guadeloupe « Green Antilles
 

Posts tagged ‘guadeloupe’

European support for Caribbean geothermal energy development

February 3rd, 2012

European Investment Bank logoThe European Investment Bank is providing financial support for geothermal energy development in the Eastern Caribbean:

The European Investment Bank has agreed to fund preparations for possible use of geothermal renewable energy to replace fossil fuels in the Caribbean. Potential electricity generation capacity from geothermal resources and feasibility of connections to other islands will be examined under the technical assistance programme to start shortly.

The European Investment Bank, the European Union’s long-term lending institution, will provide a EUR 1.1 million grant to enhance detailed planning and study the feasibility of exporting electricity generated by geothermal energy from Dominica to neighbouring islands Martinique and Guadeloupe. Electricity generation using geothermal energy uses water heated to a high temperature using geothermal resources available near the surface. The EIB’s support will evaluate a possible northern submarine interconnection from Dominica to Guadeloupe and a second link to Martinique in the south. Once the feasibility of cross-border interconnections is determined, subsequent studies will define the characteristics of the sub-sea cables and assess the environmental impact of the planned interconnection.

“Ensuring the most effective use of geothermal energy as a sustainable source of electricity generation offers immense potential for transforming energy use and economic growth in the Caribbean. The European Investment Bank is pleased to contribute to overcoming specific technical and engineering challenges essential to lowering the energy costs in Dominica and to significantly increase electricity generation from renewable energy sources in the East Caribbean.” said Plutarchos Sakellaris, European Investment Bank Vice President.

Read more in the full media release.

Leave a Comment

Cuba shares agroecological expertise with Caribbean neighbours

November 18th, 2011

Papaya plants, CubaCuban farmers have been sharing their knowledge of eco-friendly agriculture with some regional counterparts:

Farmers and experts on agriculture from Haiti, Guadeloupe and Martinique are touring fields in Cuba this week, along with local colleagues, to exchange experiences to foment ecological fruit growing on Caribbean islands.

“I’m leaving with a different take on things,” Audrey Retory, who grows fruit and vegetables and raises barnyard fowl in Guadeloupe, told IPS. “There’s no reason for there to be an antagonistic relationship between agricultural production and nature.

“From now on I’m going to use vermiculture (composting using earthworms), which does not require a major investment, and I know that many people will see what I’m doing and want to replicate it,” she said.

“The experts and farmers have shared their know-how, and we have tried to take advantage of this great opportunity, to take the new knowledge back home to our fellow agricultural producers,” said Djuié Abdul, a farmer from Martinique who was one of the 22 participants in the experience.

To highlight Cuba’s experience in these techniques and transfer technology to the other three participating Caribbean islands – these are two of the central aims of the Caribbean Network for the Development of Agroecological Horticultural Systems (DEVAG), a four-year project launched in late 2009 with the support of the French embassies in Cuba and Haiti.

…

“All of these farmers grow their own specific crops, but what they have in common is the weather and pests, which are a constant challenge on our islands,” the coordinator of the project in Cuba, Lilian Otero, told IPS.

“Cuba can show how, despite economic limitations, progress has been made in bioproducts and the application of agroecological practices,” she said.

…

Otero … said “the idea is to create a network and for the farmers themselves to become promoters of these techniques, so that they spread on the islands, and continue to be practiced even when the project is over.”

Find out more in the original article from IPS News.

[Photo: havankevin]

Leave a Comment

Protected Whimbrel shot in the Caribbean; highlights need for better hunting regulations

September 21st, 2011

WhimbrelTwo whimbrels, birds that are a protected species in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, were shot in the Caribbean last week, raising the question of whether Caribbean hunting laws need to be amended for greater species protection:

Machi and Goshen the whimbrels were born in the Arctic, vacationed in Virginia and died this week in the Caribbean – killed by hunters and mourned by the scientists who tracked them.

