Carib Scope

分类： environment

  • Water project targets 20 schools

    Water project targets 20 schools

    Against the backdrop of escalating climate-driven water stress across the Eastern Caribbean, the island nation of Saint Lucia is putting the final touches on a targeted infrastructure project that will bring reliable water access to at least 20 of its most water-deprived primary and secondary schools. The initiative grew out of a crisis that left dozens of educational institutions without consistent water access for five consecutive days, prompting government agencies to collaborate on a solution rooted in new climate vulnerability research.

    Onika Benn, in-country facilitator for the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) Partnership embedded within Saint Lucia’s Department of Sustainable Development, shared details of the proposal last Wednesday, following the regional launch of UNICEF’s landmark Child-Centred Climate Analysis for Building Resilience. The landmark report assesses climate risks and their disproportionate impact on children across six Eastern Caribbean nations, with Saint Lucia one of the core contributing countries.

    Benn emphasized that actionable insights from the UNICEF analysis have already been integrated into government programming, starting with the urgent school water access project. “Many may not fully grasp the severity of the water crisis we are still navigating here in Saint Lucia,” Benn explained during post-launch discussions. “Multiple schools reported going a full five days without enough water to meet basic needs, which forced us to move quickly to address this gap.”

    In response to the crisis, the Department of Sustainable Development partnered with the country’s Department of Education to design a targeted intervention focused on the hardest-hit regions. The finalised project concept will ensure all participating schools have a five-day reserve of water, delivered through a network of installed water storage tanks and solar-powered pumping systems that rely on renewable energy to operate, even during power outages linked to extreme weather. Financial and technical support for the initiative has already been pledged, and the project is moving toward implementation.

    This school water project is just one component of a broader national effort to help Saint Lucia’s education sector build long-term resilience to climate-related hazards. The Department of Sustainable Development is currently advancing the second phase of its Green Climate Fund National Adaptation Plan readiness project, which will develop national data and child-inclusive climate indicators to build a case for targeted climate investment. A key focus of this next phase is expanding psychosocial support for children coping with climate stress, a gap highlighted in the UNICEF analysis.

    Over the next two months, national officials will refine a full concept note to submit to the Green Climate Fund, covering three core priorities: strengthening education delivery during natural hazards, expanding training and psychosocial support services for students, teachers and school counsellors, and expanding sustainable water infrastructure across more educational institutions. This work is aligned with a pre-existing education sector adaptation strategy and action plan tailored to the specific needs of children and young people in Saint Lucia’s education system.

    Beyond infrastructure and policy, Saint Lucia has prioritized centering youth voices in national climate action through longstanding collaboration with UNICEF. In 2023, UNICEF funded a national youth climate engagement project to ensure children and young people have formal representation in the country’s NDC process, with youth leaders designing the structure of their own participation. Benn highlighted the work of youth climate activist Kezia St Brice, who led a team of young advocates that visited schools across the country to deliver climate literacy education to more than 800 students. Following that outreach work, St Brice was selected to represent Saint Lucia’s youth at the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

  • Ministry To Undertake Tourism Carrying-Capacity Study To Guide Sustainable Growth

    Ministry To Undertake Tourism Carrying-Capacity Study To Guide Sustainable Growth

    As one of the world’s most tourism-dependent small island nations, Antigua and Barbuda is taking a proactive, data-driven step to balance industry expansion with environmental and cultural preservation. The country’s Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Transportation and Investment has launched an ambitious new planning initiative designed to ensure that the sector’s future development remains sustainable, inclusive, and aligned with the Caribbean nation’s long-term national priorities.

    At the core of this forward-looking agenda is a comprehensive national tourism carrying-capacity study, a first-of-its-kind assessment for the destination that will quantify the maximum level of tourism activity the islands can support without eroding the core assets that draw millions of visitors each year. Unlike traditional growth metrics that focus solely on increasing visitor numbers, this study centers protection of the natural ecosystems, cultural heritage, and local communities that form the irreplaceable foundation of Antigua and Barbuda’s tourism brand.

