Carib Scope

分类： environment

  • LIVE: 38th Ordination Anniversary Mass of Father Elveau Augustine at St. Mark Parish Dominica

    LIVE: 38th Ordination Anniversary Mass of Father Elveau Augustine at St. Mark Parish Dominica

    The small island nation of Dominica, located in the hurricane-prone Eastern Caribbean, is once again at the forefront of global conversations about climate vulnerability, as rising sea temperatures and shifting weather patterns amplify the risk of catastrophic tropical storms for low-lying coastal states. For decades, Dominica has faced repeated devastation from extreme weather events: in 2017, Category 5 Hurricane Maria destroyed more than 90% of the country’s infrastructure, crippled its tourism-dependent economy, and left hundreds of people dead or missing. The disaster served as a wake-up call for both Dominica’s government and global climate advocates, highlighting the disproportionate risk that small developing island states face despite contributing next to nothing to global greenhouse gas emissions.

    In the years following Maria, Dominica has positioned itself as a global leader in climate resilience, launching an ambitious agenda to become the world’s first climate-resilient nation. The government has invested heavily in climate-adaptive infrastructure, including storm-resistant housing, reinforced coastal sea walls, and renewable energy projects designed to replace fossil fuel dependence while strengthening energy security during extreme weather events. International climate financing bodies, including the Green Climate Fund, have backed these efforts with hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and low-interest loans, recognizing Dominica’s role as a test case for global climate adaptation.

    Still, new data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that ocean temperatures in the Caribbean have risen 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since the pre-industrial era, creating more favorable conditions for rapid storm intensification and increasing the likelihood of major hurricanes making landfall in the region. This growing risk has put new pressure on both national governments and global climate negotiators to deliver on long-promised funding for loss and damage, a global framework designed to support vulnerable countries hit by irreversible climate impacts. As the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season gets underway, Dominica and its neighboring Caribbean nations are reminding the global community that climate action is not a distant policy goal—it is an urgent priority that affects the survival and livelihoods of millions of people across the world’s most vulnerable regions.

  • CRFM, Caribbean Climate Change Centre strengthen partnership to tackle climate challenges

    CRFM, Caribbean Climate Change Centre strengthen partnership to tackle climate challenges

    Two leading Caribbean regional environmental and resource management organizations have announced a strengthened collaborative partnership to counter the accelerating impacts of climate change on the region’s oceans, fisheries, and vulnerable coastal communities. The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (5Cs, also referred to as CCCCC) brought senior representatives together for strategic discussions on July 16, 2026, to map out how combining their specialized expertise, pooled resources, and existing ongoing initiatives can create more robust responses to the Caribbean’s most urgent marine and climate challenges.

    During the day-long talks, CRFM leadership updated 5Cs counterparts on a slate of active regional projects designed to help CRFM member states build more climate-resilient, ecologically sustainable fishing sectors. These ongoing initiatives cover a wide range of priorities: from advancing evidence-based marine spatial planning and scaling up renewable energy adoption in fishing operations to strengthening the economic livelihoods of small-scale fishing communities and advancing gender equity across the fisheries industry.

    One of the core priority topics on the meeting agenda was the persistent, growing crisis of invasive sargassum seaweed blooms that have plagued coastlines across the entire Caribbean basin for years. While both organizations acknowledged the severe harm that massive sargassum inflows cause to local tourism operations, commercial and small-scale fisheries, and fragile marine ecosystems, they also highlighted an under-explored opportunity: if processed safely following circular economy principles, sargassum can be converted into a range of commercially valuable products, from organic fertilizer to biofuel. Meeting participants also underlined that targeted additional scientific research, enhanced cross-regional coordination, and more streamlined information sharing are critical to implementing effective, long-term sargassum management strategies.

