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mother nature network’s caribbean destinations of the week

March 31st, 2010

Martinique

In each of their Destination of the Week articles, the Mother Nature Network:

…features a [destination] that has achieved or is working toward a green reputation, [and] highlights green activities to enjoy, including restaurants, hotels, parks, events, shopping, public transportation, recreation and other attractions that satisfy the wants and needs of a green traveler.

The first Caribbean destination to be spotlighted was (unsurprisingly given its reputation as the region’s “Nature Island”) Dominica:

The island of Dominica — located in the middle of the Lesser Antilles — is one of the most rugged and natural travel destinations north of the Amazon. … Features such as a geothermally heated lake, unspoiled jungles, hidden waterfalls and volcanic mountains have been seducing nature lovers and adventurous travelers for years.

Next, the US Virgin Islands:

[T]he Virgin Islands also have a long tradition of eco-tourism. Maho Bay Resort …, the first of several amenity-rich campgrounds on the island of Saint John, started business in 1976. Even with the tourist boom, parts of Saint Thomas and Saint Croix and most of Saint John retain an inland ruggedness as well as quiet and picturesque sandy stretches of seaside.

Then, Trinidad and Tobago:

The Asa Wright Nature Center is a 1,500-acre nature preserve that was founded more than four decades ago on the grounds of a cocoa plantation. The center’s development was championed by a group of naturalists and local bird-watchers. It was one of the first of its kind in the West Indies. Located between mountain ranges on Trinidad, Asa Wright is an ideal place to get in touch with the island’s unique natural elements. …More than 400 species of birds and 600 species of butterflies have been cataloged inside the confines of the preserve.

And most recently, Martinique:

Martinique is certainly one of the more diverse eco-tourism destinations as far as landscapes are concerned, but its green traits aren’t confined by dense jungles and volcanic peaks. Businesses, including the Caribbean branch of French carmaker Citroen, are involved in building a more environmentally friendly culture on the island. In addition, a superior infrastructure of roads and well-maintained trails makes it easy to get to the Martinique’s natural spots.

[Photo: Fabrice at Flickr]

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red algae and the sustainable grenadines project

March 31st, 2010

Admiralty Bay, Bequia, the GrenadinesA Canadian university graduate will be spending several months as an intern with an environmental sustainability project in the Grenadines.

[Robert] Rankin … will be working on the Sustainable Grenadines Project in its efforts stabilize the local red algae population. The algae is harvested for nutritional purposes and is added to drinks and puddings, Rankin said.

“It’s taken a pretty significant hit,” he said. “They’re looking at ways to cultivate it and produce local business co-operatives.”

Rankin’s internship is sponsored by the Coady International Youth in Partnership programme in association with the Canadian International Development Agency. The Sustainable Grenadines Project (see also here) is a multi-partner project

based on the idea that in the Grenadines, civil society partners are the least able to participate in bringing about change that is equitable and lasting. The project therefore focuses on strengthening civil society so that it can better play its role. The project places emphasis on the conservation of biological diversity especially through it associated project activities.

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olive ridley turtle rescued in guyana

March 31st, 2010

Guyana sea turtle rescueEarlier this week in Guyana, a stranded Olive Ridley sea turtle was rescued and returned to the sea.

According to Country Co-ordinator for Marine Turtle Project, Romeo DeFreitas, upon seeing the article of the stranded sea turtle, he rushed to uplift it and returned same to its natural habitat on a beach next to Greenwich Park, East Bank Essequibo, since the sea turtle cannot survive on land for a prolonged period.

The Co-ordinator explained that this specie has not been recorded in four years and is on the brink of extinction. The “Olive Ridley” is the smallest specie of the sea turtles, which grows up to twenty-five inches.

DeFreitas disclosed that the Olive Ridley had seine marks on the shell which proved that it was caught offshore.

Find out more about Olive Ridley turtles at the National Geographic website. According to the IUCN, Olive Ridleys are, on the global scale, categorised as a vulnerable species, which means that the turtles are “considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.”

