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Wilfred Leeuwin PARAMARIBO — Directeur Paul de Haan van de SLM is maandag zwaar onder zwaar vuur komen te liggen
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L’Allocation de rentrée scolaire a été versée ce mardi 16 août en Guyane. Elle va aider des milliers de familles à supporter le coût de la rentrée et les achats de fournitures. Pour d’autres, qui s’appuient sur le tissu associatif pour s’en sortir, cet appoint demeure insuffisant. Exemple au Village Chinois où une distribution de cartables équipés de matériel a été organisée en faveur des enfants de l’association Amapo. Dans trois semaines, 92 000 élèves vont effectuer leur rentrée des classes 2022-2023 en Guyane. Comme chaque année depuis 1974, les foyers les moins favorisés vont pouvoir bénéficier d’une aide financière…
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Les incendies détruisent désormais deux fois plus de couverture forestière dans le monde qu’au début du siècle, en grande majorité au sein de la forêt boréale, “probablement” en raison du changement climatique, selon une étude révélée mercredi.
Par rapport à 2001, les feux de forêt ravagent désormais chaque année environ 3 millions d’hectares de plus, soit une superficie équivalente à celle de la Belgique, selon des données satellitaires compilées par le Global Forest Watch (GFW), le World Resources Institute (WRI) et l’université du Maryland.
70% des surfaces dévorées par les flammes en 20 ans concernent les forêts boréales, qui recouvrent une grande partie de la Russie, du Canada et de l’Alaska, et qui constituent parmi les plus grands puits de carbone de la planète.
En Russie, ce sont 53 millions d’hectares qui ont brûlé depuis 2001, soit quasiment la superficie de la France.
Les feux, selon l’étude, représentent plus d’un quart de la perte totale du couvert forestier depuis le début du siècle, le reste étant causé par la déforestation ou d’autres causes naturelles (tempêtes et inondations).
Au final, la perte de couverture forestière due aux incendies augmente d’environ 4% par an, soit 230.000 hectares supplémentaires. Et environ la moitié de cette augmentation est due aux incendies plus importants dans les forêts boréales, “probablement le résultat du réchauffement des températures dans les régions septentrionales”, notent les chercheurs.
Selon eux, le changement climatique est “probablement un facteur majeur” de ces augmentations, les vagues de chaleur extrêmes, qui rendent les forêts arides, étant désormais cinq fois plus probables aujourd’hui qu’il y a un siècle et demi.
Plus proches de nous, le brésil quant à lui a vu ses indendies forestiers augmenter de 8% comparativement à l’année dernière au 1er août. Les mois les plus dévastateurs en termes de feux de forêt en Amazonie sont habituellement août et septembre. Néanmoins, c’est à cette période qu’il fait plus sec, qu’il y a moins de pluie et que par conséquent les forêts sont plus vulnérables.
La destruction de la forêt par ces incendies, aggravés par la sécheresse et les fortes chaleurs, entraînent des émissions massives de gaz à effet de serre, ce qui aggrave encore le changement climatique par le mécanisme d’une “boucle de rétroaction incendie-climat”, ajoutent-ils.Cette dynamique, avertit l’étude, pourrait à terme faire perdre aux forêts boréales leur statut de puits de carbone.
Les chercheurs appellent les gouvernements à améliorer la résilience des forêts en mettant fin à la déforestation et en limitant certaines pratiques locales de gestion forestière, notamment le brûlage contrôlé, très à risque pendant les périodes de sécheresse. “Les forêts sont l’un des meilleurs moyens de défense dont nous disposons contre le changement climatique”, a souligné M. McCarthy.
Des arbres brûlés lors d’un violent incendie l’année précédente près de Fort McMurray, en Alberta, au Canada, en avril 2017
– Robyn Beck (AFP/Archives)
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by Khaila Gentle
BELMOPAN, Mon. Aug. 15, 2022 The David L. McKoy Building in Belmopan, which houses the Social Security Board and headquarters as well as the Office of the Prime Minister, was inaugurated in June, 2021. Today, that building, an $8.2 million investment via the Social Security Investment Fund, is in need of retrofitting, and the SSB is expected to spend an additional $3 million on repairs.
Prime Minister Hon. John Briceño briefly addressed the matter during an interview with the media last week, during which he noted that the building was badly designed.
“The architect supposedly seems to have made a number of—or overlooked a number of things that should have been in the design. We could have made it political, but we did not. We decided that now we have a problem. We have the people’s money. We just can’t walk away from it. And Social Security is going to spend the extra money to be able to repair it, because we have to fix it,” he said.
