The Hummingbird - May 2018 [vol.5, n.5]

Volume 5 - Issue 5 May 2018

Humming-

ENVIRONMENTAL ACCESS RIGHTS ECLAC AND CCJ LAUNCH A JOINT PUBLICATION ON ENSURING ENVIRONMENTAL ACCESS RIGHTS IN THE CARIBBEAN

energy efficiency BARBADOS, GUYANA, SAINT LUCIA AND TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, THE FOCUS OF (BIEE) PROJECT

DALA TRAINING

ECLAC’S DAMAGE AND LOSS ASSESSMENT (DALA) TRAINING AT THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN CENTRAL BANK

Contents 4

Article

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Feature Article

BIEE project in Saint Lucia

Caribbean development roundtable discusses climate resilience and de-risking

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Article

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Article

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State of Affairs

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Around the Caribbean

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ECLAC Caribbean Family

ECLAC supports statistical capacity needs of the Bahamas and Saint Kitts and Nevis

SKN embarks on initiative to safeguard intangible cultural heritage

Recent activity by Caribbean governments

- The Caribbean’s First Cable Car System Is Coming to Santo Domingo - Secondary students appreciated for musical contribution

Brown Bag discusses Air-conditioning and Refrigeration implications for Sustainable Development

Cover Photo courtesy Pixabay

Issued on a monthly basis, The Hummingbird offers strategic insights into the latest projects, publications, technical assistance missions and research carried out by ECLAC Caribbean. In addition to these, sneak previews are provided of the most salient upcoming events, alongside enriching followups to previously covered issues. With a view to featuring a variety of facets of Caribbean life and lifestyle, The Hummingbird also zooms in on cultural activities and landmark occurrences through an eye-opening regional round-up.

EDITORIAL TEAM Editor: Alexander Voccia Writer : Denise Balgobin Design: Blaine Marcano Please see our contact details on the back cover of this magazine

Posted May 3

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT – Watch the #ECLACCaribbean documentary, on the impacts of #hurricanes Irma and Maria across the Caribbean, here: https://youtu.be/mpL15mblZPU

May Events Thirty-seventh session of ECLAC, Havana

7-11 7 - 11 May 2018

Posted Apr 28

The twenty-seventh session of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (#CDCC) took place in Saint Lucia on Friday 27 April. More here: http://bit.ly/2HX5s4Q

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International Day of Families 15 May 2018

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International Day of Living Together in Peace 6 May 2018

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International Day of UN Peacekeepers 29 May 2018

Posted Apr 27

The Caribbean Development Roundtable (CDR) took place on Thursday April 26 in Gros Islet, Saint Lucia.

More here: http://bit.ly/2FkMKP6

BIEE project in Saint Lucia

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ssessing the status of the national energy sector of four Caribbean countries – Barbados, Guyana, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago, is the focus of a project aimed at establishing a Database of Energy Efficiency Indicators (BIEE), which was launched in December 2017.

A meeting to review progress on this BIEE project was held on 21-22 April 2018 in Saint Lucia, where experts were invited to share the progress made with respect to the building of the BIEE database.

Following the meeting, the Hummingbird sat down recently for a one-on-one chat with ECLAC Caribbean’s Economic Affairs Officer and focal point for the BIEE project, Willard Phillips, to gain more insight on the project.

Q: Can you please share some of the background of this project?

The BIEE programme seeks to strengthen the capacity of energy authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean to monitor their energy efficiency, improve data reliability and in turn enhance evidence-based decision-making on energy efficiency. This project was successfully implemented in 19 countries of Latin America.

ECLAC is administering the project in partnership with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME).

Q: What progress has been made since the launch of the BIEE project in December 2017?

At the recent meeting in Saint Lucia, national energy focal points gave an update on the data collected for each of the countries so far.