Their deaths sparked outrage around the world and led to calls for strengthening lax hunting laws that allow birds protected in the United States to be slaughtered while on migration.

…

Machi had flown through Tropical Storm Maria during fall migration, headed from Virginia to Brazil. Goshen had flown through Hurricane Irene. Neither had ever landed on the island of Guadeloupe before, but the storms forced them to stop for rest and food. Both were killed by recreational hunters soon after arrival.

The French-owned islands of the West Indies have weak to nonexistent hunting laws, said Barry Truitt, chief conservation scientist for The Nature Conservancy on the Eastern Shore.

“It’s a six-month season,” he said. “They can shoot as many birds as they want.”

The independent island of Barbados allows man-made “shooting swamps,” or artificial wetlands, but hunters there recently have voluntarily set bag limits. Conservation organizations estimate that tens of thousands of shorebirds and others are shot each fall as they migrate. The deaths of Machi and Goshen, whose travels were documented on a website, could aid efforts to improve hunting laws in the Caribbean.

“This news has spread like wildfire,” said Lisa Sorenson of Boston University, president of the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds. “It’s a shame that these two birds were shot, but we see this as an excellent opportunity to push for change.”

You can read more in the full article by Diane Tennant, as well as in this post on the Cornell Blog of Ornithology:

The solution to the problem, Lisa Sorenson [president of the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds] hopes, lies in raising awareness of shorebirds’ plight in the larger world—including population declines and habitat loss. “It’s important not to offend the hunters and shut down communications,” she said, “but hunting regulations need to be updated.” In the Bahamas hunting used to be unrestricted, but recent bag limits of 50 birds per day have been put in place, and hunter education, including involving hunters in banding and population counts, have helped raise awareness and develop a conservation ethic.

On Barbados, hunters have voluntarily agreed not to shoot American Golden-Plovers or Red Knots, birds of high conservation concern. “We want to have that approach in Guadeloupe and Martinique,” Sorenson said, “where we work with the hunters to find a solution. [Machi's death] is a really, really sad event, but the reality is it’s happening to thousands of birds every fall. This is a good opportunity to encourage these governments to adopt more sustainable hunting regulations, such as bag limits, as well as protect some wetlands as refuges.”

See also: the Facebook page of the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds.

[Photo: Len Blumin]

Leave a Comment

Natural earthquake protection system discovered in the Caribbean

June 20th, 2011

Mangroves, BelizeAn article from MIT’s Technology Review provides an example of how we can learn from nature:

Liquefaction is one of the major hazards associated with earthquakes. This phenomenon occurs when the shaking generated by a quake causes soil or sand saturated with water to lose its mechanical strength and behave like a liquid.

The results can be devastating. There are numerous reports of the catastrophic damage that liquefaction does to buildings, roads, sewerage systems and so on. This is a particular problem for towns and cities built on sand or near the sea.

Today, Philippe Gueguen at the University Joseph Fourier in Grenoble and a few buddies say they’ve discovered a natural mechanism that protects certain areas from earthquake damage and liquefaction.

These guys placed an array of sensitive accelerometers on the island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean at a place called the Belleplaine test site. They then began to take data on the various tremors that were taking place, some 62 of them.

What they found surprised them. Compared to nearby areas that also experienced these quakes, the shaking at Belleplaine was significantly reduced.

The question is why: to a casual eye, Belleplaine is just like many other places. The top layer of soil here is a stiff type of sand, the type of ground that is particularly susceptible to liquefaction.

So Gueguen and co decided to investigate further by drilling bore holes. What they found is that Belleplaine sits on top of an ancient mangrove swamp that, over millions of years, has become embedded in limestone.

This buried mangrove layer is remarkably flexible and this has an important effect on the energy generated by earthquakes. “The buried mangrove layer plays the role of an isolation system,” say Guegen and co. It absorbs energy and protects the ground above from the worst effects of an earthquake. “The flexibility of the mangrove layer reduces the distortion and the stress in the sandy upper layer, and consequently reduces the potential of liquefaction of the site,” they say.