During the inauguration ceremony last year, the Investment Chairman of the SSB, Reynaldo Magaña, stated that the SSB’s investment in the construction of the building was expected to be recovered in ten years at an 8.2% rate of return.
“This is a solid investment, in the investment portfolio that will generate the necessary returns to keep the fund fluid, to service short-term and long- term benefits for the people of Belize for years to come,” Magaña said.
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DE JAARLIJKSE VERKEERSVEILIGHEIDSMAAND is maandag met veel fanfare begonnen. Hoewel het om een belangrijk moment gaat, kan de vraag worden
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BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, August 16, 2022 (MMS-SKN) — The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis is among the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that are benefitting from the Republic of China (Taiwan) in assisting the economic empowerment of women post-pandemic of COVID-19 through the Women Employment, Entrepreneurship and Financial Inclusion Project.
“The Women Employment, Entrepreneurship and Financial Inclusion Project, is a project that is funded by the Republic of China (Taiwan) to contribute to the economic empowerment of women in Latin America and the Caribbean, in the post-pandemic,” said Project Coordinator, Ms Claudia Walwyn. “It began last year November and it is aimed at assisting women to combat some of the ill-effects of COVID on their livelihoods.”
The Federation of St, Kitts and Nevis, being an ally of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Latin America and the Caribbean, is a beneficiary. The project is administered by the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) through the Technical Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to Saint Kitts and Nevis.
“In the local economy it is to stimulate growth and social stability by integrating technical assistance and financial services to strengthen women’s livelihoods support, relief counselling for the support of micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and to expand the coverage of inclusion for financial services for women in business,” explained Ms Walwyn.
The project targets women who are either unemployed, under-employed or women who are self-employed. A number of women would have been under-employed, and in explaining, Ms Walwyn observed that some persons would have been in jobs just to make ends meet, which meant that not everyone would have been fully employed based on their qualification and expertise.
“The project’s main activity is centred on vocational training of women entrepreneurs,” noted the Project Coordinator. “So far we have done four of those vocational trainings on St. Kitts and we have done two on Nevis. We are in the process of opening applications for the third and final training on Nevis, and that will come about in September.”
The Ministry of Social Development and Gender Affairs, is the project’s major partner and main force behind the project as they administer it. The Ministry works as a team with the project to develop the criteria, do advertising, and do the selection of the women, while the project personnel conduct the training after identifying suitable facilitators. Each of the training sessions is attended by about 40 participants.
Training sessions so far held are Business Strategy, Food and Beverage Entrepreneurship, Beauty Entrepreneurship, and Business Strategy and Innovation Entrepreneurship on St. Kitts, while on Nevis the two held are Application and Innovation of Digital Skills, and Beauty Entrepreneurship. The third training session to be held in Nevis will be Micro-trade Purchases and Sales Skills in September.
The Project team includes Mr Yu-Ming Lu who is the technical lead for the Taiwan Technical Mission, Mr Andrew Tseng who is his assistant, and Ms Brianda Harvey who is the Project Administrative and Communication officer.
“Training usually takes about three to four weeks and through the course we train them on business and ability skills, and how to develop a business plan,” noted Ms Walwyn. “Each trainee ends with a business plan which is approved by the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) who is also another partner. The participants then make a pitch presentation to a panel of judges to be able to qualify themselves for ten positions out of 40.”
Of the top ten among the participants, each end up winning a grant of US$3,000 which according to the Project Coordinator is given to them in stages to further develop their businesses. The Small Business Development Centre, another of the partners, provides Women’s Entrepreneurial Development Counselling.
According to Ms Claudia Walwyn, the Taiwan Technical Mission in St. Kitts and Nevis will continue its efforts in assisting capacity building and facilitating women empowerment in St. Kitts and Nevis under the Women Employment, Empowerment and Financial Inclusion Project.
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Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 12, 2022 (SKNTA) — Summer in St. Kitts combines compelling travel experiences, exciting events, and exceptional hospitality for all types of travelers and it has been a successful summer, to date. In June, St. Kitts received more than 9,000 passengers by air as well as more than 17,000 cruise ship passengers. The destination also successfully hosted its 24th annual Music Festival after a two-year hiatus, featuring international musicians and bringing more than 4,000 international visitors to the destination. The Music Festival contributed significantly to the local economy, bringing in an estimated $14 million dollars and creating more than 2,000 jobs.