[Photo: kaieteurnewsonline.com]

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call for long-term drought planning in antigua

March 31st, 2010

AntiguaAs much of the Caribbean continues to contend with an extended period of drought (see also this report at the Antillean and this one from MSNBC), a weather forecaster in Antigua believes that countries should develop advance plans for dealing with water shortages and other problems caused by severe dry weather:

Lenard Josiah noted that while nothing can be done about the weather conditions that bring on such periods of dryness, it is possible to plan for them well in advance, …because meteorologists and climatologists are now able to have a reasonably good idea of when such conditions will occur and for how long.

…

“We need to pay more attention to these sorts of situations,” he added, “because we can see the effects they are having. Certainly in an El Nino year when the particular drought conditions will be prolonged, you’ll certainly have extended periods of dry weather. That is why we should start thinking about mitigation, planning for these types of situations for the future times.”

[Photo: Steven Armstrong at Flickr]

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aquaculture network for the americas

March 31st, 2010

Dominica fishThe Aquaculture Network for the Americas was formally established last week in Brazil. With the support of the FAO, the Network aims to promote the sustainable development of aquaculture (also known as fish farming) in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The importance of the initiative was reaffirmed by FAO’s Regional representative for the Latin America, and the Caribbean, José Graziano da Silva. “The idea of an aquaculture network was originated in the area, but we couldn’t, until now, organize ourselves to show our strength,” said Mr. Graziano. Countries from Asia and the Pacific have their network since 17 years ago. “Now we have to reach them,” he said.

Mr Graziano emphasized the symbology in the fight against starvation. “The fish is associated with multiplication; it is a fertility symbol for several countries. It also comes to mind because of the expression ‘you cannot give the fish, but teach how to fish’. This idea of ‘we are going to teach how to fish’ is what will make the RAA even more than a productive sector,” asserted Mr. Graziano.

Caribbean countries represented in the network include Belize, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, French Guiana and Trinidad and Tobago.

A 1999 FAO report on aquaculture was titled Aquaculture – new opportunities and a cause for hope:

Since 1984, global aquaculture output has increased at an average annual rate of about 10 percent, compared with a 3 percent increase for livestock meat and 1.6 percent increase for capture fisheries. Aquaculture is emerging as a major source of food and income, thus making it a significant contributor to food security.

However, there are significant environmental concerns about the practice of aquaculture and its intensification:

Aquaculture, the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, molluscs, crustaceans and plants, is the fastest growing food production sector in the world, but its sustainability is not assured. Pollution, destruction of sensitive coastal habitats, threats to aquatic biodiversity and significant socio-economic costs must be balanced against the substantial benefits. Aquaculture has great potential for food production and the alleviation of poverty for people living in coastal areas, many of who are among the poorest in the world. A balance between food security and the environmental costs of production must be attained.

[Photo: Yelena Spasova at Flickr]

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improving waste oil management in the bvi

March 31st, 2010

Waste oil tankThe Environmental Health Division and the Solid Waste Department of the British Virgin Islands are encouraging businesses in Tortola, particularly restaurants and mechanical repair shops, to dispose of waste oil appropriately:

Waste Education Officer, Ms. Nadia James-Lord explained that, “The problems caused by waste oil are two-fold. From an environmental perspective, waste oil is hazardous waste and must be carefully disposed of and from a road safety perspective, oil spills increase the chances for vehicular accidents to occur.”

The Solid Waste Department advises that waste oil should be stored in tightly sealed containers, separate from residential waste, and should be transported carefully to the Tortola incinerator plant for disposal.

[Photo: Sheryl at Flickr]

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dominica water export

March 31st, 2010

Dominica RiverDuring a recent visit to Dominica, former Prime Minister of Barbados, Mr. Owen Arthur, recommended that Dominica should look into establishing a multi-national network of water supply companies in the Caribbean:

“You should do it … I think that Dominica should be looking to export water to the rest of the region and because of the CSME, you don’t have to wait for the rest of the region. Under the rules of the CSME you now have the right to establish commercial presence anywhere in the Caribbean, so Dominica can set up water supply companies in any Caribbean country… The export of water is [going to] be a major consideration for Dominica; I think you should do it,” he underscored.