    Discussions also turned to Blue Carbon, the carbon stored naturally in coastal ecosystems including mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, and salt marshes, which has emerged as a globally recognized key tool for climate change mitigation. According to the official CRFM press release summarizing the meeting, talks covered the ongoing regional policy process to develop a comprehensive regional Blue Carbon Policy, a framework that would support Caribbean nations in better protecting, restoring, and managing these ecologically and climatically valuable coastal ecosystems.

    Improving equitable access to reliable climate and marine science data was another central focus of the strategic talks. Both organizations reaffirmed that high-quality, accessible data is a non-negotiable foundation for evidence-based policy making, robust public climate action, and enhanced regional climate resilience. They also emphasized that deeper collaboration and more open cross-institutional data sharing would deliver widespread benefits for governments, academic researchers, small-scale and commercial fishers, and coastal communities across every Caribbean nation.

    In a joint statement shared via the CRFM press release, both organizations emphasized that cross-sector regional partnerships are not optional, but essential, to protect the Caribbean’s unique marine resources and ensure that future generations can continue to benefit from healthy oceans and productive, sustainable fisheries. The new strengthened partnership, they noted, reflects a shared commitment to advancing climate-smart, equitable development across the region, while supporting resilient coastal communities, sustainable fishing industries, and thriving, healthy marine ecosystems.

  • Grenada gets support for developing its BESS project

    Grenada gets support for developing its BESS project

    Grenada has launched a landmark utility-scale battery energy storage project at its Maurice Bishop International Airport, backed by a $14.4 million multi-stakeholder financing package led by the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), aimed at accelerating the island nation’s shift away from fossil fuels and strengthening its energy infrastructure.

    The project, a core component of the broader Supporting Resilient Green Energy (SURGE) Caribbean programme, will deliver a utility-scale Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) that directly addresses a critical barrier to renewable energy adoption across small island developing states: grid instability. Once installed, the system will strengthen the reliability and resilience of Grenada’s national electricity grid, create capacity for higher volumes of variable renewable energy inputs, and move the country closer to its policy goal of cutting reliance on costly imported fossil fuels.

    Implementation of the BESS will be led by Grenada Electricity Services Limited (Grenlec) under a structured subcontracting framework designed to build long-term local operational expertise and upgrade the country’s core electricity infrastructure permanently.

    Peron Johnson, Permanent Secretary of Grenada’s Ministry of Climate Resilience, the Environment and Renewable Energy, framed the project as a transformative investment for the Caribbean island. “This project demonstrates the power of strategic partnerships in advancing Grenada’s climate resilience, energy security, and sustainable economic development, and brings us another step closer to achieving a cleaner, more affordable, and more resilient energy future for all Grenadians,” Johnson said, noting that the country extended its sincere gratitude to the CDB and all participating development partners.

    Financing for the initiative draws together contributions from a range of global and regional development actors, coordinated through CDB’s Special Funds Resources. A combined $3 million grant comes from the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the European Union, while the Government of Grenada has committed a $5.7 million loan to the project. Canada has also contributed a $5.7 million investment through the SURGE programme, and the World Bank is providing separate parallel financing for complementary BESS installations and national grid upgrades aligned with Grenada’s long-term grid modernization strategy.

    The initiative aligns directly with CDB’s 2026–2035 Strategic Plan, which prioritizes innovative investment to build climate-resilient energy systems across the Caribbean region. L O’Reilly Lewis, CDB’s Director of Projects, emphasized the collaborative nature of the effort. “The Caribbean Development Bank is proud to support an initiative that reflects what is possible when development partners and national institutions work together with a shared vision for a cleaner, more sustainable future,” Lewis said. “We look forward to seeing the long-term impact this investment will have on Grenada’s energy security and climate-smart development.”

    Kyle Farnum, Programme Manager for Energy at the Delegation of the European Union to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean States and the OECS, noted that reliable energy infrastructure forms the foundation of resilient national economies. “With this Battery Energy Storage System project, the European Union is supporting Grenada not only in expanding renewable energy, but in ensuring that clean power is available when it is needed most,” Farnum said. He added that the project forms part of a wider EU-Grenada energy transition partnership aligned with the EU’s Global Gateway infrastructure and development initiative.

