Black Immigrant Daily News

“The University of the West Indies must become, and will become the digital transformation epicenter of The Caribbean. That is where we’re going.”

This declaration from Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles was made during the project launch ceremony for The UWI-CDB Digital Transformation Programme held on Monday, February 6 at the University’s Regional Headquarters in Jamaica.

The UWI is advancing its digital transformation as part of Phase II of its Triple A Strategic Plan: The Revenue Revolution, which focuses on the conversion of the University’s reputational value into much-needed revenue through the strategic use of digital technologies.

Vice-Chancellor Beckles explained, that the programme, led by Professor of Digital Transformation, Policy, and Governance Lloyd Waller, is more than digital technologies. “Rather it is the impact that the mobilisation of those technologies will have on The UWI’s core business–teaching, learning, research, efficient administration and efficiency that facilitates doing more at a lower cost, generating savings in the process, also generating revenue,” he said.

Continuing its longstanding relationship with the University, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has come on board as the official partner for The UWI’s Digital Transformation Programme. Speaking at Monday’s launch ceremony, Vice-President of Operations at the CDB, Isaac Solomon, noted that through its support of the programme, the Bank is keen to strengthen decades of mutually beneficial collaboration with The UWI, as it seeks to maintain a leadership role in higher education for the benefit of the region.

“For us at CDB, advancing the digital transformation of UWI is critical for operational effectiveness, increased access to programmes, expansion of services, and continued competitiveness in the existing COVID-19 period and beyond,” said Solomon.

The CDB Vice-President highlighted several factors which, he stated underscored the necessity and relevance of the digital transformation project.

“Increasing enrolment across The UWI also requires optimising online learning opportunities, as the shift to digital education delivery leverages technology to reduce the economic cost of tertiary education at The UWI for students in borrowing member countries. In addition, digital transformation is central to expanding the internationalisation of UWI programmes–a key strategic goal to diversify the university’s revenue base. The UWI Digital Transformation Project is therefore timely and necessary as it provides the University with the opportunity to push towards the institutional transformation needed to expand its reach as a global university and enhance the UWI brand as an institution of excellence in the Caribbean. The project is also designed to encourage innovative teaching and learning, particularly for more vulnerable and marginalised communities within our regional space,” he stated.

Vice-Chancellor Beckles also emphasized, “We are not just a university planning its own trajectory. We are ensuring that The UWI remains among the best universities in the world, which is where we are located right now, and serving the people of this region. The UWI way has always been to articulate and integrate the interests of the institution with the interests of the region.”

He noted that over decades The UWI had built up a team of ICT technologists and thinkers that is unparalleled in this region. “We are confident as a university in the intellectual and technical capacity of our ICT team. It is that team, currently led by University Chief Information Officer, Brigitte Collins, that’s enabled us to survive and soar above the impact of COVID-19. So we are underway with this digital transformation programme and we are able to do this with confidence because we have the internal capacity to do so, and also because we have a reliable and trustworthy strategic partner in the CDB.”

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Dickon Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada, will be joined by a lineup of international technology experts when he delivers the feature address at the opening of the Grenada ICT Week at the Grenada Trade Centre this month.

The highly anticipated event, which will be held from Monday 27th February to Friday 3rd March, is being organized by the Grenada Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Grenada National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC), the Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG) and the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN).

“The event will provide a platform for Grenadians to engage with experts from the regional and international tech industry to discuss how we can better leverage technology to create employment and accelerate economic growth,” said Prime Minister Mitchell. “The initiative aligns well with my government’s social and economic development agenda. I am honored to share the stage with renowned technology experts.”

Grenada ICT Week is a highly anticipated event that will bring some of the top minds in the regional Internet scene to Grenada. It is being held in conjunction with the twenty-fifth regional meeting of CaribNOG.

The event will also feature presentations by Bevil Wooding, Director of Caribbean Affairs at ARIN and one of the region’s leading technology innovators.

“Grenada ICT Week is a significant event for Grenada as well as the Caribbean. It will provide a valuable opportunity for companies operating in the ICT sector to network and exchange knowledge, experiences and best practices. This in turn promotes business growth and development in the region.”