    The assessment will generate critical empirical data to guide all future tourism planning and development decisions, at a time when the country is seeing consistent expansion across key sector areas: rising air passenger volumes, growing cruise ship calls, expanding hotel room inventory, and rising foreign and domestic investment in tourism infrastructure. Beyond just measuring visitor volume limits, the study will also evaluate the current capacity of core public infrastructure, the ability of local communities to absorb growth without disrupting quality of life, and the carrying capacity of fragile natural resources ranging from coral reefs to coastal beaches. It will also analyze how much economic value from tourism expansion is retained locally, to ensure host communities see tangible benefits from growth.
    Minister Charles Fernandez emphasized that sustainable tourism growth cannot be measured by annual visitor arrival counts alone. “Our beaches, our coral reefs, our unspoiled coastlines, our rich cultural heritage, and our vibrant communities are not just amenities — they are the very reason visitors choose Antigua and Barbuda over hundreds of other destinations,” he noted. “Protecting these assets is non-negotiable if we want our tourism industry to thrive for decades to come.”

    Fernandez added that the study is a key part of long-term strategic planning that looks out 10, 20, and even 30 years, with intentional consideration of how development will impact infrastructure needs, air connectivity, future investment opportunities, product diversification, climate resilience, and environmental protection. The minister reaffirmed that tourism will remain a top national priority for Antigua and Barbuda, as it continues to be the single largest driver of GDP, employment, and national development. But he stressed that all future growth must be rooted in evidence-based policy, empirical data, and intentional strategic planning, rather than unfettered expansion.

    Moving forward, the Ministry will continue to strengthen its policy and planning frameworks to support balanced sustainable growth, with the explicit goal of safeguarding the natural and cultural resources that will underpin the industry and deliver shared prosperity for current and future generations of Antiguans and Barbudans.

  • Who Says You Need a Boat Trip to Experience Turneffe? Put on a VR Headset

    Who Says You Need a Boat Trip to Experience Turneffe? Put on a VR Headset

    For generations, accessing the extraordinary natural beauty and ecological diversity of Belize’s Turneffe Atoll has remained out of reach for countless people—from local schoolchildren who lack the resources for a costly, logistically complex boat trip offshore, to non-swimmers and non-divers who cannot venture beneath the atoll’s crystal-clear surface. Today, a pioneering new project from the Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association (TASA) is breaking down those barriers, using immersive virtual reality technology to bring the full splendor of Belize’s largest marine protected area directly to communities, classrooms, and people who have never been able to visit in person.

    Unlike artificial, AI-generated simulations, the project features two custom VR experiences built from high-resolution 360-degree footage captured on-location by professional underwater videographer Duarte Dellarole, who spent a full week documenting the atoll’s varied landscapes. The first 4-minute film takes viewers on a seamless journey through five interconnected, ecologically critical habitats: the tangled root systems of coastal mangroves, sprawling seagrass beds, shallow reef flats, vibrant living coral reefs, and the dramatic, deep-water drop-off wall that defines Turneffe’s outer edge. The second VR experience centers on the Wit Wreck, a sunken vessel that has been reclaimed by the ocean and transformed into a thriving artificial reef teeming with tropical marine life.

    For TASA, the VR initiative is far more than a tourist attraction—it is a targeted educational tool designed to connect Belize’s young people to their country’s natural heritage. Many Belizean students grow up learning about the country’s world-famous barrier reef system in textbooks, but few get to experience it firsthand, due to the extensive planning, funding, and logistics required to organize a full-class boat trip to Turneffe, which sits between one and one and a half hours offshore. By bringing the atoll into classrooms, TASA hopes to inspire the next generation of conservation leaders, sparking interest in careers ranging from marine biologists and conservation officers to divemasters and sustainable tour guides.

