September 30th, 2010
The 6th Caribbean Bee-keeping Congress, which was scheduled to be held in Grenada in November, has been postponed. For further deteails, see the below press release from the local organising committee:
Previously on Green Antilles: Caribbean Bee-keeping Congress
September 29th, 2010
Ashoka’s Changemakers, National Geographic and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) are launching a search for innovative solutions for coastal, waterway, and island destinations that protect the environment and strengthen the heritage and livelihoods of local residents.
The competition launches September 8, 2010. Submit your solutions, or nominate a project, in this competition to help save coastal and freshwater destinations.
Ashoka’s Changemakers, National Geographic and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) are searching for innovative solutions for coastal, waterway, and island destinations that protect the environment and strengthen the heritage and livelihoods of local residents.
From September 8 through December 1, 2010, you can nominate or submit a solution to help save coastal and freshwater destinations.
Prizes: The top three entries will win US $5,000 each. The best two entries submitted by 6pm EST, October 20, 2010 will be eligible to each win US $500.
Through Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) Opportunity 2010, the IADB and MIF will provide up to US $5 million of co-financing for competition entries that provide innovative ideas for sustainable destination management by micro to medium companies in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region.
Find out more at www.changemakers.com/coasts.
September 29th, 2010
[An update to this post can be found here.]
The 2011 meeting of the Caribbean Food Crops Society will be held in Barbados:
[Barbadian representatives] took a letter from the Honorable Haynesley Benn, Minister of Agriculture (Barbados), on behalf of the Government of Barbados, inviting Caribbean Food Crops Society (CFCS) to have their 2011 Conference in Barbados. The Board of Directors headed by Dr. Hector L. Santiago, President, gladly accepted the offer and voted for the 2011 CFCS Conference to be held in Barbados in 2011.
Previously on Green Antilles: Caribbean Food Crops Society and 46th annual meeting of the Caribbean Food Crops Society.
(As an aside, I wanted to mention that I am quite impressed with the Barbados Ministry of Agriculture’s spiffy new website and Vimeo channel. Kudos on the good work!)
September 29th, 2010
Inter Press Service (IPS) reports on the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) and their report on The Economics of Climate Change Adaptation in the Caribbean (previously mentioned here on Green Antilles). An excerpt from the IPS article:
With a recent study warning that the Caribbean could lose six percent of its Gross Domestic Product annually to the ravages of climate change, some experts say that a combination of adaptation funding and risk pooling is the region’s best hope for the future.
“Climate risk insurance is already considered a critical tool in any comprehensive framework aimed at effectively adapting to the changing, and more changeable, climate,” Milo Pearson, chair of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), told IPS.
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The Caymans-based CCRIF is owned and operated by 16 Caribbean governments, and is the world’s first and, to date, only regional fund to provide earthquake and hurricane coverage in the form of a set payment when disaster strikes.
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The facility’s recent study, ‘The Economics of Climate Change Adaptation in the Caribbean’, focused on eight countries – Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Jamaica and St. Lucia.It found that annual expected losses from wind, storm surge and inland flooding already amount to up to six percent of GDP in some countries and that, in a worst case scenario, losses could reach as high as nine percent, with wind the single largest damage contributor.
This is equivalent to the impact of a serious economic recession – one that never ends, the study said.
Expected losses from climate risks varied significantly across the pilot countries, ranging from one percent of GDP in Antigua and Barbuda to six percent in Jamaica. The differences were driven by various factors including topography and exposure to coastal hazards, the economic importance of particularly vulnerable sectors, and location.
Among the hazards considered, hurricane-induced wind damage has the largest damage potential, accounting for up to 90 percent of the overall damage, with coastal flooding and storm surge most threatening in low-lying countries, the study found.
CCRIF said that the findings, which were released in late August, provide a sound economic fact base that countries can use to design their national climate adaptation and disaster management strategies.
