BY LORETTA B MANELE
A challenge that we have in Guadalcanal Province is that 70 percent of the population of Solomon Islands are youths says Guadalcanal Premier, William Atu.
He was speaking at the “Communities for Sustainability Eco-Tourism and Development Fair” at Henderson.
Addressing guests that included spouses of the 54th PIF Leaders at the Central Guadalcanal youth-led initiative trade fair, Atu stressed that the figure is more than half of the percent of youths in the country.
“So, we have challenges with us as well. What are we going to do with our youths?”, he asked.
The Premier stated that the challenge now is looking at how we can provide services to the communities in Guadalcanal.
“The population is going to be the highest for the whole of the Solomon Islands for that matter,” he said.
Atu expressed that through such initiatives as the trade fair, they are empowering youths to become fearless and a stronger person in their communities.
Island Sun understands that youths from Central Guadalcanal were involved in organising the trade fair.
He mentioned that Central Guadalcanal constituency holds two important developments in the country of which one is the Gold Ridge mining and the other, timber or mining.
Atu noted that the environmental effects will be there past the lifetime of the mine.
“So, I would like to re-echo the words again, to reiterate the point, that the ecosystem is more important for the lives of people here in the Solomon Islands for that matter,” he said.