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Representatives from the national energy sectors in each of the four project countries have begun utilizing the BIEE tool to assess energy efficiency (EE) policies and programmes. Specifically, preliminary data for estimating energy sector indicators such as energy intensity, and energy consumption by selected sectors have already been collected for each of the project countries. Additionally, some macroeconomic data for measuring overall economic performance have been gathered. The plan is that after the database is finished, it will be available for use by energy stakeholders nationally.

Q: Tell us about the importance of the BIEE tool?

The BIEE tool provides a template to gather national data for assessing and analysing policies and programs on EE in participating countries. It also facilitates the regional comparability of the energy

Saint Lucia hotels reduce single-use plastics for Earth Day

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n celebration of Earth Day on 22 April 2018, two resort hotels in Saint Lucia reaffirmed their commitment to the environment with the elimination of 90% of single-use plastics from their operations. The team of the earth day celebration was `End Plastic Pollution’.

sector, and promotes the implementation, monitoring and standardization of EE policies and programmes. The project will also strengthen the capacity of energy agencies in each country, improve their data reliability and enhance their policy decision-making process.

Q: What other sectors are being monitored in the countries?

The BIEE project identifies energy efficiency indicators for seven sectors, which are macro/energy balance, households, industrial, services, agricultural, transportation and energy.

The Anse Chastanet resort, which was built to ensure minimum disturbance to a lush 600-acre estate in the Soufrière hills, and its sister property, Jade Mountain, are resorts dedicated to responsible tourism. Mindful of the impacts of plastics on land and marine environments, the resorts’ management teams began their efforts on the reduction and elimination of plastics from their operations in 2015.

Since then, there has been great strides in reducing plastic usage and in finding creative alternatives to plastics for food containers, cutlery, cups and straws. This includes the use of wood, metal and melamine products as well as cornstarch- and sugarcane bagasse-based items, and putting a stop to the purchase of certain plastic products and Styrofoam.

“We encourage the hospitality sector to examine closely their use of plastics and engage in dialogue with their teams,” said Nick Troubetzkoy, managing director of Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain.

“Often the most creative and practical solutions lay within your team and getting your staff directly involved in coming up with solutions also helps ensure buy-in to the commitment cycle needed in order to transform.”

At the resorts’ bars on Earth Day, plastic straws were replaced with straws made from cornstarch and drinks were served with straws only upon request – with the exception of a few specialty drinks. “The guest response to this was wonderful, as they comfortably embraced the initiative,” Troubetzkoy said.

Now, plastic cups are no longer available at the resorts’ staff hydration stations – instead, employees bring their own reusable cups or bottles. This small change on its own accounts for the elimination of more than 500 single-use plastic containers daily. In the staff canteen, metal cutlery has replaced plastic cutlery, and employees bring their own reusable containers if they need to take food back to their desks and stations.

In further celebration of Earth Day 2018, Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain encouraged their guests to participate in a number of interactive environmentally conscious activities, one of which was the planting of cacao trees on the resorts’ organic Emerald Farm, which supplies much of the restaurants’ fresh produce and the inspiration for their farm-to-table approach to dining.

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FEATURE ARTICLE Caribbean development roundtable discusses climate resilience and de-risking

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olicy makers and senior Government officials from the Caribbean recently took part in wide-ranging discussions on opportunities for financing green investment for climate resilience and structural transformation in the Caribbean. This panel debate was held during the Caribbean Development Roundtable (CDR) meeting on 26 April 2018, in Gros Islet, Saint Lucia, under the theme `Promoting climate resilience and sustainable economic growth in the Caribbean’.

Read More

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Caribbean Development Roundtable discusses climate resilience

and de-riskingRoundtable

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onvened by ECLAC Caribbean and hosted by the Government of Saint Lucia, the CDR was officially opened by Mr. Raúl García-Buchaca, the Deputy Executive Secretary of ECLAC for Management and Programme Analysis, and The Honourable Allen Michael Chastanet, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Minister for Finance, Economic Growth, Job Creation, External Affairs and the Public Service.

