Black Immigrant Daily News

A major catastrophe was averted on Tuesday when a fire, suspected to be electrical in nature, was averted at the Amelia’s Ward Primary School in Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

Just after 13:00h, reports are that a staff member observed flames in one of the classrooms and immediately sounded an alarm for students to evacuate the area. Staffers at the school managed to contain the fire.

Fire responders were called to the school and an investigation was conducted.

It is suspected that the fire started from an electrical cable, situated in a classroom on the upper flat of the institution.

Before students return to school, the building will be inspected and an electrician will conduct checks to ensure it is a safe environment.

Less than two weeks ago, the Guyana Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that the massive fire that destroyed the St George’s High School in Georgetown in July was electrical in nature.

A rise in school fires has been observed in the past two years, which saw the North Ruimveldt Multilateral and North West Secondary School being destroyed.

Last month, the sod was turned for the reconstruction of several sections of the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School in Georgetown to the tune of $566.9 million

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“Climate science is clear: we are heading in the wrong direction”, declares a major, multi-agency UN climate science report released on Tuesday, with a focus on increasing fossil fuel emissions and rising greenhouse gases, now at a record high, which risk thwarting plans to reduce global temperatures and avoid climate catastrophe.

The researchers behind “Uniting in Science”, coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), studied several factors related to the climate crisis – from CO2 emissions, global temperature rises, and climate predictions; to “tipping points”, urban climate change, extreme weather impacts, and early warning systems.

One of the key conclusions of the report is that far more ambitious action is needed, if we are to avoid the physical and socioeconomic impacts of climate change having an increasingly devastating effect on the planet.

Greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise to record highs, and fossil fuel emission rates are now above pre-pandemic levels, after a temporary drop due to lockdowns, pointing to a huge gap between aspiration and reality.

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Cities, hosting billions of people, are responsible for up to 70 per cent of human-caused emissions: they will face increasing socio-economic impacts, the brunt of which will be faced by the most vulnerable populations.

In order to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement, namely keeping global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, greenhouse gas emission reduction pledges need to be seven times higher, says the report.

If the world reaches a climate “tipping point”, we will be faced with irreversible changes to the climate system. The report says that this cannot be ruled out: the past seven years were the warmest on record, and there is almost a 50-50 chance that, in the next five years, the annual mean temperature will temporarily be 1.5°C higher than the 1850-1900 average.

The report’s authors point to the recent, devastating floods in Pakistan, which have seen up to a third of the country underwater, as an example of the extreme weather events in different parts of the world this year.

Other examples include prolonged and severe droughts in China, the Horn of Africa and the United States, wildfires, and major storms.

“Climate science is increasingly able to show that many of the extreme weather events that we are experiencing have become more likely and more intense due to human-induced climate change,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

“We have seen this repeatedly this year, with tragic effect. It is more important than ever that we scale up action on early warning systems to build resilience to current and future climate risks in vulnerable communities”.

‘Early warnings save lives’

A WMO delegation led by Mr. Taalas joined Selwin Hart, Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Action, and senior representatives of UN partners, development and humanitarian agencies, the diplomatic community, and WMO Members at a two-day event in Cairo last week.

The meeting advanced plans to ensure that early warnings reach everyone in the next five years.

This initiative was unveiled on World Meteorological Day – 23 March 2022 – by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who said that “early warnings save lives”.

Early Warning Systems have been recognized as a proven, effective, and feasible climate adaptation measure, that save lives, and provide a tenfold return on investment.

‘Still way off track’

The harmful impacts of climate change are taking us into ‘uncharted territories of destruction’, Mr. Guterres said on Tuesday.

Responding to the United in Science report, Mr. Guterres said that the latest science showed “we are still way off track”, adding that it remains shameful that resilience-building to climate shocks was still so neglected.

“It is a scandal that developed countries have failed to take adaptation seriously, and shrugged off their commitments to help the developing world” said Mr. Guterres. “Adaptation finance needs are set to grow to at least $300 billion dollars a year by 2030”.

The UN chief recently visited Pakistan, to see for himself the massive scale of the destruction caused by the floods.

This brought home, he said, the importance of ensuring that at least 50 per cent of all climate finance must go to adaptation.

SOURCE: UN News/SLT

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Allen Martinez was found in an advanced state of decomposition on the John Smith Link Road 

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Sept. 12, 2022

The John Smith Road has become the scene of a number of murders since it was opened. This morning, it was the location at which the body of a missing man, Allen Martinez, was found in a small pond—about 50 feet off the roadside. The body was found about one and a half miles down the airport link road along the route from the 8-Mile community to Ladyville.

Martinez was reported missing last Monday by his family, who had been in search of him since then. He was last seen on Saturday in front of Zan Zan Shop on Central American Boulevard. His family identified his body this morning at the scene as it was being processed by police.

Allen Martinez, who went by the stage name “NOT NICE”, was a Belizean lyricist and recording artist who lived in the Port Loyola area of Belize City. Of recent, he had been battling mental illness and was frequently seen on Central American Boulevard.

Police have reported that he was last seen in front of Zan Zan shop on Central American Boulevard, but the Ladyville Highlights page published a photo and message suggesting he may have been spotted in the Lords Bank area.

There is no indication if this is true, but sometime this morning police responded to reports that his body was seen in the area, after being missing since Saturday, September 3.

The police report notes that no signs of injuries have yet been observed on Martinez’s body, but a postmortem examination will be carried out on his remains. Since the body was found in an advanced state of decomposition, that process would have to be expedited and may present additional challenges.

By all indications at this time, no foul play is suspected, and the case is being handled as a death investigation by police.

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