    The VR project is just one part of a broader, technology-driven conservation strategy that TASA has rolled out over the past three years to protect the ecologically rich atoll while cutting operational costs. The organization has installed new radar systems with geofencing capabilities at Mauger Caye and Caye Bokel, deployed thermal surveillance drones, and built a centralized data management platform called the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART).

    Before these upgrades, conservation patrol teams were forced to launch boats on routine missions regardless of whether illegal activity was detected, wasting fuel and resources across the atoll’s vast expanse. Today, radar systems automatically send real-time alerts when any vessel lingers in a restricted protected zone, and drones are deployed first to verify activity before patrol boats are dispatched to the specific target. This targeted approach has already made patrols far more efficient, reducing the frequency of unnecessary missions. TASA’s long-term goal is to cut the reserve’s annual patrol fuel costs, which currently run around $150,000, by 50 percent— a milestone the team is working toward incrementally.

    The entire VR initiative, including both headsets and on-location footage capture, cost roughly $10,000, with full funding provided by the Protected Areas Conservation Trust. TASA has already begun expanding access through partnerships with local educational institutions: Itz’at STEAM Academy, which already maintains its own fleet of VR headsets, has partnered with TASA to host the Turneffe experience for its students, and the organization hopes to build more of these partnerships with educational and community groups across Belize.

    While technology has opened new doors for accessibility and conservation, TASA leaders note that expanding these initiatives will require sustained financial support from a range of stakeholders, including international donors, local communities, and visitors. Even so, the project represents a groundbreaking model for combining digital innovation, environmental education, and ecological protection. TASA Executive Director Valdemar Andrade emphasized that the atoll is a shared natural and cultural heritage for all Belizeans, and the VR project ensures that every person, regardless of their ability to travel offshore, can experience and connect with this irreplaceable global treasure.

  • Dr. Renata Clarke highlights regional cooperation in new Caribbean Fisheries resilience initiative

    Dr. Renata Clarke highlights regional cooperation in new Caribbean Fisheries resilience initiative

    The Caribbean region, long defined by its deep ties to marine ecosystems and small-scale fishing industries, is facing accelerating climate-driven threats that put food security, local livelihoods and economic development at risk. In a major step forward to address these shared challenges, the second phase of the Climate Change Resilience in the Caribbean Fisheries Sector Project (CC4FISH-II) officially launched at an inception meeting hosted in Dominica on September 15, 2026.

    At the opening of the event, Dr. Renata Clarke, Sub-Regional Coordinator for the Caribbean with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), emphasized that transboundary climate impacts cannot be solved by individual nations acting alone, making coordinated regional action non-negotiable for long-term success. Clarke framed the $12.55 million initiative, fully funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), as far more than an environmental intervention: it is a targeted investment in the sustainable future of the entire Caribbean region.

    “CC4FISH-II represents an investment in the future of the Caribbean. It demonstrates the power of regional collaboration in addressing shared challenges facing the Caribbean’s fisheries sector,” Clarke told attendees. She added that the project creates a critical opening to reinforce the fishing sector’s ability to absorb climate shocks, while protecting vulnerable marine ecosystems and upholding the well-being of the millions of Caribbean people whose lives and incomes depend on healthy fisheries.

    The Caribbean’s fishing industries have increasingly come under strain in recent decades. Rising ocean temperatures, ocean acidification, and extreme weather events have driven declining fish stocks, widespread marine biodiversity loss, and severe degradation of critical coastal habitats including coral reefs and mangroves that serve as breeding grounds for commercial fish species. These ecological shifts have rippled through local economies, threatening household food security, eroding livelihoods for small-scale fishing communities, and slowing broad-based economic development across the region.

    CC4FISH-II will be executed by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), in strategic partnership with FAO and a network of regional and national stakeholders. The new program builds on the outcomes and lessons learned from the first phase of CC4FISH, which ran from 2017 to 2022 across seven Eastern Caribbean nations, and will support on-the-ground climate resilience interventions through to 2030.