To identify integrated strategies for resilience building, the CDR featured panel presentations and fostered dialogue among policy makers, academics, the private sector and other stakeholders. These discussions highlighted that such

strategies could be mainstreamed into national development planning processes. This approach could also help address the Caribbean’s debt challenge, in keeping with the ECLAC approach to debt reduction.

In this context, García-Buchaca highlighted that the Caribbean debt burden is one of the major challenges currently facing the subregion. He explained that ECLAC has already formed a multiorganizational Task Force to move ahead with the proposal. Comprised of representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Task Force has already met twice, in November 2017 and February 2018.

Photo: Attendees of the Caribbean Development Roundtable (CDR) 2018, St. Lucia.

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Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, in turn highlighted the challenges caused by de-risking to Caribbean economies. In particular, Browne noted that, “The most effective mechanism to fight Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism is full global cooperation among all states, not de-risking.”

Held every two years, the CDR provides a space for intellectual exchange of views and suggestions, with a view to identifying workable solutions to address the vulnerabilities of Caribbean small island developing states (SIDS).

ECLAC and the CCJ launch publication at CDCC

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CLAC and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) have launched a joint publication, titled `Ensuring environmental access rights in the Caribbean: Analysis of selected case law’, which aims to strengthen environmental democracy in the Caribbean.

The launch took place in Gros Islet, Saint Lucia at the 27th session of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) meeting held on 27 April 2018.

Presiding over the launch were Sir Dennis Byron, President of the CCJ (or Mr. Justice Winston Charles Anderson, Judge of the CCJ and Chairman of the CCJ Academy of Law).

The publication summarizes the international, regional and national legal frameworks applicable to Caribbean countries on access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters, and also identifies common core elements with reviews on salient cases from high courts of the subregion where such standards have been applied.

The CDCC meeting also recognized the 70th anniversary of ECLAC. On behalf of ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena, the Deputy Executive Secretary for Administration and Programme Analysis, Mr. Raúl GarcíaBuchaca, welcomed the audience and expressed the relevance of this CDCC meeting. In his statement, he also presented a thorough account of the Commission’s history and its contribution to Latin American and Caribbean thinking, since this year (2018) it is celebrating its

70th anniversary. García-Buchaca commented that, “In keeping with its early beginnings, the ECLAC presence in the Caribbean has remained as a think-tank, stimulating ideas with the view of forging a regional approach to sustainable development with equality.

Spearheading the discussions during the CDCC was the Deputy Director for the ECLAC subregional headquarters to the Caribbean, Dr. Dillon Alleyne.

Presenting ECLAC’s newest flagship presentation – the ‘Caribbean Outlook’ –, Alleyne identified opportunities for the subregion to advance its sustainable development, emphasizing resilience-building and vulnerability reduction.

“Four important cross cutting issues which are critical to achieving sustainable development are gender equality, the effective use of ICT for development, data for evidence based decision making and pursuing partnerships for sustainable development,” Alleyne said.

He also pointed to the importance of mainstreaming the 2030 agenda and other global frameworks in the development plans and programmes of countries in the Caribbean, since such frameworks emphasise inclusiveness and are geared to long term planning.

The CDCC was created as a permanent subsidiary body of ECLAC to promote development cooperation among Caribbean countries. Regular sessions of ministers are held every two years with a meeting of the Monitoring Committee held in the intervening year.

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ECLAC supports statistical capacity needs of the Bahamas and Saint Kitts and Nevis

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he statistical capacity needs of the Bahamas and Saint Kitts and Nevis vis-à-vis the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were the focus of attention during national workshops, held in the two countries recently.

The workshops took place under the auspices of the ECLAC project, `Planning for the Implementation of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean’, which is being funded by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).

This project is a joint initiative between ECLAC Caribbean GIZ, whereby technical assistance is being provided to six Caribbean countries, with the main objective being to strengthen the beneficiary countries’ capacity to incorporate the SDGs in their planning, management and monitoring processes in accordance with national priorities. The other countries are Aruba, British Virgin Islands, Grenada and Guyana.

