Like George Bush, Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding is a tough talker. He is the Big Man who went on BBC Television and told the world that there will be NO homosexuals in HIS cabinet. He also talks tough about crime (Jamaica is a world leader in murder), and was about to make some tough [...]
Blue Mountains, from the Hollywell National Park taken on Oatley Mountain trail inside the park. Jamaica’s master plan for the management and protection of its protected areas – already two years behind its deadline – should be finalized by December 2008, according to Marilyn Headley, head of the Forestry Department and chairman of the Protected [...]
The Jamaica Environmental Trust (JET) has launched “Jamaica for Sale”, a 92 minute video documentary highlighting disturbing issues behind the island’s normally rosy sun, sea and sand tourism image. “We want to raise hard questions about the tourism industry, especially in light of the recent rise in a certain kind of tourism. There are costs. [...]
Killing rivers could kill livelihoods. (Panos) – Illegal river poisoning and run-off from coffee farms seem to be posing a serious threat to the health of rivers in the eastern Jamaica parish of StThomas as well as general public health in the area. Environmental groups such as the St. Thomas Environmental Protection Association, STEPA, are raising [...]
Jamaica’s ability to respond to pressing environmental challenges including emerging climate change threats will be severely undermined unless ways can be found to keep local environment non-governmental organizations (NGOs) adequately funded. The organizations, many of which are usually short-staffed and under resourced, are finding it increasingly difficult to get funds to stay afloat. “Many NGOs [...]
Bauxite mine scars St Ann, Jamaica/NJCA Photo Residents of several communities in Jamaica’s north coast parish of St. Ann gathered in Claremont on September 4 to seek information from Miss Lisa Hanna, MP for southeast St. Ann, about plans for bauxite mining in that area and the construction of an alumina plant at Lydford. The [...]
We are at a critical juncture in the history of the Caribbean region. The existing electricity sector model was built, decades ago, upon the premise of the availability of relatively inexpensive fossil fuels. It is now obvious to all that this premise no longer exists – and the model now needs to be redesigned and [...]
Available Renewable Energy The volumes of the cubes represent the amount of available solar, wind and geothermal energy potential and (the smallest cube) the proportional global energy demand. Over the past year, it has become clear that the world is in the midst of a so-called “perfect storm” of high energy, food and commodities prices, [...]
How often has the Caribbean been referred to as the home of “sun, sea and sand”? If a unit of electricity was available for every time such a reference was made, the Caribbean might well have more energy than could be generated by the whole output of OPEC. Ok; that’s an exaggeration. But the Caribbean [...]
Google Map of the area from which the sand was stolen. The rip of tons of white sand from a prized beach along Jamaica’s north coast is causing consternation in the international travel community. And local environmentalists say the robbery at Coral Spring, Trelawny, is but tip of the sand dune in the illegal mining [...]