    Five countries are positioned to directly benefit from the initiative: Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. Unlike large-scale, one-size-fits-all development projects, CC4FISH-II centers the needs of marginalized groups that form the backbone of the Caribbean fishing industry: small-scale fisherfolk, small boat owners, artisanal fish processors, local vendors, cross-border traders, and tight-knit coastal communities. A core priority of the project is expanding economic opportunities, boosting leadership representation, and strengthening livelihood resilience for women and young people, groups that are often underrepresented in regional fisheries governance but play an outsized role in sustaining the sector.

    Closing her remarks, Clarke reaffirmed the collective vision driving the initiative: “Together, we can strengthen resilience, protect marine resources, and create lasting benefits for communities throughout the region.”

  • Just How Bad Is Sargassum Getting Along Belize’s Coast?

    Just How Bad Is Sargassum Getting Along Belize’s Coast?

    September 17, 2026 — A historic, unrelenting surge of sargassum seaweed is overwhelming Belize’s coastal areas, leaving local communities, tourism operators, and government leaders scrambling to address a crisis that has grown far beyond usual seasonal patterns this year.

    For long-time Ambergris Caye resident Rebecca Coutant, the 2026 sargassum bloom is the worst she has witnessed in her time living along the island’s shore. In a typical year, shifting September tides and active storm season naturally clear accumulated seaweed from Belize’s beaches, opening up shoreline access for residents and visitors alike. But 2026 has defied all expectations: large volumes of sargassum continue to wash ashore daily, with no sign of the natural clearing that usually comes by mid-autumn.

    Coutant explained that even daily, intensive clean-up efforts by large coastal hotels have failed to stop the seaweed from piling up. In unmaintained areas, the accumulated sargassum forms thick mounds stretching 10 to 20 feet out from the shore, making once-accessible beaches completely unusable. Many local residents now travel long distances across the island to find clear stretches of water for swimming, turning a routine recreational activity into a major inconvenience.

    Beyond disrupting daily life for locals, the unmanaged bloom has emerged as a major threat to Belize’s core tourism industry. Reynaldo A. Malik Jr., president of the Belize Hotel Association, argues that the burden of addressing the crisis cannot fall exclusively on private businesses. Undeveloped public stretches of coastline, which are the responsibility of national and local government authorities, act as ongoing sources of accumulated sargassum that spread to maintained areas. Malik stressed that a collaborative cross-sector plan is non-negotiable, noting that he has yet to see a comprehensive, actionable strategy that addresses the full scale of the problem. “It really does need a partnership,” he said.

    Belize’s Prime Minister John Briceño publicly acknowledged the severity of the crisis during his recent State of the Nation Address, confirming that the sargassum invasion has already driven a measurable drop in tourist arrivals, particularly in high-demand coastal destinations including San Pedro, Caye Caulker, Hopkins and Placencia.

    In response to the growing pressure, the Belize Tourism Board (BTB) has developed a national rescue plan with backing from the central government. The initiative will leverage existing BTB resources, paired with grants and low-interest loans from international financial institutions, to purchase specialized clean-up and interception equipment tailored to Belize’s unique coastal geography.

    One local private enterprise has already developed a promising pre-shore interception system that could be scaled up as part of the national plan. Placencia-based marine technology firm Sea Solution Ltd. has designed a modular barrier system that stops sargassum from reaching shore before it can accumulate on beaches. Company owner and designer Edgar Carballo explained that the floating barriers can be repositioned to adapt to local current patterns, wind conditions, and coastal geography, making them flexible for use across different Belizean shorelines.

    Each 200-meter barrier section extends 3.5 feet below the water’s surface and can hold up to 74 tons of floating sargassum. For the Placencia region alone, Carballo estimates that six to seven barrier units would be sufficient to intercept roughly 90 percent of incoming sargassum, without disrupting access to local shipping channels or harbor entrances.