The project started with a Caribbean symposium on mainstreaming the SDGs into national development planning in February 2017, which enabled the Caribbean Member States to identify the main obstacles

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to the implementation of the SDGs. During the last quarter of 2017, the SDG mission recommended that in keeping with its objective of implementing the SDGs, Saint Kitts and Nevis should develop a National Development Plan (NDP) that outlines a medium to long term vision for the country’s development.

Saint Kitts and Nevis is in the final year of its National Adaptation Strategy (20062017). As the country makes preparation for a new national development plan (NDP), it is important for the mainstreaming of SDGs to be aligned with national development priorities, in order to emerge from a participatory, evidence-based and institutionalized process.

Saint Kitts and Nevis is in the final year of its National Adaptation Strategy (2006-2017).

Against this backdrop, ECLAC’s mission to SKN recommended that the NDP should focus on the challenges to development and advance strategies to overcome them in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs. This should entail a separate strategic development plan for Nevis focussing on specific needs and issues, in addition to a general NDP for the entire country.

Furthermore, ECLAC suggests that the data needed for the SDG indicators, an inter-ministerial committee could be established to facilitate a common framework for SDG follow-up and review, with separate steering committees to ensure that there is a focus on the SDGs within both Nevis and Saint Kitts.

The second country visited for the project was The Bahamas during 4-6 April 2018. The Bahamas is currently drafting a new National Development Plan and taking steps to mainstream

the SDGs in the national context.

In support of this effort, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recently completed a Rapid Integrated Assessment for The Bahamas with gaps identified in The Bahamas’ planning documents where alignment with the SDGs was concerned.

Participating in the workshop were representatives from the Bahamas Office of the Prime Minister, the Department of Statistics and the University of the Bahamas.

As the country accelerates its SDG implementation efforts, it is important that the SDGs are aligned with national development priorities and mainstreamed in the new National Development Plan, through a participatory, evidence-based, and institutionalized decision-making process.

of the GIZ project is bound to a specified time frame, ECLAC will continue to provide assistance to all six countries in which the project is being conducted, as well as in promoting evidencedbased policy planning towards national development.

The Bahamas is currently drafting a new National Development Plan and taking steps to mainstream the SDGs in the national context.

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Photo: Brimstone Hill Fortress by Junior Samples CC BY 2.0

SKN embarks on initiative to safeguard intangible cultural heritage

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overnment officials representing a cross section of departments and ministries, as well as various other stakeholders, gathered at the Ministry of Finance Conference Room April 9 to begin discussions on safeguarding Saint Kitts and Nevis’ Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).

“This intangible cultural heritage transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus prompting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.”

folklore were present in the Cayon, Sandy Point and Violet Petty primary schools, as well as the Charles E. Mills Secondary School. He explained that having elements of folklore in schools is part of the tradition of ensuring that “we keep those elements alive” as they are in the category of intangible cultural heritage.

Marlene Phillips, research and documentation specialist at the Saint Kitts Department of Culture, explained that “The intangible cultural heritage means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills — as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.”

Troy Mills, director of the Department of Culture, described the launch as an opportune moment for Saint Kitts and Nevis, to actively promote the safeguarding of the country’s intangible cultural heritage. “Our intangible cultural heritage, something that we perhaps take for granted, [is something we could lose] if we do not take care of it,” he said.

The ICH project is a joint initiative with support from the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Fund.

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He referred to a pilot project introduced in primary schools in 2016 where elements of

The plan is to execute the SKN ICH project in three phases, with each phase running 12 months in a three-year period, 2018-2020. Phase I will focus on public awareness to sensitize the general public and stakeholders about ICH,

T in addition to human resource capacity building through training workshops that develop research, documentation and data processing skills.