Rodney Taylor, Secretary General of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union; David Huberman, Regional Technical Engagement Manager for North America and Europe, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN); and Stephen Lee, CEO of Arkitechs Inc. and co-founder of CaribNOG, are also listed to speak at the event.

“We are honored to host our twenty-fifth CaribNOG regional meeting as part of the Grenada ICT Week and are delighted the Grenadian government will be supporting our Youth Forum, which provides career guidance and hands-on training for students and young ICT professionals.”

Event co-organizer Kennie John, CEO of the Antillean Group, underscored the importance of event to Grenada.

“I am thrilled to be a part of the Grenada ICT Week and to engage with the Grenadian community. This event is part of a larger initiative to ensure that Grenada has the human resource capacity as well as the technology infrastructure necessary to build a successful and sustainable digital economy. I am confident that it will be a great success,” said John.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

With Internet technology playing an increasing role in every aspect of Caribbean life, the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is working with its Caribbean partners to promote its importance in the region.

Bevil Wooding, ARIN’s Director of Caribbean Affairs, was in Grenada last week to advance plans for ARIN’s participation in Grenada ICT Week.

The 2023 Grenada ICT Week will take place at the Grenada Trade Centre from February 25 to March 3. It aims to bring together local, regional and international experts to discuss the increasing role of technology in business, government, and society.

Wooding met with officials from the local technical community, as well as senior public sector and business officials, including Kennie John, President of the Grenada Chamber of Commerce (GCC), and Vincent Roberts, Chairman of the Grenada National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC).

“ARIN has a strong track record of supporting Internet development in Grenada and we are pleased to be in Grenada again to collaborate with our local and regional stakeholders in support of the 2023 Grenada ICT Week,” Wooding said.

“This event will provide a platform for attendees to explore key facets of the internet economy and the implications of global trends for regional and national development, including digital innovation, internet governance, and public policy. It will also showcase successful local and Caribbean models for Internet-enabled development and how they can be applied to accelerate economic growth and development,” he added.

“The Grenada Chamber of Commerce is pleased to partner with ARIN, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union and their partners to bring the 2023 Grenada ICT Week to the country,” said Mr. John. “This event will provide a great opportunity for the business community to discuss how technology can be leveraged to drive economic growth and development in Grenada.”

Grenada ICT Week activities will include the twenty-fifth regional gathering of the Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG) and a special one-day workshop for computer engineers and students facilitated by the Internet Cooperation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the North America Network Operators Group (NANOG).

Vincent Roberts, Chairman of the Grenada NTRC, added, “The National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission is proud to partner with ARIN, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union and CaribNOG on the 2023 Grenada ICT Week. We are looking forward to highlighting important issues such as network resilience and security. We are also pleased that international groups such as ICANN and NANOG will be sharing their knowledge and expertise with our local technical community.”

The ICT Week is being organized by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union and ARIN in collaboration with the Government of Grenada, ICANN, the Internet Registry for Latin America and the Caribbean (LACNIC), the Internet Society, NANOG, and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission.

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A new examination of ancient and current species of reptiles conducted by a University of Texas at Austin paleobiologist reveals the serious impact of the disappearance of even a few species of reptiles in some island areas.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has startling conclusions about how, on smaller islands in the Caribbean where human impact was greatest, extinctions have led to the loss of up to two-thirds of the supports for the ecosystem that native reptile species once provided there.

Although similar studies have looked at the role of large mammals or other types of animals in ecosystems over time, this is the first to do so with reptiles–a key component of many island ecosystems.

Exploring what’s known as functional diversity, the study goes beyond cataloging different living things in a place over time, in this case, 418 Caribbean reptile species. Instead, the study maps out the functions that those species offer that support a thriving natural environment. The 418 species can be collapsed into 123 functional entities: groupings of species that share the same suite of traits and may perform similar ecosystem services.

“Functional diversity is a really important measure of the health of an ecosystem,” said Melissa Kemp, an assistant professor of integrative biology at UT Austin. “It’s important to understand the number of species in a given system, but it’s equally, if not more, important to understand the roles those species play. That’s the measure of functional diversity.”

