Green Antilles

Video: Invasive Alien Species of the Bahamas

Thérèse — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:48:15 +0000

Learn why invasive plant and animal species such as the Australian Pine, the Lionfish, the Melaleuca Tree and the Brazilian Pepper Tree are bad for the environment and how they contribute to beach erosion and the endangerment of native species like Mangroves and Sea Grapes.

Reducing deforestation in Haiti with new cooking stoves and tree nurseries

Thérèse — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:43:59 +0000

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) is contributing to a project that takes a two-pronged approach to reducing deforestation in the Haitian community of Arregui-Jacmel:

Thanks to a project being implemented by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Lauritas Sisters religious order, more than 800 families in the Haitian community of Arregui-Jacmel will benefit from the installation of energy-saving stoves and the operation of a nursery that produces rapid-growth fruit-bearing and timber-yielding trees.

The project got underway in late 2011 under the terms of a donation agreement signed by IICA and CARITAS-Spain. It provides beneficiaries with a viable alternative for making more efficient and sustainable use of biomass, through the use of energy-saving stoves that require less firewood than traditional three-stone cooking stoves and make cooking safer.

According to Alfredo Mena, IICA Representative in Haiti, “Given the deforestation of the country and the fact that firewood is the main source of energy, both of which increase pressure on forest resources, the stoves provide an opportunity to switch from the three-stone open fire to a small unit that has been modified and adapted to the local culture and needs.”

The stove used in this project, known as Isleña, has an easy-to-handle and efficient oven. It operates by enclosing the fire in an L-shaped combustion chamber with a short chimney or duct that transfers the heat from the combustion chamber to the cooking surface, thus reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and ensuring the delivery of maximum heat to the cooking surface.

This simple device can burn small pieces of firewood, crop residue or dried twigs, which slows deforestation and, therefore, benefits the ecosystems of the area.

The nursery in which local fruit-bearing and timber-yielding trees are grown was established with the participation of the beneficiaries, who are members of the community of Arregui. This nursery not only provides trees for planting, but is also used by the Lauritas Sisters to instill in the students of the school they run an interest in planting trees and protecting the environment.

Source.

[Photo: via iica.int]

Small Island Developing States Ministers meet to prepare for Rio+20

Thérèse — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:41:59 +0000

Ministers from small island developing states (SIDS) recently met informally to discuss sustainable energy development and their negotiating positions in advance of the upcoming Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development:

An informal ministerial meeting took place to address small island developing States’ (SIDS) position for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), on 9 May 2012, in Bridgetown, Barbados. Representatives of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) stressed a focus on “the day after Rio.” Other delegates addressed issues relating to utilization of ocean resources; gender aspects of resource access; principles of rotation between Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and South China Sea (AIMS), Pacific and Caribbean; and strengthening of governance structures.

Heads of government and ministers from 29 states participated in the proceedings, which were hosted by the Government of Barbados and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The meeting immediately followed the High-Level Conference of SIDS, “Achieving Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL).”

The meeting was chaired by Denis Lowe, Minister of Environment and Drainage, Barbados. It included: an update on progress in negotiations from UNCSD Executive Coordinator Elizabeth Thompson, who also identified elements for a successful transition to a global green economy; a presentation by Appio Claudio Acquarone, Ambassador of Brazil to Barbados, on Brazil’s views on the Rio outcome, noting it should incorporate, inter alia: poverty eradication and a clear framework for multilateral institutions on sustainable development; closed, high-level meetings to address SIDS’ priorities for Rio+20 and level of ambition for the proposed Third Global Conference on Sustainable Development of SIDS in 2014; and a plenary discussion on expectations for Rio+20.

Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival 2012

Thérèse — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:40:47 +0000

Because of Green Antilles’ extended hiatus, we’re a bit late in our posting about the 2012 Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival. The Festival runs from April 22 to May 22, 2012. Learn more in the below press release from the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds.

“Birds are a part of our every day lives – we see them in our backyards and parks and enjoy them, but we take them for granted!” So said Dr. Lisa Sorenson, President of the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds (SCSCB), the largest single Caribbean organization devoted to wildlife conservation, at the launch of the 11th annual Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) which runs from 22 April to 22 May 2012. Dr. Sorenson remarked that “with an impressive 31% of the approximately 565 bird species of the Caribbean islands found nowhere else on the planet, in addition to the exceptionally high deforestation experienced (only 11% of its pre-Columbian extent now remaining) – engaging Caribbean people, from all walks of life, in bird conservation could not be more important.”