The Dominica Water and Sewerage Company has recently been in discussion about the possibility of exporting water to St. Lucia.

In November 2009, Sisserou Water, a private company with headquarters in Colorado, United States, was granted a 10-year license to extract and export up to 3 billion gallons of water annually from Dominica.

Edited to add: Late last year, in a blog post titled Selling Dominica’s Water: Is There Enough? A Rough Analysis, Michael E. Campana, a hydrogeologist at Oregon State University, wrote about receiving “a call from a fellow who wants to sell Dominica’s fresh water.” Campana ran a few rough calculations:

[An estimate of] the average annual runoff is about 900,000,000 cubic meters or about 730,000 acre-feet or about 238B gallons!

So my friend wants to take about 16% of the total runoff for export. Is that going to be a problem?

The answer: I don’t know for sure. Dominica does have a heckuva lot of fresh water, but don’t forget that the island’s environment and the near-shore marine ecosystem are adjusted to this amount. So what happens when you remove 16% of this fresh water each year? That’s the question that must be asnwered before this project proceeds.

Keep in mind that my figures are very crude and I’m using a steady-state budget to evaluate an inherently transient situation. I’m just trying to illustrate a point: there is a lot of fresh water on Dominica but we still need to be concerned about withdrawing some of that water. Adverse effects could result not only on the land-based ecosystems but also near-shore marine ones.

[Photo: Maya Jones at Flickr]

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cuban suburban agriculture project

March 30th, 2010

Urban farming, CubaCuba’s government has begun a programme that aims to encourage farming on the outskirts of major cities.

Cuba has launched an ambitious project to ring urban areas with thousands of small farms in a bid to reverse the country’s agricultural decline and ease its chronic economic woes.

The five-year plan calls for growing fruits and vegetables and raising livestock in four mile-wide rings around 150 of Cuba’s cities and towns, with the exception of the capital Havana.

This new programme could be considered an expansion of the urban farms initiative introduced by Raul Castro in the 1990s.

Cuba is the only country in the world that has developed an extensive state-supported infrastructure to support urban food production and urban growers. Functionally, this infrastructure emerged in response to acute food shortages in the early 1990s; ideologically it grew out of the Cuban governments view that access to nutritious food is a basic human right. [source]

Read more about urban agriculture in Cuba here, here, and here.

[Photo: tardigrade at Flickr]

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residents protest cell tower construction in santa margarita, trinidad

March 30th, 2010

Protest against cell tower constructionIn Bates Trace, Santa Margarita, Trinidad, residents gathered with placards to protest against the construction of a cellular tower in their district.

The residents are asking the Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) to remove the tower, over concerns that the levels of radiation being [e]mitted by the tower could pose severe health risks. They are also condemning TSTT’s failure to consult the residents before construction of the tower.

The Trinidad Guardian reports that TSTT has issued a press release responding to the protest and the residents’ concerns:

The Telecommunications Service of Trinidad and Tobago has responded to the concerns of the residents of Bates Trace, Santa Margarita. In a release yesterday, TSTT said it had planned to meet with the residents to discuss their health and safety concerns. TSTT confirmed that the company had followed the approval process with the Telecommunication Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) in erecting the tower. Addressing the health safety concerns, TSTT said its systems were measured at radio frequency levels that were significantly safer than the acceptable levels set by the TATT.

[Photo: guardian.co.tt/Keith Matthews]

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help needed to recycle plastics in haiti

March 30th, 2010

Bottles of water for HaitiIn the aftermath of the earthquake, waste management and disposal have become even more of an environmental problem than it was before, and a significant amount of the waste in question has been generated by the disaster relief efforts.

The Haitian Community Development Project is seeking assistance in the collection and recycling of the many PET bottles used to store donated drinking water. President of the HCDP, Carline Seide-Murphy, said that

the Caribbean island’s population … has been left with “an overwhelming amount of plastics to throw away and no one seems to know what the do with them [the PET bottles].”

HCDP normally works with a Haitian recycler, but Seide-Murphy said she has not heard whether the local recycler is in a position to continue with the type of service it was giving before the quake.

[Photo: UCODEP at Flickr]

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