For example, when the giant tortoises of the Caribbean were hunted to extinction, the island region lost not only the tortoises but a core service the reptiles provided. Giant tortoises are important vehicles to spread plant seeds. That function was lost in the Caribbean, and the situation was made worse by the extinction of other large-bodied herbivores such as sloths, leading to certain plants having limited dispersal agents and restricted ranges.

Species introduced by humans also contribute to shifts in functional diversity over time, with sometimes mixed results. One of the clearcut invasive species villains of the study is the mongoose. The small weasel-like mammal preys on reptiles and was brought to the islands by European colonizers.

“In the historical record, you can see when Europeans arrived and the mongoose was introduced, reptile species disappeared on these islands,” Kemp said.

However, the opposite was true when green iguanas were introduced to islands that had lost reptile-related functional diversity. The green iguana filled the gaps. In fact, the species helped return functional diversity to prehistoric levels in some cases.

“While the green iguana is functionally similar to some of the native iguanas, there is concern about how it interacts with native iguanas and its long-term impacts on functional diversity,” Kemp said. “In some places where they co-occur, the invasive green iguanas are interbreeding with native iguanas.”

Kemp found that smaller islands, in particular, lack the buffer that larger islands have when they lose a set of reptile species that help to keep an ecosystem intact to an event like the introduction of the mongoose. For example, the largest islands, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, retain 80%-98% of their native functional entities. The study found that smaller islands that had limited human impact retained much of their functional diversity, too: Mona and Sombrero, two islands that are no longer inhabited, were used for limited mining after European colonization but had no large-scale agriculture, dense human population or mongoose introduced and retain 75% of their native functional entities.

The islands of the Caribbean are some of the most biodiverse places on Earth, home to delicate ecosystems and teeming with species that exist nowhere else on the planet. Without functional diversity that includes various reptiles, however, more ecosystems are susceptible to collapse, making the topic a vital one for conservation.

“It’s becoming readily apparent that we’re not going to be able to save every single species. Some are already extinct or functionally extinct in the wild,” Kemp said. “Trying to conserve the functions that organisms provide to an ecosystem might be a bigger focus moving forward.”

Funding for the research was provided by the National Science Foundation.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The following statement was issued by the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance:

On Wednesday, February 8, the royal family will be given a tour through the historic core of Oranjestad in St. Eustatius, as can be read on the website of the royal family. During this walk the slavery past will be discussed, and a manifestation in Fort Oranje dedicated to the cultural heritage of Sint Eustatius will close the day, so we read.

We all know how during royal visits everything gets polished, even the truth. That is why the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance asks the royal family to look further. Not to the beautiful buildings and monuments in the historic core, not to the memorials of De Graaff, Peter Stuyvesant, the First Salute, and their (great) grandmother Wilhelmina.

But let them see the suffering, the tears and the blood of our ancestors who built the fortresses, the buildings, the walls by hand, brick by brick. Let them see the unmarked burial grounds Golden Rock and Godet where the remains of our ancestors were brutally excavated and have been stored in a depot for over a year now, tucked away like garbage.

Let them see the Waterfort, in a deplorable state, threatened by erosion, where our ancestors, kidnapped from the Motherland, after the Middle passage were packed together to be sold on the market. More than 44,000 Afrikans including 10,000 (!) children set foot on Statia and suffered this fate. This Afrikan cultural heritage is all unseen and neglected.

So let’s talk to each other about how we can preserve this heritage, the Waterfort, the Afrikan burial grounds, the slave walls for the St. Eustatius community and the wider Afrikan diaspora and preserve it for future generations.

160 years after the abolition of slavery, reluctantly approved by King William III, let’s now restore the Waterfort, mark the burial grounds, honor our ancestors, teach our children that there was also a time before slavery with black Pharaohs, black Kings and black Queens who ruled in Afrikan countries for centuries until their civilization was destructed by colonial powers.

Let the royal visit be meaningful and with lasting impact to protect our Afrikan heritage and the indigenous heritage of St. Eustatius. Hopefully the royal family won’t be dazzled by good looking entertainment. Those days are over. We should honor our ancestors and not colonial memorials and former colonial rulers nor should we perform shows for them.

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