Sorenson said that there is an astonishing 56 uniquely Caribbean bird species threatened with extinction, in additional to several species for which the Caribbean is an essential site during their annual migration. These species are threatened due to destruction of habitat for development, pollution, and other unsustainable uses. Global climate change will exacerbate the many threats that the region’s flora and fauna are already experiencing. Sorenson added, “that if we did not act to protect our own invaluable natural heritage, no one else would.”

It is for these reasons the SCSCB has chosen as its focus the theme – “Connecting People to Bird Conservation – 20 Ways to Conserve Birds” – for this year’s festival. In support of this initiative, the Society will coordinate month-long Caribbean-wide activities beginning today Earth Day 22 April, through to International Biodiversity Day on 22 May, in more than twenty countries region-wide.

At the launch of the Festival, Sheylda Díaz-Méndez, Regional Coordinator of the CEBF based in Puerto Rico, noted that the remedy had to begin with involving ordinary Caribbean citizens in nature conservation. Relatively few Caribbean nationals work professionally in wildlife conservation, said Díaz-Méndez. “It is important that a broad cross section of our collective societies are well educated and mobilized to address the conservation crisis at multiple levels.”

Eric Carey, Executive Director of the Bahamas National Trust and one of the region’s leading conservationists noted that with greater awareness, there was a plethora of relatively simple activities through which people could support native bird conservation. Carey emphasized that activities such as planting native trees and shrubs, avoiding and properly disposing of toxic chemicals, not buying illegally captured birds, recycling, using cloth grocery bags and reusable bottles, and supporting forest restoration programs were all very meaningful ways that everyone could contribute not only to bird conservation but also to the preservation of the biological systems that human health and our economies depend on.

When asked what they would recommend to their communities to encourage greater bird conservation we received these replies:

Sorenson: “Plant a pimento tree for both yourselves and the birds to enjoy.”
Carey: “Remind young children that birds eat harmful insects, pollinate flowers and spread seeds and therefore capturing or killing them is bad for everyone.”
Díaz-Méndez: “Become a member of a local conservation organization and obtain a field guide to the birds of your country.”

The group also said that additional simple ways to support bird conservation could be found at: birdday.org where the 20 general issues and simple solutions are suggested to the public. The site notes: “Imagine how many birds you can help finish their migratory journey, have a successful nesting season, raise young, survive the winter, if you just….”

After a humble beginning, CEBF reached more than 100,000 participants in the Caribbean last year. In 2011 the Society facilitated more than 500 CEBF activities in 19 countries! The Festival has been described by leading international conservation organizations as an unprecedented initiative of regional unification for heightening environmental education and awareness. The purpose of the month-long Festival has been to increase public awareness of the region’s exceptionally rich and threatened bird life, using the Caribbean’s celebrated endemic birds as “flagships” for conservation.

Festival activities include a diverse array of public events including bird-watching excursions, talks, radio quizzes, photographic exhibitions, school-based art and costume competitions, church services, tree plantings, clean-ups, media campaigns, and theatrical productions all in recognition of the region’s rich bird life, natural heritage, and interconnectedness of regional habitats to global events.

Birds are economically important and a priceless part of our natural heritage—and they are critical indicators of environmental health upon which we all depend, said Sorenson. “Through the festival and this year’s theme, we hope to raise awareness and involve more people in bird conservation.”

To view reports and photos of past Caribbean Endemic Bird Festivals, for downloadable Festival resources, and for updates on ongoing and planned activities, kindly visit the Festival website under the “Programs” link at: www.scscb.org.

Find out more about the 2012 Festival at the SCSCB website. Visit birdday.org for tips about 20 ways to conserve birds.

[Photo: Bahama Swallow (Tachycineta cyaneoviridis), a Bahamian endemic. By Craig Nash.]

Video: Climate change in Dominica

Thérèse — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:47:30 +0000

Via the Climate Investment Funds:

The landscape of Dominica has changed. Its pristine biodiversity now faces a multitude of threats most of which stem from climate change. Watch this video to learn more about how this Caribbean island nation is fighting climate change with assistance from the CIF’s Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR).

Six Caribbean countries to receive US$10.6 million for climate resilience activities

Thérèse — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:45:15 +0000

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reports that Caribbean countries are to benefit from a $10.6 million grant from the Climate Investment Funds:

Caribbean countries and regional organizations will apply a $10.6 million grant from the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) to carry out a regional track of activities to address the impact of climate change, the Inter-American Development Bank announced today.

At a recent meeting of the CIF’s subcommittee for the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR), members endorsed a strategic investment program for the Caribbean region that will fund activities in four areas:

• Improving geospatial data and management for adaptation planning, sea level rise and storm surge impact analysis.
• Consolidating and expanding the regional climate monitoring network and global platform linkages.
• Downscaling and expanding climate projection models and high-resolution maps.
• Applied adaptation initiatives.