    For local residents like Coutant, expectations for an immediate, perfect fix are low. What coastal communities want most is tangible commitment from national leaders: clear action and ongoing attention to a crisis that is upending daily life and threatening the nation’s most important economic sector. “We don’t want a magic solution,” Coutant said. “We would love a magic solution, but we know there’s not a magic solution out there. But we want to feel like our government hears us and wants to help out.”

  • ‘No safe zone’ for Eastern Caribbean children

    ‘No safe zone’ for Eastern Caribbean children

    A groundbreaking child-focused climate risk assessment has delivered a stark warning for the Eastern Caribbean: already one-third of the region’s children live in zones vulnerable to at least three overlapping climate hazards, and that number is on track to surge to more than 90 percent by mid-century under current high-emissions trends. Released in 2026 following research completed in late 2025, the first-of-its-kind study was conducted by Meru Labs for UNICEF’s Eastern Caribbean Area Office, covering six island nations — Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines — and encompassing a total of approximately 176,000 children. This high-resolution spatial analysis combines historical climate data, mid-century climate projections, and local socioeconomic data to map risk specifically for children, their schools, critical health infrastructure, and supporting community livelihoods, filling a longstanding gap in regional climate research that has often sidelined child-specific vulnerability. Irina Bird Reddiar, a consultant researcher at Meru Labs who presented the findings at a resilience workshop hosted at Saint Lucia’s Bay Gardens, emphasized that no part of the region remains untouched by climate risk. “There is no safe zone in the region and the question is not whether children will be affected, but how severely and how often,” Reddiar stated. Beyond the headline projection, the study lays bare the current scope of risk: 100 percent of children, schools, and health facilities across the six study countries sit within 100 kilometers of the path of at least one Category Three or stronger hurricane recorded since 1980. Additionally, seven percent of the region’s children, 12 percent of local schools, and 22 percent of hospitals and clinics are located in low-elevation coastal zones less than 10 meters above sea level, leaving them directly exposed to accelerating sea-level rise, destructive storm surge, and chronic coastal erosion. The analysis also highlights dangerous overlapping risk patterns that exacerbate harm: peak annual heat and the Atlantic hurricane season both run from August to October, which coincides with the start of the academic year for regional schools, raising the chance of immediate learning disruptions at the opening of each school term. Researchers detail the cascading harms that climate shocks inflict on children beyond immediate physical danger, ranging from school closures, learning loss, and higher dropout rates to increased illness, childhood malnutrition, psychosocial distress from displacement and trauma, and long-term reduced lifetime earnings due to interrupted education and unstable childhoods. The study’s findings were presented at the opening of a two-day workshop in Saint Lucia organized jointly by UNICEF and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Agency (CDEMA), which brought together regional journalists and public information officers to build capacity for covering climate change, disaster risk, and child-specific impacts. Keith Goddard, CDEMA communications specialist who spoke on behalf of CDEMA Deputy Executive Director Kester Craig, said the findings reinforce an urgent need for the region to shift its longstanding disaster management approach away from purely post-event response and toward proactive, pre-disaster risk mitigation. “Our regional disaster management system cannot focus only on responding after an event. We must increasingly anticipate risk, understand its social consequences and use evidence to guide decisions before disaster strikes,” Goddard explained. He added that the new analysis provides actionable data to help regional governments and development partners target investments to the communities and services where children face the greatest risk, and upgrade the resilience of schools and critical public infrastructure. “When a disaster damages a school, a child loses more than a building. They can lose access to education, a safe space, social support and a sense of normalcy,” Goddard said. He also challenged participating journalists to translate the study’s complex technical data into accessible public knowledge and drive collective action, noting that media play a critical role in centering vulnerable groups like children in broader climate conversations. In total, the study outlines 49 targeted recommendations to cut child-focused climate risk, spanning pre-disaster anticipatory action, immediate post-disaster support for children and families, long-term investments in climate-resilient infrastructure and livelihoods, and reforms to climate and disaster financing frameworks. Clive Murray, UNICEF Programme Specialist, framed the launch of the research as a starting point for action rather than a conclusion to the research process. “The evidence is now before us. Our task is to use it to strengthen policies and systems, invest in anticipatory action, build more resilient services, and mobilise climate financing that puts children at the centre,” Murray said. Lisa Jawahir, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Sustainable Development of host nation Saint Lucia, echoed the call for urgent translation of findings into policy and investment. “We must move from evidence to policy, from policy to investment, and from investment to measurable improvements in the lives of our people,” Jawahir said. She also pushed back against framing children as only passive recipients of aid, emphasizing their critical role as active participants in building long-term regional climate resilience. “Their voices matter. Their security matters. Their ideas matter, and of course their future matters,” she added. Maryam Abdu, UNICEF Eastern Caribbean Area Office Representative, reinforced the call for increased investment in climate adaptation, resilient schools and health systems, stronger social protection, and targeted resourcing for the highest-risk communities. “Data must lead to decisions. Decisions must lead to investment, and investment must lead to greater resilience for people and communities,” Abdu said. Echoing Jawahir, she stressed that children must be included in all climate decision-making processes, noting that they have a unique and direct stake in the choices made today. “They bring ideas, they bring urgency, and they bring a clear stake in the decisions we make today. Nothing about their future should be decided without listening to them. A resilient Caribbean begins with resilient children. Let us place them at the centre of our climate response. Let us invest in their future. And let us act with the urgency this crisis demands.”