In addition to the successes amassed through Music Festival, the destination is proud to announce a new lodging option now available for booking: the luxury boutique hotel Sunset Reef St. Kitts is open and welcoming guests. Along with gorgeous Caribbean views and beautifully appointed suites, Sunset Reef utilizes sustainable practices throughout the resort, including a state-of-the-art geothermal system and eco-friendly sewage treatment plant. This property also encourages guests to leave footprints in the sand, not the environment, by providing environmentally friendly products and local cuisine.
“The opening of this new sustainable hotel comes at an opportune time as St. Kitts celebrates its fifth annual ‘Plastic Free July’. We are proud to expand our eco-tourism options in response to the increasing demand for more sustainable options from international travelers.” said Ellison “Tommy” Thompson, CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority.
St. Kitts was encouraged to become more environmentally responsible during the summer, owing to several sustainable initiatives hosted by the Ministry of Tourism and the St. Kitts Tourism Authority during ‘Plastic Free July’. Sustainable Travel International (STI) recently partnered with the Ministry of Tourism to bring awareness to sustainable initiatives practiced in St. Kitts. STI demonstrated significant interest in documenting sustainability impact areas on the island, ranging from ongoing sustainable projects to local businesses and personal residents’ initiatives. This project was covered by Zinc Media who was assisted by local filmmaker Trucapo. Zinc Media is an established and award-winning television and content company primarily specializing in branded content and corporate films.
“I think St. Kitts is a fantastic place. The people we’ve met have so much passion for what they’re doing. They’re changing the way their island is now from what it was and what it could be. It really gives me hope for the future because if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere,” said Director of Photography at Zinc Media, David Crute as he spoke about the sustainable projects on the island.
Children in the rural area of St. Kitts also practiced sustainability this summer, having participated in the Ministry of Tourism’s yearly summer program—Green Tourism Camp, under the theme “Protecting our People, Plants, and Planet.” The week-long camp was held from 25-29 July and focused on green tourism and sustainability. Highlights of the camp included a fruit-picking opportunity at Armstrong farms and a recycling competition with the Ministry of Tourism in conjunction with the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The children impressively collected a total of 244.45lbs of recyclables.
“To ensure that we sustain a healthy and protected environment as a tourist destination, we need to expose our children to the harsh realities of pollution and the effects it can have on the environment and wildlife,” said Mrs. Carlene Morton, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism.
“Culinary tourism is also a focus this summer, especially during our annual St. Kitts-Nevis Restaurant Week which occurred 14-24 July,” added CEO Thompson. “This year’s Restaurant Week placed a spotlight on Kittitian and Nevisian farmers by incorporating sweet potatoes, a homegrown ingredient, into each menu. Local chefs showcased the ingredient alongside other flavours of our island in a variety of ways, for a truly distinctive array of dining offerings.”
“Restaurant Week is just one example of the types of immersive experiences that make St. Kitts an exceptional destination,” said Melnecia Marshall, Deputy CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority. “We are grateful to our local partners whose distinctive and attractive experiences appeal to potential travellers and drive international air and cruise visitation.”
July’s Restaurant Week included more than 50 participating restaurants, along with key events such as the St. Kitts Tasting Show, St. Christopher Children’s Home Fundraising Dinner at Serendipity and the Final Celebration at Park Hyatt St. Kitts. Additional events and special menus drew a successful turnout from both Kittitians and visitors who were able to experience the traditional cuisine and culture of St. Kitts.Over the past two months, the St. Kitts Tourism Authority has actively hosted top-tier U.S. media to experience the destination, and has co-hosted a trip with Park Hyatt, in return for coverage. Media from Travel Noire and Thrillist were invited to attend the St. Kitts Music Festival, resulting in three articles to date. During Restaurant Week, the destination invited DeAnna Taylor, a freelancer to notable publications such as Conde Nast Traveler, Ebony and Fodor’s Travel, to taste her way through the culinary scene of the island. The Tourism Authority also hosted the critically acclaimed production team “The Points Guy” for their new adventure video series, which will highlight key locations that can offer potential travellers top-quality destination experiences.
The St. Kitts Tourism Authority is determined to produce results through increased travel to the destination with the partnership of all stakeholders. One critical element of this strategy was the implementation of quarterly meetings with various stakeholders to collectively align goals and objectives. In early July, the St. Kitts Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism met with stakeholders (hoteliers and destination management companies) to discuss upcoming promotional strategies, product development opportunities, hurricane preparedness plans, airlift changes, and advancement opportunities for local students.