Phase II focuses on executing a pilot inventory on Saint Kitts and Nevis’ folklore and preservation of folklore traditions through educational presentations in schools, and training workshops, while Phase III will focus on improving the capacity of SKN ICH institutions with policy development and ICH training in order to sustain future ICH safeguarding programmes.

ECLAC’s DaLA training at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank

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n ECLAC DaLA training workshop was held in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, from 16-17 April 2018, on `The use of the updated ECLAC Disaster Assessment methodology’. This was a joint effort between ECLAC Caribbean and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB).

The ECCB participated jointly with ECLAC in the DaLA missions in the Anguilla and Sint Maarten after Hurricane Irma. This training activity will strengthen the capacity for collaborative response between the two institutions in the event of future disaster assessment needs in the Caribbean.

The workshop introduced the methodology, which adopts a multisectoral approach to estimate the effects and impacts of natural disasters in terms of damage, losses, and additional costs.

Participants also benefitted from a comprehensive analysis of the DaLA approach vis-à-vis various sector.

The ECLAC team explained that a DaLA is a basic input to elaborate a recovery and reconstruction strategy. The sectoral estimation of the damage, losses and additional costs, and the estimation of impacts of a disaster provides basic information to determine the resources needed to restore social and economic activities, as well as the required investment to ensure a resilient reconstruction process.

ECLAC also presented a paper on the impacts of disasters on GDP and fiscal spending.

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ECLAC emphasizes importance of geospatial technologies for sustainable development

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eospatial technologies are essential tools for baseline setting, impact assessment and monitoring of sustainable development in the Caribbean small island developing States (SIDS). This technology provides for strengthening the relationship between geography and statistics and gives for evidence-based policy decision making.

The potential benefits of these tools for the Caribbean SIDS were emphasised by ECLAC Caribbean Sustainable Development Officer, Artie Dubrie, during a workshop focusing on sustainable ocean governance in the Caribbean, which was held earlier this year in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Entitled “Implementing and Monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals in the Caribbean: The Role of the Ocean”, the regional meeting was hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Rural Transformation, Industry & Labour and supported by

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Old Dominion University.

Participants included government officials, United Nations and other intergovernmental agency professionals, in addition to representatives from civil society, businesses and academia.

During the meeting, Dubrie stated ECLAC’s view that the key to devising protocols regarding spatial data infrastructure models requires a coordinated approach among key stakeholders and in particular national statistics offices, geographic institutes and other data generating offices.

In supporting this institutional approach, it is also recognised that national policy/legislation, budgets, appropriate skills and tools will be required. This systematic and coordinated approach is necessary in driving forward the 2030 Agenda – and in the context of this meeting that of SDG 14, which speaks to the need to conserve and sustainably

use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development – is availability, access and generation of statistical data.

This is also in keeping with the priorities areas listed in the management of Oceans and seas under the Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway.

Stateof Affairs The Bahamas

Barbados

Dominica

IMF CONSULTATION

ELECTION DATES

WORLD BANK FINANCING

- May The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the 2018 'Article IV Consultation'. Among other suggestions the board encouraged the Bahamian authorities to continue strengthening fiscal revenues and promoting increased compliance with Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/ CFT) standards to help mitigate the withdrawal of correspondent banking relationships and safeguard the integrity of the financial sector.

- May General elections were announced

by Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart, to be slated for May 24, 2018.

This came after the automatic dissolution of Parliament, pursuant to the constitution, on March 6. The major parties anticipated to contest the upcoming elections are: The Democratic Labour Party (DLP, The Barbados Labour Party (BLP), The United Progressive Party (UPP), and The Political Prostitutes Party (PPP).

- Apr The World Bank’s board of executive directors approved two emergency support operations totaling US$65 million for restoring agriculture livelihoods, strengthening resilience, and rebuilding houses in Dominica that were destroyed by Hurricane Maria. The funding is part of a larger US$115 million package of support that includes financing of US$65 million in concessional terms and US$50 million in grant financing from the International Development Association’s Crisis Response Window.