Pearson said that the data can also help delegations prepare for the Nov. 29-Dec. 10 Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, where Caribbean and other small island developing states will be seeking financial aid to carry out mitigation and adaption plans.
Read more from IPS. See also this previous Green Antilles post and ccrif.org.
[Photo: via Marion Doss]
September 29th, 2010
The St. Lucian Fer-de-lance (Bothrops caribbaeus) recently showed up (not literally) as the featured animal in the “Zoological Investigations” column of the University of Manitoba’s student newspaper:
So now you want to know what the hell is a fer-de-lance, eh? Well, my Canadian friends, that is a lovely French word for ‘spearhead’ (or the more literal and less poetic, “iron of the lance”) and refers to an extremely venomous snake that lives, you guessed it, on St. Lucia Island in the sunny Caribbean. Also known by its less beautiful sounding scientific name, Bothrops caribbaeus, the fer-de-lance is one of five species of snake found on the island (one of which is now extinct) and belongs to the family Viperidae (fancy talk for, “It’s a viper”).
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Fer-de-lance populations have declined significantly in beautiful St. Lucia over the last 50 years, and populations are now restricted primarily to two fragmented portions of the island. These snakes are not protected by St. Lucia’s Wildlife Protection Act, which was implemented in 1980. Three other species of fer-de-lance native to islands of Brazil, B. alcatraz, B. insularis, and B. pirajaiare are listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as critically endangered and vulnerable (B. pirajai) but the St. Lucia fer-de-lance B. caribbaeus has not yet been assessed by the IUCN.
Earlier this year Adams Toussaint of the St. Lucia Forestry Department spoke to a journalist from the UK’s Guardian newspaper about the Fer-de-lance:
St Lucia is simply beautiful. For a small island we are blessed with great biodiversity and a spectacular landscape. I am lucky to have been born here. But it’s sad that the snakes and reptiles of St Lucia are threatened with extinction.
About 50 years ago the geographical range of the snake covered a large part of the island. Yet according to the latest study of St. Lucia’s reptiles and amphibians, completed last December, the poisonous snake, the Fer-de-lance (French for ‘spearhead’ or ‘iron of the lance’) is now limited to two fragmented areas on the island.
This type [subspecies] of Fer-de-lance (Latin name Bothrops caribbaeus) is only found in St Lucia.
It is unfortunate that people do not love the snake, which is regarded as a notoriously dangerous species. The prevailing attitude is to exterminate it, rather than to conserve or protect it.
Lobbying for its protection or getting policymakers to buy into the idea of giving the Fer-de-lance any form of protection is a mammoth task, that will require a massive education campaign to first change people’s attitudes and develop pride and joy in the Fer-de-lance – similar to what was done for the St Lucia parrot.
Although the majority of St Lucia’s wildlife is protected under the Saint Lucia Wildlife Protection Act of 1980, the Fer-de-lance is not. The snake has the same status as rats and the mongoose.
But while rats and the mongoose are two alien invasive species that have a mostly destructive impact on St Lucia’s biodiversity, the Fer-de-lance is an endemic species and should invoke some sort of national pride.
Read more of what Mr. Toussaint had to say at the Guardian website.
[Photo: via carnivoraforum.com]
September 29th, 2010
If you’re searching for information on the upcoming Caribbean Week of Agriculture, which runs from October 16 to 23 in Grenada, then click over to cwa.gov.gd.
Also of interest: this news article from the Caribbean Research and Development Institute (CARDI).
Previously on Green Antilles: 9th Caribbean Week of Agriculture.
September 29th, 2010
October is Migratory Bird Month on Grand Bahama:
While ongoing threats continue to endanger many of the nearly 350 species of birds that migrate annually between summer and winter habitats in Canada, the United States and the Bahamas as well as throughout the Caribbean and South America, conservation organizations and individuals have shown that they can make a real difference.