    Tom Coward, UK Development Director for the Caribbean and Executive Director at the CDB, said the UK government was pleased to collaborate on the project, which advances the UK’s shared regional ambition to build resilient, low-carbon energy systems across the Caribbean. “Energy storage is critical to maintaining grid stability, unlocking the full potential of renewable energy, and strengthening long-term energy security,” Coward explained. “For small island states, increased storage capacity is a vital step in reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels while supporting climate resilience, sustainable economic growth, and economic security.”

    Brenda Wills, High Commissioner of Canada to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, underscored Canada’s ongoing commitment to climate-smart development across the Caribbean. “Through the Supporting Resilient Green Energy (SuRGE) programme, Canada is partnering with the Caribbean Development Bank and other regional and international institutions to advance climate mitigation and strengthen energy resilience across the Caribbean,” Wills said. “Our $5.7 million investment in this battery energy storage project reflects Canada’s commitment to practical, climate-smart solutions that improve grid stability, reduce climate risks, and support sustainable growth.”

  • Saturday with temperatures up to 36 degrees; scattered showers are expected

    Saturday with temperatures up to 36 degrees; scattered showers are expected

    A sustained period of high temperatures is set to continue across the entire Dominican Republic, driven by the combined effect of an anticyclonic weather system and an incursion of dust carried from the Sahara Desert, the country’s national meteorological agency has confirmed.

    The Dominican Institute of Meteorology (Indomet) explains that these two atmospheric conditions suppress the formation of cloud cover, creating widespread stable atmospheric conditions that trap heat across nearly all regions of the nation. While the dominant weather pattern will be continued heat, the agency has outlined localized precipitation events expected through the daily cycle, driven by different regional atmospheric factors.

    In the early pre-dawn and morning hours, brief passing showers are forecast to hit the eastern and northeastern provinces of La Altagracia, La Romana, Samaná and El Seibo, as well as their neighboring communities. These showers are triggered by wind patterns moving across the region, and will clear quickly as the day warms.

    From mid-afternoon through early evening, the agency expects partial cloud build-up, paired with scattered to moderate rain showers and isolated thunderstorm activity. These events will be concentrated in the central and inland provinces of Monte Plata, La Vega, Monseñor Nouel, San José de Ocoa, Santiago, Santiago Rodríguez, and Elías Piña. Daytime solar heating of the surface, combined with the influence of local mountain terrain, creates the perfect conditions for these convective rain events to form.

    As night falls, the frequency of short, light rainfall events will shift to communities located along the country’s Caribbean coastline, according to Indomet’s forecast.

    Temperatures across the country are projected to stay well above comfortable levels, with overnight lows ranging from 23 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees Celsius, and daytime highs reaching between 33 and 35 degrees Celsius. In response to the sustained hot conditions, Indomet has issued a series of public health recommendations to help residents avoid heat-related illness.

    The agency urges all residents to drink sufficient water throughout the day, dress in loose, light-colored lightweight clothing that reflects heat, seek out cool, shaded spaces when possible, and avoid extended time outdoors in direct sunlight between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. when solar radiation is at its strongest. Indomet also emphasized that children, older adults, and pregnant people face the highest risk of heat-related complications, and should take extra precautions during this period of sustained heat.

  • EU launches regional climate resilience plan

    EU launches regional climate resilience plan

    Against a backdrop of intensifying climate-driven extreme weather events battering small island nations, the European Union has unveiled a landmark new partnership program tailored to transform disaster risk management across the Caribbean. The initiative, announced at the opening of a three-day regional conference hosted at Barbados’ Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, prioritizes stronger early warning infrastructure, faster cross-border disaster response, and community-led preparedness – with targeted support for recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Beryl.