AIR TRAFFIC MEETING - May The Governments of The Bahamas and the United States have resumed negotiations regarding the management of the sovereign airspace of The Bahamas. Since 1952, a portion of the air traffic through the sovereign airspace of The Bahamas has been managed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States. The purpose of the bilateral talks is to formalize current arrangements.

NOMINATION DAY - May A record number of 132 candidates have been nominated for the country’s upcoming general elections on May 24. The ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP), led by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, and the opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP), led by opposition leader Mia Mottley, have both announced their full slates of 30 candidates each. Various other political parties, have also nominated candidates for various constituencies, as have there been nominations of independent candidates.

FUNDING FOR AIRPORT - May The Government of Dominica has set aside over EC$149 million for the construction of an international airport out of citizenship by investment (CBI) funds. The country’s Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Roosevelt Skerrit, announced, “This is the first government that has seriously pursued the international airport and EC$149,429,500 are in the account at the national bank.” It will cost Dominica about US$220 million for a new international airport.

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ECLAC Caribbean’s

Recent Publications Report on a meeting of the Task Force to advance the ECLAC debt for climate adaptation swap initiative

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Evaluation report of the workshop on TradeCAN, MAGIC PLUS and WITS

3.

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Available NOW! Click on Cover to Download.

Hardcopies Available at ECLAC Caribbean while stocks last.

Report of the Workshop to Accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals Implementation in the Caribbean

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Diane’s Corner The Director’s views and thoughts on the occasion of: Diane Quarless Director of ECLAC Caribbean

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The twenty-seventh session of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) “The implementation of the Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) is critically dependent on the data that is going to monitor that process. Data is critical!”

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The Caribbean’s First Cable Car System Is Coming to Santo Domingo

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ne of the most innovative urban projects in the Caribbean is soon coming to fruition. It’s called the Teleferico de Santo Domingo, and it’s the region’s first-ever urban cable car system.

The project, which has become famous in other cities in Latin America like La Paz, Bolivia, will be a game-changing addition for a city in need of more public transport.

But, as in cities like La Paz, the cable car system could also become a serious tourist attraction — a way to see the city from a very different angle — above.

The now-famous Teleferico in La Paz, Bolivia has become a top attraction for tourists in addition to filling a huge public transportation void. The system could begin its first operations as soon as May, according to a statement from the Dominican Republic’s Office of the Presidency.

The Teleferico will operate on a 5km route serving the Ozama River and the city’s National District, along with the municipalities of Santo Domingo North and Santo Domingo East.

It will feature 215 cars and 36 towers, with each cabin holding capacity for 10 people.

The Teleferico will transport up to 3,000 passengers per hour per direction, at a speed of about 18 km per hour. Around 83% of the population of Santo Domingo is reliant on public transport, with the new system expected to cut off 20 minutes from the average commute.

The system will also integrate with the city’s metro and bus system on a single ticket. It’s another boon for what has become one of the most modern cities in the Caribbean (the city also has the region’s only metro network) and one of the Dominican Republic’s emerging tourism destinations.

While cable cars are not new to the Caribbean (indeed, the cable car in Puerto Plata is one of that tourism hub’s most popular attractions), this is the first time the region has seen a cable car system on this scale in a major city.

It could become a model for other urban centres in the Caribbean, an eco-friendly, quiet, congestion-reducing solution to the region’s traffic woes.

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Sargassum blamed for dead fish on Ambergris Caye, Belize

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he influx of sargassum seaweed has been accumulating along the coast of Ambergris Caye and nearby islands for the past several weeks.

The thick accumulation of these sea plants on the coastline is apparently causing detrimental effects on certain fish species as residents have reported dead fish along the shores.

The management of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve was made aware of dead fish and considered that the excess of sargassum in certain areas of the island might be the cause of their death.

