Green Options » Caribbean

3 New Species Found in Underwater Cave in Canary Islands

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:51:23 +0000

Texas A&M professor and world-leading cave researcher, Tom Iliffe, and others discovered numerous new species in an underwater cave a mile long in the Canary Islands recently. The cave was in Lanzarote off the coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. One of the species might be one of the oldest crustaceans in the world. It might be about 200 millions years old, from the time of dinosaurs.

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British ‘Green’ Air Tax Imperils Environment?

Kay Sexton — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:46:06 +0000

Caribbean organisations have said that the environmental tax that the British Government is planning to impose on all flights will cause immense damage to the Caribbean economy. The tax is expected to be in the region of £100 pounds per passenger and will be levied on departure from British airports.

The Caribbean Tourism Organisation has written to many organisations and individuals ranging from the BBC to the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, pointing out that the system used to define the tax level is unfair to the Caribbean. Because it works on a distance basis, measured between the British capital and the capital of the destination country, the Caribbean (defined in this case as Kingston Jamaica) ends up in a more expensive levy band that the USA. The chair of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, speaking for many of the small islands, said, ‘Our countries’ economies are hugely dependent on tourism. But the British government plans to place us in a more expensive tax category compared to the whole of the USA. This puts us at a considerable disadvantage. To suggest this is a green tax and that the environmental impact of flying to California or Hawaii is less then flying to the Caribbean is patently untrue. Our holidaymakers and the overseas friends and relatives of Caribbean nationals who live in Britain are being heavily penalised and our countries call on Britain to do the right thing and change this injustice.’

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Haiti’s Poverty is Directly Linked to Deforestation and Habitat Loss

Amiel Blajchman — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:50:37 +0000

Haiti continues to claim the dubious honour of being ranked as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with 80% of this Caribbean nation’s population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty. Haiti’s sorrowful rank as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world has been directly attributed to the degradation of Haiti’s natural environment (less than 1.5% of its original tree cover remains intact) as well as a lack of governance structures, underinvestment in social capital, obstacles to private investment, and a spiraling “poverty trap“.

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Want a Sustainable Community? Try an Island

Brenda Keener — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 23:19:00 +0000

The tiny Caribbean island of Bonaire claims to be the very first 100% sustainable island in the world. Located in the Netherlands Antilles, its waters have been protected since 1979 - making it one of the most pristine snorkeling and scuba diving spots that can be found.

In order to capitalize on the up-and-coming ecotourism business, Bonaire agreed to the installation of a 11MW wind farm, 14MW biodiesel plant and a 3.5MW backup battery in 2007 with the end goal of completely unyoking itself from fossil fuel dependence. Spearheading this project are Ecopower Bonaire BV, a consortium of Dutch-German companies, Evelop, Enercon, and the local Bonaire water and energy company.

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Italy and “La Ruta Del Café” Eco-Tourism Project in the Dominican Republic

Eva Pratesi — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:19:20 +0000

Travelling from Italy to Central America takes a long time: an intermediate stop in France or Spain and many hours flying over the ocean. But when you arrive on one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean you forget to be tired.

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Highlights from the EU-LAC Summit

Levi Novey — Tue, 20 May 2008 04:08:13 +0000

This past weekend, a major summit was held in Lima, Peru between leaders of European Union countries and also Latin American and Caribbean countries. Numerous agenda items were on the table, but the overall focuses of the meetings were upon the global food crisis, climate change, poverty, and potential trade agreements. Of course, what would an international summit be without some

good, old-fashioned name-calling to put everyone on edge before hand
a President attending a “rival summit” and taking time to go play some football! (Soccer for Americans.)
and an uninspiring finish where seemingly little got accomplished, but yet we can hold onto hope because there are plans to keep the conversation going.
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