Ambassador David Doyle of Saint Kitts and Nevis, special envoy to UNESCO in Paris, issued a strong appeal for targeted UNESCO support during a Caribbean-wide consultation on cultural heritage preservation held on September 19, 2025.

Representing the Federation, he emphasized the acute shortage of heritage-trained personnel, stating: “There is a limit as to how far we can advance the country’s cultural heritage protection agenda when faced with a paucity of heritage-trained resources at both government and volunteer levels.”

Doyle proposed several solutions, including the creation of a mobile expert team to assist small island states in identifying and nominating heritage sites, increased regional training workshops, and funding for short-term research staff.

Further Saint Kitts and Nevis’ progress with UNESCO support was highlighted. For instance, through the Upstream Process, several cultural sites were identified as eligible for inclusion on the Tentative List to identify potential new World Heritage sites. These sites were the Bath Stream Cluster in Nevis, Spooner’s Cotton Ginnery and Stone Forth River petroglyphs in St. Kitts, and Charles Fort as an extension of Brimstone Hill Fortress in St. Kitts.