According to Hol Chan’s Manager Miguel Alamilla, last year they observed a number of dead fish due to a large amount of sargassum accumulating on the shores of the island. He also explained why fish near the shore end up dying.

“Once sargassum drifts to shore it dies and due to poor water circulation it begins to decompose,” said Alamilla. “What happens next is that the microorganisms decomposing the algae on the seaweed consumes all the oxygen out of the surrounding water causing fish to die in the immediate area, such process is called eutrophication.”

The reports made by alarmed residents show images of a specific type of fish that is being affected. At first glance it resembles a puffer fish, but after Hol Chan took a look at the images they were able to identify the species as a Striped Burrfish.

“This type of fish lives close to the shoreline and is commonly found in lagoons and seagrass beds,” explained Alamilla.

The local authorities have been working along the beach trying to remove as much sargassum as they can. While, the different restaurants, hotels, and bars along the beach have also teamed up to try to clean the beach as it is affecting their businesses as well. The idea to use sargassum for the landfill has been discouraged by some residents who have resorted to this method in the past.

The problem is not just affecting Belize but many other parts of the Caribbean where thick sargassum mats are choking water bodies and beaches. According to recent research, a potential culprit for the unusual sargassum bloom over the years may be climate change. It is known that sargassum thrives in warm and well-fertilized waters.

With the effect of global warming and the run-off of nutrients from agricultural fertilizers into the sea, this may explain the spike in the blooming. The other issue that is attributed to the extended accumulation of thick sargassum mats on coastal communities is the slowing down of the Gulf Stream current out of the Caribbean.

This stream is the transporter of sargassum through the Gulf of Mexico and out to the north-east Atlantic Ocean. As evidence shows, the slowing down of this current and the warming waters due to the greenhouse gasses that continues to overheat the planet, sargassum has found the ideal environment to growing and blooming like never before.

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Secondary students appreciated for musical contribution

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CLAC Caribbean, represented by Social Affairs Officer Catarina Camarinhas, Senior Library Assistant Tricia Blackman, and Associate Gender Affairs Officer Lydia Rosa Gény, gave the members of St. Francois Girls' College Steel Orchestra a plaque and certificates of appreciation recently, in recognition of their musical performance on the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2018.

The presentation ceremony took place at the St. Francois Girls’ College in Belmont, Trinidad and Tobago, on 23 April 2018. The plaque was given to the musical director, Peter Rorry Aleong, in the presence of Principal Jennifer Gittins and VicePrincipal Susan Roget.

ECLAC Caribbean encourages the active and effective participation of all girls and boys in all events and processes that enrich their lives. On 7 March 2018, ECLAC Caribbean, UNFPA, and other agencies of the UN System in Trinidad and Tobago joined the Mayor’s office of Port of Spain, local women’s organisations, including the Network of Rural Women Producers Trinidad and Tobago, the National Muslim Women’s Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago, and Soroptimist International San

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Fernando to support the InterClub of Trinidad and Tobago in co-organizing the event ”Women’s City Village: Empowering rural and urban women” to mark this year’s International Women’s Day. This event was part of a full-week of activities in celebration of women’s day in the country, which took place from 5 to 10 March 2018.

The event was held at the City Hall of Port of Spain to discuss the issues affecting women at all levels of society, from economic, social, to emotional and physical challenges in decision-making processes, including in the workplace, communities and at home. These discussions were centred on the theme “Time is Now: Rural and Urban Activists transforming women’s lives” and brought together 25 organisations ranging from Government institutions to local businesses in a marketplace dedicated to spotlighting the many dimensions of need in the lives of both rural and urban women and girls: health and wellness, safety and security, financial management and microenterprise development. The day ended with a repertoire of songs played on the national instrument, the steelpan, performed by the young female musicians of the St Francois Girls’ College Steel Orchestra.

Meals on Wheels’ coin drive proves a success in Grand Cayman

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ore than 300 volunteers participated in the Meals on Wheels annual Change for Change Coin Drive, which took place on March 23 and 24 in Grand Cayman.