During the session, SKTA announced the upcoming launch of a new brand campaign in September, created to further drive international tourism to St. Kitts. The new campaign is part of a rigorous effort to expand and improve marketing and promotional strategies in key source markets. The content will spotlight the distinctive qualities that differentiate St. Kitts apart from other islands, while simultaneously emphasizing the meaningful expansion of engaging experiences available for travelers.
CEO Thompson delivered an industry update, shared the tourism outlook for the remainder of the year, and facilitated dialogue with stakeholders. “Meeting with our key partners to ideate and identify opportunities for St. Kitts to stand out in the tourism space is paramount, and we’ve had productive conversations around future tourism developments,” said CEO Thompson. “The feedback from our stakeholders on our destination marketing and promotional strategy is especially beneficial as we finalize plans to significantly increase our presence in our source markets.”
Stay up to date on upcoming events in St. Kitts and save the dates for the 2023 Music Festival, scheduled 22-24 June, and Restaurant Week that will be held July 2023!
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Black women and the choices they sometimes make…
Black women are beautiful, hard- working and intelligent creatures. We must thank them for being the backbone of our society. Many of us were brought up in single-parent households led by women who many times had to sacrifice their own happiness for the sake of their children. We know that children don’t ask to be born so there is no commendation for a parent simply doing what they are supposed to and then almost guilt- tripping their children.
However, many times, women had no desire to parent on their own but had children with irresponsible men so these women “had to do what they had to do.” Many of these women from times past did not have much access to education and did not know better. The options for ways to enrich their lives were limited and the struggling black mother became normalized and somewhat expected.
We’re now living in advanced times where many women are well- educated. Quite often, we see women posting about their academic achievements and take on being educated as an integral part of their identity.
However, the cap, gown and graduation pictures too many times is where the education ends because our black women in our society continue to allow themselves to make piss poor decisions in other areas of their lives. They allow themselves to be burdened by men who clearly have no interest in building a stable family home. I would want to think that being educated would reflect in better life choices but many times, I’ve seen “educated women” wind up with men who don’t have a pot to piss in, can’t write a proper sentence or a man whose ability to provide may be significantly impeded because he already has children all over like a stud on a plantation.
Let’s do the math, if a man has to care for himself and children in many different households, how can he really have money to sufficiently build a bright and prosperous future with these young, educated women? Women who claim to be smart still wind up popping kids out for these men and men who have shown minimal interest in them. The most they can do is post up glittery maternity photos trying to do a Shein- style take on Beyoncé’s pregnancy photoshoot, maybe have a gender- reveal party with a man who looks like he was dragged to attend and that’s as far as it goes into building the family because no wedding bells are to be heard.
I have seen an educated woman lament how strong she is for being a single mother and doing it all on her own. Now, I definitely agree that her child’s father ought to step up and face his responsibility but I could have told her the man was not serious about that “relationship” so I don’t know what outcome she could have expected other than being the stereotype of a black, single- mother.
I am not saying that marriage is the end all, be all. However, it has its benefits when it comes to building generational wealth and creates the stability for a family to grow. Women be real. How many of you prefer being baby mamas over being a wife and mother? I’m sure some of you are saying there are a lot of women who are married and miserable… true. However, many are married and miserable and choose to stay within the marital home because there are still benefits to it.
If you do get married and it just isn’t working then you can leave but at least give yourself a chance. Don’t say you don’t want it because you’re afraid it won’t happen or you find yourself unworthy of being someone’s wife. This isn’t meant to cause women to hide in shame but to cause women to choose better for themselves. Wouldn’t you like to have your family under one roof? The benefits of pooling your income? Someone already at home to help out with child-rearing? A partner already at home to leave the kids with when you have a girls’ night? Legal protection? Come on. Let’s keep it real.
Black educated women are sometimes too interested in trying to be cool, showing they are still “down” by twerking online and showing they still have it going on after allowing themselves to get pregnant for a man who will be out the door by the time the umbilical cord is cut. I believe regardless of the situation men need to take care of their children but I truly believe black women can choose better and view ourselves differently. We are more than our behinds and breasts.
Worth more than photoshoots. Stability is something many women want and there shouldn’t be any shame in black women pursuing it. I can’t see any other race of woman being ashamed to want more for herself. If you don’t want kids, fine. But these struggle relationships and fragmented families we have going on aren’t ideal.
There’s a viral clip going around on social media saying, “You thinking small when you need to be thinking big.” Women, black women it’s time we start thinking big and make EDUCATED decisions in our personal lives. Do not give this an emotional response but truly think about it.