  • Sargassum removal tops 3.6 million pounds

    Sargassum removal tops 3.6 million pounds

    Barbados’ ongoing battle against invasive sargassum seaweed has hit a major milestone this year, with local environmental authorities confirming that approximately 3.6 million pounds of the brown algae have been cleared from public and resort beaches across the island as of mid-year. The update was shared this Wednesday by David Carter, National Project Coordinator of the Sargassum Seaweed Collection Unit under Barbados’ Ministry of the Environment, during a working visit by a Dominican Republic delegation focused on exploring collaborative sustainable sargassum management strategies.

    Currently, 150 full-time workers are deployed daily to manually clear seaweed from high-priority shorelines. Carter highlighted that three locations — River Bay in St Lucy, Skeetes Bay in St Philip, and Long Beach in Christ Church — have emerged as the most heavily impacted and challenging to maintain. The southern coastline sites, in particular, are core hubs for Barbados’ $4.8 billion tourism industry, lined with commercial resorts, hotels, and recreation facilities that rely on clean shorelines to attract visitors. “These are our main tourist-facing beaches, so we have dedicated teams working daily to clear them by hand,” Carter explained.

    Despite the ongoing efforts, gaps in the cleaning schedule have left some popular public beaches uncleared for weeks at a time. Enterprise Beach, commonly known to visitors as Miami Beach, is one of the sites that has fallen behind, triggering frustration among local beachgoers and small seaside business owners who depend on foot traffic for revenue.

    To address longstanding limitations of manual cleaning, the collection unit is now actively evaluating the deployment of pump harvesters to remove sargassum directly from offshore waters before the algae drifts onto shore, a solution that would address one of the most damaging side effects of current practices: coastal erosion. When crews remove large volumes of sargassum from the sand, the heavy machinery and repeated sand removal often strips away natural coastal sediment, accelerating erosion that already threatens many of Barbados’ low-lying shorelines.

    Carter explained that the new pump harvester system is designed with wildlife protection in mind. The equipment is anchored offshore, and uses floating containment booms and fine mesh filters to block fish, sea turtles, and other marine life from being drawn into the suction system. The harvested sargassum pumped out of the water can then be repurposed for value-added uses, including biogas production, fertilizer, and construction materials, turning a marine nuisance into a usable resource.