The coin drive raised more than US $30,000, which is enough to serve more than 6,000 meals, and coins are still being counted for a total tally, according to the charity.

Meals on Wheels is dedicated to providing meals for 223 seniors on Grand Cayman who are presently enrolled in the program, and the charity generally serves around 4,000 meals a month.

Every month, Meals on Wheels works to raise the US $20,000 it needs to continue to operate, and the organization relies on approximately 100 volunteers weekly to deliver the meals during their lunch hour. The volunteers commit to one day per week every week and use their own cars to make deliveries.

Meals on Wheels prepares a nutritious hot meal and soup for the seniors every weekday. Organizers said the program would not be possible without support from the community and a generous grant from the Cayman Islands government. The fundraisers are held to fill in the gaps in community funding.

“I am overwhelmed truly by the wonderful support I saw … from our community,” said Erin Bodden, general manager for Meals on Wheels, about the annual Change for Change Coin Drive.

“Everyone from the Girls’ Brigade to corporations, small businesses, civil servants, churches and more. It is because of these volunteers and donations that Meals on Wheels continues to serve. Thank you so much for opening your heart and emptying your pockets for such a worthy cause.”

Several supermarkets, banks and local businesses, also participated in the drive.

Photo: Charity by Joseph Jayanth CC BY 2.0

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ECLAC Caribbean

Family

ECLAC/UNV career fair at St. Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain

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ith bright faces and open minds, the students of St Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain moved through the various booths of the local career fair. Organized by the school’s administration, the career fair was designed to expose the young minds to all that the world has to offer.

The United Nations community joined several other companies and organizations to be a part of this event to inspire the minds of the students. The United Nations (UN) was represented by ECLAC, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Population Fund, and the United Nations Volunteer Programme, as well as the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator.

“What is this organization? What do you do? Do you speak several languages there?” The usual inquiries were fielded by a host of UN representatives as waves of students from levels one to six, meandered curiously into the space assigned for the UN family of Organizations.

The photos shown here illustrate the vibe of the event, which was described as both fun and educational.

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| May 2018 - The Hummingbird

The Hummingbird - May 2018 |

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Ground Beef and Potato Casserole Minutes to Prepare: 15 Minutes to Cook: 60 Number of Servings: 8 What you will need: 1 lb lean ground beef 1 cup chopped onions 1 10.75 oz can cream of mushroom soup 1/4 cup water mixed with soup 1/4 tsp salt(optional) 1/4 tsp black pepper 3-4 medium potatoes, thinly sliced with skin on

What you need to do: 1.

2.

3.

4.

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Brown ground beef and onions, drain.

Spray the bottom of a 2 qt glass baking dish (11x9 inch). Cover the bottom of the dish with a layer of potatoes and a layer of ground beef. Pour half of soup mixture over this.

Add another layer of potatoes and ground beef, pour remaining soup mixture over this also.

Bake covered for 1 hour at 350°F.

| May 2018 - The Hummingbird

The Hummingbird - May 2018 |

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CONTACT US CONTACT US

ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean, 1 Chancery Lane, P.O. Box 1113, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies.

ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean, 1 Chancery Lane, P.O. Box 1113, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Telephone: 1 868 224 8000 West Indies.

E-mail: registry@eclacpos.org

MEDIA1 CONTACT Telephone: 868 224 8000 Tel.: 1 868 224 8075 E-mail: registry@eclacpos.org E-mail:MEDIA eclac-media-pos@eclac.org CONTACT Tel.: 1 868 224 8075 E-mail: media-pos@eclac.org Give us your feedback at: MEDIA CONTACT http://vrb.al/hb-survey Tel.: 1 868 224 8075 Give us your feedback at: E-mail: media-pos@eclac.org http://vrb.al/hb-survey

SOCIAL MEDIA

eclac.org/portofspain www.eclacpos.org