Think big.
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says agency awaiting further information
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is still in the process of determining the level of liability coverage that ExxonMobil through its subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) will put up, with the US$2 billion proposal still up in the air.
This was explained by EPA Executive Director Kemraj Parsram, who informed Inews that his agency is still awaiting information from the oil company on what the real credible cost would be in the hypothetical case of an oil spill.
“We are awaiting the estimates required… of the real credible cost for a worst-case scenario spill, to determine whether that proposal of $2 billion is adequate or whether we need to review it further for liability coverage,” he explained.
“So that is still ongoing. We’re awaiting that estimate to be provided to us. Once I get that, we’ll determine if the terms are acceptable,” Parsram further explained in an exclusive interview.
EPA Head Kemraj Parsram
The Guyana Government has been negotiating an insurance coverage of up to US$2 billion with ExxonMobil in the case of any oil spill or disaster event offshore, where the United States oil giant and its co-venturers are producing oil and conducting exploration activities.
Last month, Attorney General Anil Nandlall had referred to these negotiations in his programme, “Issues in The News”, after the National Assembly dismissed a motion tabled by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Opposition, proposing “full unlimited coverage for oil spills and other disasters related to the petroleum sector”.
Speaking about the motion, which was tabled by Opposition Member of Parliament David Patterson, the Attorney General pointed out that the concept of unlimited insurance can only be a theoretical construct, and does not exist in the real world.
While the motion was eventually thrown out by a majority vote from the Government’s side against it, Nandlall had noted that such a proposal is unpragmatic.
“Practicality and pragmatism do not support this concept of unlimited insurance. The concept is repulsive to reality… No insurance company would issue a policy that has no limit. What is the ceiling? How much are they going to pay? An insurance policy is grounded in the law of contract; contract, by its very nature, must be precise.”
“It must have terms and conditions that are precise so that people can know what they are agreeing to. Who will agree to a contract that has limitless liability? Which insurance company will agree to a contract that has no ceiling on the limit?” he had argued.
It had previously been pointed out by EEPGL’s Vice President and Business Services Manager, Phillip Rietema, who facilitated a sit-down with the media, that the affiliate was established in 1998, and had, as of year-end 2020, approximately US$5 billion in assets.
These assets are considered a primary form of financial assurance and are separate from the assets of the other Stabroek Block co-venturers. In fact, Exxon noted that these other co-venturers also have substantial assets and share any liability for response activities.
The company had also noted that in Guyana, it adhered to an internationally-accepted, tiered response system used to determine the requirements of response personnel and equipment in the case of an oil spill.
This system, it had noted, is aligned with the principles of the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation (OPRC), the Caribbean Island Oil Pollution Preparedness Response and Cooperation and the National Oil Spill Response Plan of Guyana that was implemented in 2021.
All of this combines to provide an efficient framework to build preparedness and response capabilities matching the oil spill risks from any of its operations.
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Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General Dr. Carla Barnett has stressed that facts matter and emphasised the importance of media and information literacy in a virtual address Tuesday to the 53rd Annual General Assembly of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU).
Barnett noted that much print, air-time, and social media chatter have been devoted to the role of the media.
” Its capacity to educate, inform, and to disseminate opinion has a major effect on any society,” she observed.
“The growth of non-traditional media has been at the heart of social and political change globally for the last two decades: news fed directly into our TVs our computers and our phones,” the CARICOM Secretary-General noted.
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But said that, unfortunately, misinformation and disinformation move as fast as factual information, resulting in serious and at times, fatal consequences.
” This was evidenced starkly and sadly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the drive to vaccinate the population,” she recalled.
“The need for reliable, accurate, and timely information is always great. Plainly put, facts matter,” Barnett said.
“We are inundated on social media platforms with the wide swathe of opinions, the spread of alternative realities by proponents of disparate truths of all stripes who have little regard for truth, accuracy, or reality, but have significant following across society,” the CARICOM official asserted.
Barnett said this underscores the importance of media and information literacy.
“Given the all-pervasive nature and influence of social media, in particular, there is the case for strengthening the delivery of these two subject areas – logic and critical thinking in our school system to develop a discerning and critical approach to assessing information,” she observed.
According to Barnett, this would have the added benefit of bolstering democracy by helping citizens to make informed judgments and not become echo chambers for disinformation.
She said it could also help to lift the level of media debate, as more reliable information begins to permeate through the channels of discussion.
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