    Virginie Andre, the EU’s lead program manager for disaster risk management, delivered the announcement on behalf of Fiona Ramsey, the European Union Ambassador to Barbados. The new cooperation framework centers on upgrading four critical pillars of regional disaster management: enhanced meteorological forecasting, expanded climate adaptation services, streamlined cross-regional logistics networks, and deeper public-private collaboration to accelerate post-disaster recovery. Two key regional bodies will receive direct structural investment to boost their operational capacity: the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency and the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, which underpin the region’s entire disaster risk architecture.

    Andre emphasized that the strategy is anchored in high-level diplomatic cooperation between Caribbean leaders and EU institutions. “Through ongoing dialogue between Prime Minister Mottley of Barbados and the President of the European Commission, we are collaborating not just to rebuild after disasters strike, but to anticipate threats, strengthen readiness, and build long-term, lasting resilience,” Andre explained. “That high-level engagement is already delivering tangible, on-the-ground results.”

    The conference’s core theme, *Advancing Sustainable Community Resilience through Shared Responsibility*, signals a deliberate shift away from top-down disaster management toward a citizen-centered approach. Andre stressed that effective climate adaptation cannot be designed solely in government offices; it must be rooted in the lived experience of local communities. “When we talk about resilience, we know that it starts first and foremost at home, with people,” she said. “It starts with the neighbor checking on an elderly resident living nearby, the fishing community that notices subtle shifts in ocean conditions, the teacher that prepares children for emergencies, and the kids who go on to share that knowledge with their parents. Communities are always the first responders – they face the disaster first, and they launch recovery efforts before any outside support arrives.”

    To illustrate why centering local voices is non-negotiable, Andre shared a decades-old personal story that shaped her approach to disaster policy. Twenty-eight years ago, she met a young girl whose entire village had been destroyed by a mudslide. The girl lost all her family and sustained permanent life-altering injuries, but the two stayed in touch over the following 28 years. “What has stuck with me more than anything is not just her incredible story of survival, but a simple thing she told me: ‘No one ever really asked us what we needed,’” Andre recalled. “That one sentence reminds us exactly why community leadership matters so much. Communities know their own vulnerabilities better than anyone, and they know their own strengths. Our job is to listen, and to turn their lived experience into better policies and stronger preparedness.”

    In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, the EU already moved to provide targeted support to the region, including funding to rebuild and strengthen the Caribbean’s hard-hit fisheries sector. In a demonstration of the cross-border mutual learning at the heart of the partnership, senior emergency management officials from Barbados recently completed a study visit to European institutions to exchange best practices in disaster response. Andre added that the partnership between the EU and Caribbean is reinforced by shared geographic reality: multiple European territories sit within the Caribbean basin and face the same climate-driven disaster risks as their regional neighbors, creating a natural foundation for collaboration.

    As conference delegates began their three days of deliberations, Andre urged them to center all discussions on one central question: “How can we ensure that our communities are better prepared tomorrow than they are today?” Acknowledging that the scale of the climate crisis far outstrips the capacity of any single actor, Andre reaffirmed the EU’s long-term commitment to the region. “The answer will not come from one government, one organization, and certainly not from one international partner,” she said. “It will come from true partnership, from shared responsibility, and from listening to the people whose lives we are trying to protect. The European Union remains a trusted, long-term partner to Barbados and the entire Caribbean region.”

  • LETTER: The Cost of Bureaucratic Neglect at Wallings

    LETTER: The Cost of Bureaucratic Neglect at Wallings

    A recent summer camp outing to Antigua’s Wallings Forest Area has exposed a devastating collapse in the once-lauded conservation site, prompting a public call out for urgent government intervention to reverse the damage. On a July 16 visit to the protected woodland, a group of camp participants witnessed firsthand the total decay of an area long celebrated as a shining example of community-driven environmental stewardship.

