by digging deeper into gender-responsive resilience, women’s leadership in disaster response, sustainable development, indigenous wisdom, and climate-smart technology. 

In the conference’s inaugural year, the team expanded Earth Day’s global theme “Invest in Our Planet” to “Invest in Our Women, Invest in Our Planet.” That framing remains central in 2025, reflecting the belief that gender equity is inseparable from climate resilience in the Caribbean. 

This year’s Conference aims to: convene women leaders, youth, activists, and allies to share lived experiences of climate impacts and resilience; facilitate South-South solidarity (collaboration among countries and communities in the Global South to share knowledge, resources, and strategies) and knowledge exchange on climate justice and gender equity; and showcase strategies, solutions, and policy visions for mainstreaming climate and gender justice across majority-world regions. 

By anchoring its agenda in the lived experiences of women from climate-vulnerable contexts, the conference seeks to challenge dominant narratives that often sideline local expertise. It will embrace South-South collaboration as fertile ground for solution-sharing, where innovation is shaped by context, culture, and community. 

This year’s keynote speaker, PhD candidate Kendria Ferguson, will play a major role in this anchoring. She is a Sustainability and Climate Resilience Specialist whose work underscores the importance of region-specific, gender-responsive climate solutions. Her decade-long expertise will anchor strategic discussions around disaster systems, early warning mechanisms, and community-led preparedness. As she noted in a post-Hurricane Beryl interview in 2024 on The Climate Conscious Podcast, “When we talk about resilience, we need to ask: resilience for who? Recovery isn’t just about GDP, it’s about families still rebuilding years after a storm. That’s why a bottom-up approach matters: understanding who’s in our communities helps us shape better interventions and direct resources where they’re truly needed.” Her insight reflects the very ethos of CW4CJ 2025 and sowing seeds that sprout the idea that resilience must be community-centered, inclusive, and driven by the realities of those most affected. 

These seeds are not abstract. They are rainwater catchment systems built in water-scarce communities; traditional farming practices passed between grandmothers and granddaughters; and stories shared from flood-prone homes, not in despair, but in resistance and care. 

Speakers such as Ivy Kessei, a Kenyan researcher and development practitioner focused on resilient food systems, and Dr. Paula Henry, Director of EarthMedic & EarthNurse Foundation whose work centers on climate and health, will be among others sowing the seeds by sharing real-world case studies on Day One of the conference, under the sub-theme “Dimensions of Resilience: Live Case Studies from the Global South.” On Day Two, speakers like Steffy Heera, Chief Customer Officer at 

Renewable Power Caribbean Limited and Jacintha Realine, Wapichan Women Representative , will share a panel with other women to address the sub-theme, “Power in Her Hands: Cultivating Equity and Climate Solutions in the Global South.” 

Perhaps most vitally, the seeds include practical tools, like grant writing, to be offered on the final day with a workshop led by Kainos and social development specialist Karen Philip. These skills 

empower women not just to access funding, but to mobilise it toward real transformation: from easing the burden of agricultural labour with climate-smart tools, to maintaining hygiene during disasters via rainwater harvesting systems, to building community hubs that distribute menstrual products and reduce period poverty during climate shocks. In the hands of Caribbean women, grants become more than funding, they’re nourishment for solutions rooted in care, equity, and sustained action. 

The harvest being cultivated here is not imported, it’s homegrown. It’s a future where Caribbean women aren’t merely framed as vulnerable, but recognised as visionaries, engineers, educators, and storytellers whose leadership shape how climate solutions take root. 

The Caribbean Women for Climate Justice Conference 2025 is made possible through its organisers, The Climate Conscious Podcast and Global Yaadie, with support from the Clara Lionel Foundation and Girls CARE Jamaica. 

Stay connected: Follow the conference organisers on Instagram at @theclimateconscious or @globalyaadie, and subscribe for updates through the CW4CJ 2025 Mailing List. 

  • Register for Day 1: Dimensions of Resilience: Live Case Studies from the Global South.”

– by Candice K. Stewart

Candice is a Communications professional with history of writing and telling stories about entrepreneurship, success, development (community and human), and climate justice, that inspire and motivate.