In fact, Guegen and co point out that today’s engineers use exactly the same mechanism to protect modern buildings from earthquake damage.

All this has important implications for Caribbean islands, many of which are at great risk of earthquake damage (think Haiti last year).

Guegen and co say a similar kind of soil structure occurs on many islands and this could be exploited to help protect buildings.

Technology Review via Discover magazine.

[Photo: MichIt]

Leave a Comment

Marine mammal sanctuary to be set up in the French Caribbean

November 18th, 2010

Underwater GuadeloupeA conservation area for the protection of marine mammals is to be created in the waters of the French West Indies:

On 5th October 2010, in Montego Bay (Jamaica), during the meeting of the Parties to the Convention of the Caribbean Sea (the Carthagène agreement and SPAW protocol), the French government officially announced, through Mr. Ferdy Louisy, Vice-President of the Agency of the Protected Marine Areas, the creation of the sanctuary for marine mammals in the French West Indies, i.e. the territorial waters and ZEE of Guadeloupe, of Martinique, of St-Martin and of St-Barthelemy.

The birth of AGOA (name of the goddess of the sea in Amerindian mythology) constitutes a major advancement in matters regarding the protection of marine biodiversity and affirms the position of France as the lead country in the conservation of Cetacea, and in particular the whales.

The creation of the sanctuary concludes several years of efforts on the part of the ONGs which initiated the project, of the services of the State (DIREN Martinique and Guadeloupe) which initiated the project and of all the actors which took part in the creation of the sanctuary within the framework of a steering committee ensuring widespread dialogue.

While at the same time the pressures develop, the sanctuary is in keeping with the stakes. With an area of 138,000 km ², Agoa will make it possible to reinforce the protection of emblematic but threatened species, like the cachalot, the hump-back whale or the fin-back whale, to sustainably manage their habitats and to ensure that they are considered in the development of human activities.

Read more in the complete article at Barnacle Grenada.

A previous related article on Green Antilles: Defending Caribbean wildlife.

[Photo: cnszym]

Leave a Comment

defending caribbean wildlife

October 13th, 2010

Defenders of WildlifeFrom the Defenders of Wildlife blog comes news of meetings held recently to discuss conservation in the Caribbean:

Defenders’ international conservation expert Alejandra Goyenechea [met] with state officials and foreign diplomats to work on Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) in the wider Caribbean region. Among other things, the group will evaluate a plan to reintroduce endangered manatees in Guadeloupe—an archipelago southeast of Puerto Rico that is governed by France. Then from Oct. 6-9, Alejandra will participate in discussions about the United Nation’s action plan for protecting the Caribbean marine environment.

The small island nations of the Caribbean get little attention even though their waters contain some of the most important and abundant marine life. Dolphins, whales, sharks and tuna all make their home in the warm tropical waters of the Caribbean Sea, and nearly 10 percent of the world’s remaining coral reefs are found here. Yet these fragile habitats are in peril from rising sea temperatures due to global warming, putting the entire Caribbean ecosystem–and the livelihoods of those who depend on it–at great risk.

This week Caribbean nations will consider plans to reintroduce manatees to the islands of Guadeloupe to help restore the critically endangered species.

Protecting the Caribbean is critically important, and so is forging strong relationships with new international allies. When it comes to voting on major initiatives at future meetings of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), Caribbean nations have often been key conservation partners. We hope to continue working closely with these nations for the betterment of all threatened and endangered species in the Caribbean and around the world.

There’s more about the meetings’ objectives and their outcomes at the Defenders’ blog.