    Today, the forest lacks every basic amenity required to host visitors and support its own conservation. Functional restrooms, educational signage that once guided guests and explained local ecosystems, and formal visitor orientation systems have all vanished. What little organization remains exists only through the unplanned, volunteer work of former site manager Refica Attwood, who stepped in as an informal guide for the visiting camp group. Her quick thinking and on-the-spot problem-solving prevented what could have been a dangerous, disorganized disaster for the group of children in the party, according to the letter writer.

    Despite Attwood and her small volunteer team’s tireless efforts to keep the day incident-free, the visit laid bare a grim truth: decades of collaborative community conservation work have been completely undone. The once-thriving reserve is now left abandoned, trapped in a state of administrative limbo stemming from unresolved government disputes.

    The letter’s author leaves no question of where blame lies: the Antiguan government, specifically the Ministry of Agriculture, has made a catastrophic error that puts this critical ecological site at permanent risk. By allowing public-private partnership negotiations to lapse and failing to put in place a permanent, structured system for local trail wardens to maintain the site, the ministry has allowed one of Antigua’s most biodiverse “crown jewels” to deteriorate into disrepair.

    The public has a right to know how this once world-class protected reserve was allowed to crumble, the writer argues. The call to action is clear: government officials must intervene immediately, resolve the ongoing administrative disputes that have paralyzed management, and restore dedicated, organized oversight of Wallings Forest before this irreplaceable environmental asset is lost forever.

  • Forecasters Monitoring Tropical Wave Near Cabo Verde Islands

    Forecasters Monitoring Tropical Wave Near Cabo Verde Islands

    The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) is currently keeping a close watch on two separate low-pressure weather systems across the Atlantic basin, with official projections showing neither is likely to strengthen into a significant tropical cyclone in the coming days.

    The first system, a broad tropical wave, is located in the eastern Atlantic Ocean roughly 175 miles southeast of the Cabo Verde Islands as of 8 a.m. local time Friday. Right now, the disturbance is producing only scattered, unstructured showers and thunderstorms across the region, and it is tracking west-northwest at a steady pace of between 10 and 15 miles per hour.

    According to NHC forecasters, atmospheric and oceanic conditions around this eastern Atlantic system are set to grow increasingly hostile for tropical development over the coming week. Official probability estimates put the chance of this system organizing into a named tropical cyclone at just 10% across both the next 48 hours and the full seven-day forecast window.

    In addition to the Cabo Verde-area disturbance, forecasters are also monitoring a second unorganized disturbance located in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. Like its eastern Atlantic counterpart, this Gulf system is also projected to face a very low likelihood of significant tropical development in the coming days.

    Meteorologists across the basin continue to update projections as peak Atlantic hurricane season progresses, urging coastal and oceanic interests to stay updated on the latest official forecasts from the NHC regardless of current low risk estimates.

  • New 20-Megawatt Power Unit May End Threat of Load Shedding

    New 20-Megawatt Power Unit May End Threat of Load Shedding

    As Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) navigates persistent uncertainty over consistent power imports from Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), the regional utility is moving forward with an emergency generation project that could eliminate the threat of mandatory load shedding for local communities. The new 20-megawatt facility, which is currently being installed across the country, has faced minor shipping delays tied to global logistics disruptions and geopolitical unrest, but once operational, it is expected to cover domestic capacity gaps that have forced occasional rolling blackouts over recent weeks.

  • Load Shedding Sparks Strategic Power Meeting

    Load Shedding Sparks Strategic Power Meeting

    Facing repeated, disruptive power outages and rapidly rising consumer and commercial electricity demand across the country, the government of Belize has brought all key energy stakeholders together for an unprecedented collaborative summit to map out a sustainable path forward for the nation’s energy sector. The meeting, convened July 16 2026 by the Ministry of Public Utilities, Energy and Logistics, gathered representatives from Belize Electricity Limited (BEL, the country’s main power distributor), the Public Utilities Commission (PUC, the sector’s regulatory body), and all local independent power producers (IPPs) to address the ongoing load shedding crisis that has plagued communities in recent months. Minister of Public Utilities and Energy Michel Chebat emphasized that this cross-stakeholder gathering was the first of its kind in Belize’s history, marking a shift from reactive crisis management to proactive, long-term strategic energy planning.

