The Bermuda High School for Girls is this week hosting a sustainable development conference for 76 international delegates from countries including the US, Canada and Peru.

The school is a member of Round Square, a world-wide association of more than 70 schools on five continents sharing unique and ambitious goals.

The opening speaker for the conference was Erica Smith, Government’s Director of Sustainable Development.

Ms Smith told The Royal Gazette she was very impressed with the group.

“The conference is excellent,” she said. “I’m quite excited to see how many young people are interested in sustainable development. I provided them with a holistic view of sustainable development. Rather than just the environmental issues, which are important to understand, it is also important to understand it is a consistent balance between the environment, economics and social issues.

“It was a great idea that a school took the initiative. If we can get the same movement through other schools it would be great.”

Twenty students from BHS are participating and all the students involved in the conference are being asked to lead by example.

While the students are visiting, they will stay on Paget Island in St. George’s and will practise what they are being taught — no paper products will be used and there are separate distribution bins for leftover food and waste so some can be fed to the fish. The group will also rely on public transportation to get them to their many different activities during the week. Conference organiser Tina Nash said coordinating more than 100 people on public transportation has not been easy.

“I’d like to say it all went smoothly but with the gale-force winds we’ve had, it was bound to be expected,” she said. “Because it was a green conference, we relied on public transportation.

“It’s a greener choice and the message is a good one, but it’s not always practical with hundreds of people trying to get around the Island.”

On the first day of the conference, two groups went to the Aquarium and Zoo, two went to Tynes Bay incinerator and three groups went to the Walsingham caves. Today the students will be collecting litter in conjunction with Works and Engineering and Keep Bermuda Beautiful as part of a litter survey.

When the trash is analysed, Ms Nash hopes it will offer a better understanding of how to prevent littering and better ways to manage it. Further events planned for the students include visiting Harbour Nights, a talk by Erin Moran from the group Green Rock and the closing ceremonies on Friday night with a talk by Dr. Martin Thomas.