The Caribbean Regional PPCR is a collaborative effort between six participating countries—Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent, each with its own national program and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center serving as a focal point for the regional track of activities. Lessons learned from CIF-funded projects will be disseminated to other non-participating countries in the region.

Source.

Turtle conservation in Tobago

Thérèse — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:43:45 +0000

The Trinidad Express recently published a really informative article about turtle conservation in Tobago. Here’s an excerpt:

Tobago is a very special place for sea turtles. So who is working in Tobago to promote a more sustainable relationship between people and sea turtles?

Though a small island, Tobago is divided into the bustling south-western end and the more remote north-eastern end. In the south-western end, turtle conservation efforts are spearheaded by Save Our Sea Turtles (SOS) Tobago, a registered community-based organisation. With the help of volunteers and various funders, their dedicated staff monitor sea turtle nesting and hatching activity mainly on Courland Bay (Turtle Beach), Grafton Beach and Mt. Irvine Back Bay and undertake a range of educational programmes.
Heading north-east in Tobago, towns give way to sleepy fishing villages nestled in steep valleys that are bordered by the Main Ridge Forest Reserve. Villages such as Speyside, Charlotteville, L’anse Formi and Parlatuvier all have long, interconnected histories with turtles and the sea.

Speaking up for sea turtles on this remote end are two small community-based groups, the Speyside Eco-Marine Park Rangers (SEMPR) and North East Sea Turtles (NEST), led by Mr. Jace Bishop and Mr. Ancil Kent respectively. Both are young groups with a passion for looking after their communities and their natural resources.

According to these groups, turtle harvesting in the north-eastern end is quite common. As one NEST member explained, “People here grow up knowing the sea have plenty and we always have turtles. We eating them all our lives. Many don’t even know the Law is there and having a Law doesn’t make much difference if nobody obeying or enforcing it. We don’t realise that the sea has less and less and our turtles disappearing really fast! People don’t know yet that the turtles need our help but we also need them to look after our sea.”

Read the full articleTalking Turtles in Tobago on the Express website.

Some previous Green Antilles posts on the same topic: Video: Protecting sea turtles beyond the beach in Trinidad and Tobago, National Geographic Video: Tobago Turtles, SOS (Save our Sea Turtles), Tobago.

[Photo: via Paul Mannix]

Grenada’s finance minister discusses the need for an enabling environment for sustainable energy in the Caribbean

Thérèse — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:41:47 +0000

Speaking at a conference in Barbados last week, Grenada’s finance minister discussed some of the challenges for sustainable energy development in the Caribbean and other small island developing states:

THERE is room for improvement in many areas in order for the Caribbean and other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to achieve sustainable energy objectives.

This is according to Minister of Finance of Grenada, Nazim Burke. He delivered an address here in Barbados at the SIDS Sustainable Energy For All conference at the Hilton Barbados last week.

“The topic that we are discussing this morning, ‘The Creation of an Enabling Environment and the Financing for Sustainable Energy’ brings to the fore fundamental pre-requisites which have to be satisfied if we are to succeed in achieving global objectives put forward by the UN Secretary General in his Sustainable Energy For All initiative,” he said.

Burke went on to highlight three key issues that specifically affect the Small Island Developing States, especially those in the Caribbean region. The issues surround those of high energy costs, high levels of indebtedness, and the slow pace of development funding.

…

He used his own country, Grenada, as an example of the importance of developing sustainable energy, noting that that country has some of the highest energy costs in the world. As a response, Burke reported that his government has chosen pillars for economic transformation of Grenada, and among them is sustainable energy development.

Authorities “going all out” to preserve the richness of Jamaica’s biodiversity

Thérèse — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:43:57 +0000

Zadie Neufville writes for IPS News about action being taken to preserve Jamaica’s biodiversity, particularly in the face of ongoing environmental degradation and climate change:

Jamaican authorities are going all out to achieve environmental sustainability as one way of minimising the expected impacts of climate change on the local biodiversity.

There is no up-to-date inventory of the island’s flora and fauna, and a shortage of adequate data collection devices, which researchers say are needed to begin climate impact studies and adaptation planning in ecosystems management.

But, by working toward the seventh Millennium Development Goal (MDG) – a series of development and anti-poverty targets agreed by U.N. member states in 2000 – authorities hope to establish the principles of sustainable development across all sectors to reduce environmental degradation, reverse the loss of environmental resources, and significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss.

Ecosystems Manager at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) Andrea Donaldson told IPS that while the agency’s work on biodiversity is not focused on climate change, they are aware of the likely impacts and continue to implement measures to safeguard the local biological diversity.