    Speaking after the closed-door meeting, Chebat outlined the core objectives that guided the discussion. The summit focused on aligning all parties around three key priorities: projecting Belize’s total power generation needs across short, medium, and long-term timelines, strengthening collaborative partnerships between the public sector and local energy producers, and ultimately eliminating the periodic rolling blackouts that have disrupted daily life and economic activity across the country.

    “This was the first time ever that every major player in Belize’s energy ecosystem – the policy-setting ministry, the distributor, the regulator, and our local independent producers – sat down at the same table to talk through our shared challenges and shared goals,” Chebat explained. “We came into this meeting to lay out BEL’s projected needs over coming years, and to open a transparent conversation about each IPP’s existing capacity and willingness to expand operations to meet growing demand. This wasn’t just a talk shop: we created space to share the specific challenges that independent producers are facing, and clearly laid out the government’s long-term energy expansion and independence plans. The biggest priority, of course, is closing the existing supply gap and doing everything in our power to bring the current cycle of load shedding to an end.”

    Chebat also highlighted the key pain point raised by independent power producers during the discussion: many local producers have held back from expanding generation capacity because they lack formal guarantees that they will be able to sell their output at a rate that delivers a reasonable return on their capital investment. The landmark meeting opened a direct channel to address these concerns, laying the groundwork for targeted policy adjustments that can unlock greater local investment in power generation. The government’s overarching strategic goal, Chebat noted, is to grow Belize’s energy independence by leveraging local production capacity, rather than relying on costly imported energy to meet domestic demand. This first-of-its-kind convening has already established a new ongoing working relationship between all stakeholders, moving the country closer to a reliable, stable power grid that can support sustained economic growth.

  • Affordable Power Remains Rural Electrification Challenge

    Affordable Power Remains Rural Electrification Challenge

    As 2026 reaches its midpoint, Belize is closing in on a major policy win for rural energy access, though the core challenge of delivering affordable power still hangs over the nation’s multi-region electrification push. The small Central American nation’s northern corridor is on the cusp of full rural electrification, with the remote Fireburn Village set to become the final northern community to gain grid access, government officials confirmed this week.

    Located in northern Belize, Fireburn Village’s power infrastructure is now complete: an off-grid solar system, installed by local firm Solar Energy Solutions Belize Ltd, is waiting for final activation to bring the community its first consistent access to electricity. Once Fireburn is connected, every village in northern Belize that has requested access to power will be fully served, marking a historic milestone for the government’s rural electrification program.

    Despite this progress in the north, work is far from over. Attention is now shifting to southern Belize, where eight remote communities remain completely off the national power grid, waiting for connection. Minister of Public Utilities and Energy Michel Chebat explained that the biggest ongoing barrier to scaling the program across the south is maintaining affordability while expanding access, a key priority for the government’s energy policy.

    “Our overarching target is to bring down the overall cost of energy for all rural residents, so hitting that accessible price point has consistently been our biggest challenge,” Chebat said in an address confirming the Fireburn project. “But we are making real, tangible progress across the country.”

    To serve the remote, spread-out communities of southern Belize, the government is turning to localized microgrid infrastructure. These smaller, decentralized energy networks can operate independently of the main national grid or connect alongside it, creating a reliable power supply even in hard-to-reach terrain that would be prohibitively expensive to connect via traditional transmission lines. Chebat confirmed that development is already underway on these southern microgrids, with the first projects on track to be inaugurated as early as September 2026.

    This report is a transcribed excerpt from an evening television newscast focused on Belize’s energy and infrastructure progress.