Launched in 1993 by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) is now coordinated by Environment for the Americas, based in Boulder, Colorado. IMBD is the largest-known bird conservation and education event of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the innovative Partners in Flight initiative, this year’s IMBD event showcases a poster with the once almost extinct Peregrine Falcon. Grand Bahama Island’s birding community is excited to see this fastest of all birds of prey on the poster as it is frequently observed by local birders on the island during the winter months.
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On Grand Bahama Island the Garden of the Groves is hosting events relating to IMBD 2010 throughout the month of October. On Saturday, October 16th, a poster exhibit of previous IMBDs will precede a lecture and field trip at the Garden. Erika Gates will speak about ways one can assist migratory birds on their wintering grounds by providing food and water sources, habitat and shelter. Peregrine Falcon Posters of this year’s event will be given away. Birders presenting their checklists with over 50 species will receive the attractive “Birds of the Bahamas” award certificate which is sponsored by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Grand Bahama Nature Tours. The person with the highest score will receive an IMBD 2010 T-shirt picturing the Peregrine Falcon.During the month of October school classes will be lectured twice weekly on the importance of migratory bird habitat in the Bahamas. Mrs. Marilyn Laing, coordinator of the “Young Naturalist Program” at the Garden of the Groves, will be conducting a brief classroom session followed by a field trip at the Garden where the youngsters will be introduced to birding and the migratory species that make the Garden their home for the winter. The children will also receive free bird tattoos, armbands and educational bird coloring books, specially produced for this year’s event.
The Grand Bahama Birding Group will meet on Saturday, October 2nd and 30th to visit a variety of birding locations to observe and record migratory species that will be making the island their home for the winter or are just passing through to feed and rest before continuing their incredible journey to South America.
Read the complete article at The Bahamas Weekly. See also: the International Migratory Bird Day website.
[Photo: Picture Taker 2]
September 28th, 2010
The Latin American Herald Tribune reports on the discovery of an oil deposit in the Dominican Republic:
Dominican Republic authorities announced the discovery of petroleum emanations in the eastern province of La Altagracia, saying they are of a higher quality than those found earlier near the southwestern city of Azua.
Director of Mining Octavio Jose Lopez told reporters the information was provided by residents of the small town of Higuey.
Technicians took samples and sent them to the laboratories of GHGeochem Ltd, a company based in the northwestern English town of Bebington for analysis.
The results indicate that the deposit is “natural, unrefined petroleum, very different from that of Azua, of higher quality.”
The official said the find confirms “the existence of at least two active oil systems on the island of Hispaniola (which the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti) in two geographically separate geological terrains – one in the southwestern part of the island and the other in the eastern portion.”
Read more at the Tribune website.
[Photo: J Brew]
September 28th, 2010
Dominican Today reports that the agriculture and tourism sectors are key to the country’s economic development:
Agriculture and tourism are the two elements that can spur Dominican Republic’s development, productivity and competitiveness, affirmed the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) representative in the country yesterday.
Manuel Labrado said the entity’s directors will address the strategy for the country on Monday, and that tourism and agriculture are the two productive sectors which are worth supporting.
He said those two sectors have a competitive advantage compared with other products, and in tourism’s case it’s obvious that because of its nature and the beaches, which it’s already the leader, but needs to provide added value beyond just the beach, such as culture.
Labrado said support with infrastructure, energy, transport and water is also needed, which in his view improves tourism’s quality.
As to agriculture, the official said the IDB supports it with the Competitive Agribusiness Transition Support Program (PATCA) for clusters such as Cacao, Mango and others.
He said Dominican Republic’s dimension geographic situation and proximity to US and Canada markets gives it a competitive advantage.
Labrado said the IDB also supports the country in renewable energy, through wind energy, rural and urban water programs and in transport, via the Boulevard of the Atlantic, a road grid that links several resort areas.
Read the full article from Dominican Today.
[Photo: Claudi Scholz]
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