Leave a Comment

st. lucia forest thrush receives protection under US endangered species act

August 18th, 2010

Forest thrush (Cichlherminia lherminieri)The St. Lucia Forest Thrush (Cichlherminia lherminieri sanctaeluciae, Turdus lherminieri) has been added to the list of species offered protection by the US Endangered Species Act:

Three species of birds from Latin America and the Caribbean will be protected by the Endangered Species Act under a final rule published in today’s Federal Register by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The birds that will be added to the endangered species list include the Andean flamingo, native to Andean regions of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru; the Chilean woodstar, native to river valleys in Peru and Chile; and the St. Lucia forest thrush, endemic to the island of St. Lucia in the West Indies.

“This listing will help the United States work with Latin American and Caribbean countries to conserve and protect these foreign species,” said Acting Service Director Rowan Gould.
…
[T]he St. Lucia forest thrush is a medium-sized bird that mainly occupies mid- and high-altitude forest habitats.
…
The addition of a foreign species to the Federal list of threatened and endangered species places restrictions on the importation of either the animal or its parts. Listing also serves to heighten awareness of the importance of conserving these species among foreign governments, conservation organizations and the public.

See the complete press release from the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Fores thrushes are found on Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica and St. Lucia; the St. Lucian bird is the rarest of the Caribbean forest thrushes. Find out more from BirdLife International. The Center for Biological Diversity has some background information about the work done to get the St. Lucia forest thrush onto the US Endangered Species list.

[Photo: mangoverde.com]

Leave a Comment

pesticides hazard in the french west indies

July 19th, 2010

Nothing can beat itSome months ago I wrote a post about recent articles linking high rates of prostate and breast cancer in Martinique to the long term use of toxic pesticides in the banana industry. Another recently published study corroborates these findings:

A study published last month in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and in Guadeloupe confirms that chlordecone, which disrupts the endocrine system, is responsible for a significant increase in the risk of prostate cancer, the cause of half the cancers detected on [Martinique and Guadeloupe].
…
The product was banned in mainland France in 1990 but special provision was made for its use to continue in the Antilles until 1993. It had been banned in the US since 1976.
…
Martinique and Guadeloupe must now cope with massive contamination of soil, river water and sediments by a substance that remains toxic for centuries. “About 80,000 people live in areas were the soil is contaminated and 13,000 absorb more chlordecone than the reference dose per day, simply by eating their own vegetables. We must help local people learn how to live with a problem which is here to stay: the half-life of chlordecone in the ground – the time it takes half the quantity present to disappear – is 600 years,” .. says [Professor William Dab, head of the Science Committee for the Martinique and Guadeloupe Chlordecone Plan].

The full article can be found in the UK Guardian, re-published from Le Monde.

Previously on Green Antilles: Pesticides and cancer in Martinique.

[Photo: Georgia Popplewell>]

Leave a Comment

what caribbean volcanoes might cost

April 20th, 2010

Aerial view of the Soufriere volcano, St. Vincent
This list of “10 Dormant Volcanoes That Could Blow And Cost The Economy Billions” includes three in the Caribbean.

Willis Research Network has put together a list of the European and Caribbean volcanoes that could erupt with spectacular results.

Those results wouldn’t be limited to ash and fire, like the current Eyjafjallajökull eruption mostly is, but would hit population centers as well.

Not just people would be under threat from the flow of lava and the density of ash, but residential homes as well.

The value of the payouts insurance companies estimate for those flows is also provided, and some are staggering.

The Caribbean volcanoes included are Mount Pelée in Martinique, La Soufrière in Guadeloupe, and Soufrière, St. Vincent. Click over to Business Insider to see how many people and how much real estate are estimates to be at risk if these volcanoes should blow.

[Photo: UWI Seismic Research Centre]

Leave a Comment

green iguana ocean journey

March 26th, 2010

Here’s a riddle: how did the iguana cross the sea? A possible answer in the below video, which is an extract from the BBC’s Wild Caribbean series:

Leave a Comment

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Subscribe to Green Antilles's feed.
Aggiornare Theme by GeekDesignGirl
Listed at Best Green Blogs