Former Governor of St. Maarten Eugene Holiday (centre) with his wife (left) and State Secretary of Kingdom Relations and Digitisation Alexandra van Huffelen (right).
PHILIPSBURG--Nature Foundation St. Maarten and Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) have dedicated a bench at the new St. Maarten Birding and Ecotourism Project in honour of former St. Maarten Governor Eugene Holiday. Both organisations commend Holiday for his twelve years of service.
As the first governor of the island, Governor Holiday has been a great advocate for nature on St. Maarten and the Dutch Caribbean, supporting the Nature Foundation St. Maarten and DCNA through several projects, the organisations stated.
“Governor Holiday has seen his fair share of challenges, from devastating hurricanes to the [coronavirus COVID-19 – Ed.] pandemic,” the nature conservationists said. “Throughout all of these, Governor Holiday has worked towards a more sustainable future through protecting and conserving the island’s natural assets.”
Former Governor Holiday said: “It has been my honour to serve you as your first governor and thus constitutional Head of Government on behalf of the King, a true privilege as a son of the soil and patriot to help build St. Maarten in its formative years as a country within the Kingdom.”
To celebrate Governor Holiday’s commitment to nature, the Cabinet of the Governor together with Nature Foundation St. Maarten and the DCNA, presented a bench which will be dedicated to the former governor at a newly built birding structure. This birding structure is part of the Resources for Community Resilience RC4R initiative “St. Maarten Birding and Ecotourism Project”.
Leslie Hickerson of the Nature Foundation St. Maarten said the organisation is profoundly grateful to Governor Holiday. “We commend the governor for great contributions to St. Maarten and especially his focus on nature, sustainability and resilience. His actions in office have set the tone for the island to put focus on renewable energy, climate change resilience and environmentally sustainable development in the future. We are very thankful to the DCNA for their support of the Governor Holiday Dedication Bench, which will be unveiled with our new bird viewing structure in early 2023.”
The RC4R initiative aims to strengthen the capacity of civil society organisations across the island in their reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts after Hurricane Irma.
The St. Maarten Birding and Ecotourism Project works to develop birding as a recreational activity on the island, which will serve as a helpful educational and ecotourism tool. Started in the fall of 2022, this project focuses on enabling local bird guides, creating birding infrastructure and implementing an education and awareness campaign. You can find out more by visiting the Nature Foundation St. Maarten’s social media pages.
Bench designed in honour of the former governor of St. Maarten.