    The unit has identified River Bay as the most promising first site for a pilot program, due to the area’s consistent calm sea conditions that make operating the equipment safer and more effective. Skeetes Bay, another heavily impacted site, is also being evaluated, but rough open-ocean conditions at the location create significant logistical challenges that must be resolved before deployment can proceed, Carter added.

  • GTA announces 5th Annual Dive and Conservation Festival

    GTA announces 5th Annual Dive and Conservation Festival

    Grenada’s marine tourism and conservation community is gearing up for the 5th iteration of its landmark Dive and Conservation Festival, scheduled to run from October 26 to November 1, 2026, the Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA) has officially announced.

    Over its first four editions, the festival has evolved into one of the most anticipated annual events on Grenada’s national tourism calendar, uniting a diverse cross-section of stakeholders including local dive operators, marine science researchers, environmental conservation nonprofits, and tourism partners across the country’s tri-island territory. This year’s milestone 5th festival, anchored by the theme “Sustainable Legacy,” expands on years of cross-sector collaboration while cementing Grenada’s global reputation as a forward-thinking travel destination where adventure tourism, marine recreation, and proactive environmental stewardship go hand in hand.

    Kirl Grant-Hoschtialek, GTA’s Chief of Operations and Acting Chief Executive Officer, emphasized that the festival’s steady growth reflects the central role Grenada’s pristine natural ecosystems play in shaping the country’s unique visitor experience. “Our natural environment is one of Grenada’s most defining and valuable assets,” Grant-Hoschtialek noted. “The continued expansion of this festival makes clear how critical these ecosystems are to both our tourism economy and everyday community life. The Dive and Conservation Festival creates intentional, meaningful spaces for dive industry and conservation partners to connect with both visitors and local residents, share evidence-based knowledge about marine protection, and foster deeper collective appreciation for the ocean environments that sustain us all.”

    The 2026 festival will roll out a full slate of programming across both Grenada island and Carriacou, with guided diving excursions, conservation-focused public education, and community-led engagement activities taking center stage. Attendees will gain access to guided explorations of Grenada’s world-famous underwater dive sites, hands-on learning opportunities focused on coral propagation and reef rehabilitation, and the chance to directly participate in ongoing initiatives aimed at safeguarding the country’s unique coastal and marine biodiversity.

    One of the festival’s flagship components this year will be the “Conservation Conversations” series, an outreach program tailored to connect local students with leading marine and environmental experts from across the Caribbean and beyond. The series is designed to build long-term conservation literacy among young Grenadians and expand understanding of ecosystem protection challenges and solutions across the tri-island state. Beyond diving and educational programming, the 2026 festival will also include guided birdwatching excursions, island-wide community coastal clean-up drives, and other immersive activities designed to encourage deeper, more responsible engagement with both Grenada’s terrestrial and marine natural landscapes.

    Shanai St Bernard, GTA’s Nautical Development Manager, called the 5th edition a key milestone for Grenada’s fast-growing dive and marine tourism sector. “This festival has grown into a can’t-miss event for both visitors and locals, giving everyone a chance to connect firsthand with Grenada’s incredible marine life while reinforcing the shared responsibility we all have to protect it,” St Bernard explained. “This intentional balance between exploration, public education, and active conservation is the core of sustainable tourism, and it has remained the central mission of this festival from its launch.”

    As Grenada works to build a more resilient, sustainable tourism economy for the long term, the annual Dive and Conservation Festival stands as a model for how intentional event planning can deliver both economic and environmental benefits. By centering collective action and intergenerational stewardship, the festival reinforces a simple but powerful truth: the travel experiences we design and protect today will lay the foundation for a thriving, vibrant destination for future generations to enjoy.

  • Milieu- en gezondheidstesten voortaan in Suriname uitgevoerd

    Milieu- en gezondheidstesten voortaan in Suriname uitgevoerd

    In the wake of a high-profile pollution incident that exposed critical gaps in Suriname’s domestic testing infrastructure, the South American nation’s government has announced an ambitious plan to expand national laboratory capacity, aiming to conduct nearly all required environmental and public health tests within the country by the end of 2027. The catalyst for this policy push came after the contamination of the Saramacca River, when officials were forced to send key analytical samples overseas for testing because no domestic facility could complete the work – a delay that underscored the urgent need for local capability building.

