5 February 2019, Pago Pago, American Samoa - As part of her mission to help strengthen homes and families, Miss American Samoa - Magalita Johnson is part of the three day Enhancing Climate Resilience through Community Awareness summit now underway in American Samoa.
The summit aims to help people understand more about the changing climate to help build climate resilience. Opening with a session to help the 150 attendees understand more about climate science and enhancing climate resilience across the Pacific islands, the rest of the week involves workshops under a range of different topics. Delegates will learn more about food security, disaster preparedness, health, as well as energy and infrastructure.
“My platform is to strengthen families, and everything with the family links back to society and our community effecting us as whole. I am here to learn more about climate resilience and what I can do, or how I can encourage families to strengthen their family and be more climate resilience,” said Ms Johnson.
Since winning the Miss American Samoa crown in October, 2018, Ms Johnson has coordinated a clean-up activity resulting in a truckload of collected waste to be disposed of properly.
She has also coordinated nutrition awareness workshops in partnership with the American Samoa Public Health department working with different restaurant managers to help reduce obesity, diabetes, tobacco use and to promote drinking water.
Another nutrition awareness workshop is to take place this month, with future clean-ups on the agenda for Miss American Samoa.
“I’m looking forward to gleaning further information on food security and eager to incorporate what I have learnt in my community work,” said Ms Johnson.
Miss American Samoa joins a wide range of participants attending the summit which has opened its doors to the public. School children, local and national government members, as well as non-governmental organisations, amongst many others are represented at the summit.
Day one of the Enhancing Climate Resilience through Community Awareness Summit is focusing on food security with workshop sessions that span – “Crops that are best to grow with a changing climate”, “Best management practices for piggeries in the islands”, “Adaptive agricultural practices”, “Ensuring food security within the village community”, and “The importance of Marine Protected Ares and sustainable fishing practices”.
The final day of the summit includes field trips to LEED certified buildings in American Samoa. LEED is a rating system developed by the US Green Building Council for buildings homes and communities that are designed, constructed, maintained and operated for improved environmental and human health performance.
The Enhancing Climate Resilience through Community Awareness Summit is being held at the Malaeimi Church LDS Stake Center from 5 – 7 February, 2019. It is coordinated in partnership by the American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (DMWR) and Environment Protection Agency (EPA) with support from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).