The National MDG Report has pointed to the country’s failures in efforts at pollution controls and the protection of critical ecosystems, and it is these factors that worry scientists the most.

In addition, human activities that result in deforestation, destruction of wetlands and coastal ecosystems, urban sprawl as well as disregard for the natural environment have been identified as some of the most serious threats to biodiversity.

In fact, experts are concerned that disregard for the natural environment could exacerbate the impacts of severe weather. Both the 2010 State of the Environment Report (SOE) and the National Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) pointed to human activities as significant threats.

“Climate change is likely to further increase the negative impacts” of habitat loss, over-exploitation, poor land use and ignorance about the value of natural resources, the SOE reported.

Some experts are already describing changes in coral reefs, forests and coastal wetlands, areas that have been identified as most vulnerable to climate change. It is widely believed that with more than 12 extreme weather events in the last five years, Jamaica is already feeling the effects.

This is the most bio-endemic island in the region. Ranking fifth amongst islands of the world for the number of unique species, Jamaica’s biodiversity losses could be immense. There are more than 8,000 recorded species of plants and animals and more than 3,500 marine species here.

Among the island’s endemic treasures are 10 species of cacti, seven species of palms and 60 of the 240 species of orchids. There are 31 endemic species of birds, nine species of crabs, 505 species of the 514 varieties of land snails, and 33 of the 43 species of reptiles.

At least four of the 24 species of bats here are endemic; 17 of the 19 species of frogs and about 15 of the 115 species of butterflies.

Among the better-known unique species are the Tody, the Jamaican boa, the Jamaican Hutia also called the coney and the Giant Swallowtail Butterfly.

The island ranks among the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list of places with the highest number of at-risk mammals, due primarily to the threat to its endemic bats and the coney.

Another of the island’s endemic species, the Jamaican iguana, is on the IUCN’s Red List of endangered and threatened species. Roughly 200 of the animals survive in the shrinking limestone forests of Hillshire, several miles outside the capital Kingston.

And as the impacts of fewer but more intense rainy days, increased intensity of hurricanes, and periodic drought take their toll, socioeconomic problems are expected to increase the pressure on natural resources.

As the agency charged with safeguarding the island’s biological treasures, NEPA said it has spearheaded a number of policies, programmes and legislation to manage and prevent unauthorised exploitation.

Find out more in the complete article from IPS News.

[Photo: via insectsgalore.blogspot.com]

Haiti’s Reef Check EcoDivers continue to make great strides

Thérèse — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:41:57 +0000

Nikole Ordway of Reef Check International reports on the progress being made by 13 Haitian EcoDivers-in-training:

During the first week of April, my position as a Reef Check Course Director led me from Florida to Haiti to teach 13 students the PADI Open Water Diver course. These students are comprised of Haitian school teachers and university students studying diverse subjects such as agronomy, architecture, medicine and business. Each student was selected from 70 original applicants to become part of Haiti’s first Reef Check EcoDiver team.

The Reef Check EcoDiver course includes both classroom and field sessions and is designed to train non-scientists to become certified to conduct scientific Reef Check surveys. The team from Haiti will run Reef Check surveys to track corals, invertebrates and fish. In Haiti, the main reason coral reefs are suffering is due to overfishing. All the big fish are gone and the local fishermen are now taking and wiping out smaller fish populations, like parrotfish and grunts, in order to make a living.

Before I went to Haiti, the students had already learned to swim and snorkel with Reef Check last summer (check out the video from the New York Times). With their skills getting better, it was time to introduce them to scuba…and boy did their eyes open! In Haiti, most divers are foreigners, so what an opportunity this was for locals to learn to scuba dive.

…

The students’ first dives were exciting because they wanted to swim all over the reef to check it out…so I really had to work hard to keep them with me. For the second dive I reminded them about the importance of the buddy team system, and they were great students after that! The second day of training dives went very well — the students were very good at getting themselves ready for the dives, helping each other, and some would even set up my gear too! Their buoyancy skills also became much better. We discussed evaluating ocean conditions, and the need to make good judgments about the ocean, the equipment, and who they are diving with because the closest hospital is over an hour away and the nearest decompression chamber is in the Dominican Republic.

On the last day the students took their final exam, and all 13 students passed! What a rewarding experience for a dive instructor and I only hope that I can do this in other places. I look forward to returning to Haiti to see how this Reef Check Haiti team is doing!

Find out more in the complete article at the Reef Check website. See also Youth in Haiti start training to become EcoDivers, and Ruin and Hope on Haiti’s Reefs, the New York Times video Nikole mentions.

[Photo: reefcheck.org]