    On Wednesday, Suriname’s President Jennifer Simons convened a meeting with leaders from the country’s leading research and testing institutions to map current capabilities and identify unmet needs. Attendees included representatives from the Central Laboratory of the Public Health Bureau (BOG), the Veterinary Laboratory, the Fish Inspection Institute (VKI), the Medical Scientific Institute (MWI), and the Anton de Kom University of Suriname (AdeKUS), each presenting details of their existing analytical workflows and testing limits.

    “Our goal is to be able to carry out every test required to guarantee the safety of our people here at home, whether that means analyzing water samples, testing fish for contaminants, or conducting health screenings for exposed communities,” Simons stated during the gathering held at the President’s Cabinet.

    According to Patrick Brunings, Minister of Oil, Gas and Environment, the government first will conduct a nationwide inventory of existing equipment, technical expertise, and expansion opportunities across all domestic laboratories. This baseline assessment will clarify which tests currently require international support, and what investments are needed to bring those capabilities to Suriname. Priority areas for expansion include testing for cyanide and mercury contamination in water, animal tissue, and other environmental samples, as well as routine analysis of national air quality. A key focus of air quality testing will be measuring mercury vapor exposure for workers and communities near gold purchasing operations, a common point of risk in Suriname’s active mining sector.

    Simons projected that significant expansion of national capacity will be completed as early as 2026, with full deployment of all required testing capabilities targeted for the end of 2027. Beyond strengthening laboratory infrastructure, the government’s broader response to environmental and mining challenges includes a new nationwide survey of gold mining operations led by the National Environment Authority (NMA), designed to create a comprehensive baseline for regulating the sector and mitigating its environmental impacts.

  • CBH Warns Used Oil Dumping Can Lead to EC$5,000 Fine

    CBH Warns Used Oil Dumping Can Lead to EC$5,000 Fine

    Antigua’s Central Board of Health (CBH) has issued a critical public advisory urging local residents to stop pouring used cooking and automotive oil down household and municipal drains, highlighting a cascade of environmental, infrastructural and public health risks tied to this illegal disposal practice. The agency explains that used oil does not break down easily in drainage networks, and instead coats pipe walls, accumulates over time, and creates stubborn, persistent blockages that restrict the free flow of stormwater. During periods of intense or prolonged rainfall, these blocked drains cannot carry excess water away from populated areas quickly enough, significantly elevating the risk of dangerous and destructive flash flooding across residential and commercial communities. Beyond infrastructure damage and flood risks, improper oil disposal creates secondary public health hazards that impact both residents and local business owners. Discarded oil that lingers in drainage systems acts as a powerful attractant for pest populations including rats and cockroaches, which can spread disease, contaminate food supplies, and create unsanitary living and working conditions. Even more concerning for the island’s ecosystem is the long-term environmental damage caused by oil that makes its way through drains and out into surrounding coastal and marine waters. Once introduced to oceans, bays and nearshore habitats, oil disrupts the marine food chain, contaminates the living spaces of wild fish, coral and other aquatic organisms, and threatens the long-term survival of vulnerable marine populations native to the region. To mitigate these risks, CBH is calling on all residents to adopt safe disposal habits: store any used oil in firmly sealed, leak-proof containers that can be transported to authorized waste collection facilities for proper processing. The agency also reminded the public that illegal dumping of used oil through drains or other unapproved channels carries legal penalties, including a maximum fine of 5,000 Eastern Caribbean dollars. In closing, CBH encouraged collective action across the island, urging every resident to take simple, responsible steps to keep Antigua’s communities, public streets and natural waterways clean, safe and ecologically healthy for current and future generations.