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  • Empowering Communities Through Wildlife Education Programs

    Empowering Communities Through Wildlife Education Programs

    In a major step forward for community-centered conservation in Belize, the Belize Wildlife and Referral Clinic has inaugurated a brand-new Wildlife and One Health Education Lab, expanding the organization’s mission far beyond its core work of rescuing and treating injured wild animals. Scheduled to open its doors for programming in July 2026, the on-site facility will host a full suite of training sessions, hands-on workshops, and professional certification programs accessible to a diverse range of participants, from law enforcement officers and national tourism tour guides to school groups, local youth, and entire community organizations.

    Clinic leadership emphasizes that targeted, accessible education is the most effective long-term strategy for reducing the frequency of human-wildlife conflict — the leading cause of injured animals arriving at the clinic for care each year. Beyond its immediate conservation impact, the new education lab also represents a critical intermediate milestone toward the organization’s long-term ambition: constructing a fully operational, comprehensive wildlife hospital and rehabilitation center on the clinic’s existing property.

    “We officially celebrated the inauguration for our Wildlife and One Health Education Lab, and it’s an exciting new step because it will allow us to provide more education and outreach in our own building here,” explained Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand, director of the Belize Wildlife and Referral Clinic. The organization has operated mobile community outreach programming for nearly eight years, traveling across the entire country to deliver conservation workshops to remote and local groups. The new permanent classroom facility eliminates the logistical barriers of cross-country travel, allowing the clinic to welcome participants directly to its base for structured learning.

    As Dr. Paquet-Durand noted, the vast majority of wild animals admitted to the clinic arrive after suffering harm from negative interactions with humans. That reality makes conservation education not just an ancillary activity, but the organization’s most impactful core work. “Therefore, this building is very exciting to us to be officially open,” she added.

    The clinic’s capacity building and outreach work first launched in 2018, with an initial focus on training enforcement officials. Early programs worked closely with police officers, the Belize Defense Force, and partner non-governmental organizations to build expertise in wildlife protection and conflict mitigation. Over time, the initiative expanded to reach new stakeholder groups: tour guides, who work on the front lines of tourism and interact with wildlife daily, became a key training focus, followed by youth programs including outreach to local scout groups that bring younger generations into conservation work.

    This month, the clinic launched an expanded program made possible by a new grant from the Protected Areas Conservation Trust. The funding has allowed the organization to add two new wildlife fellows to its team, who will complete a full 12-month immersive training program with the clinic. This extension of programming builds on the clinic’s existing range of offerings, which previously spanned short two-day intensive trainings and now includes long-term capacity building for emerging conservation professionals.

    For the Belize Wildlife and Referral Clinic, the opening of the education lab moves the organization one step closer to its end goal: a full-service wildlife hospital and rehabilitation center that will provide advanced care for injured and endangered species across Belize while serving as a national hub for conservation education.

  • Belizean Musicians Prepare Tribute for Kendoyll Simpson

    Belizean Musicians Prepare Tribute for Kendoyll Simpson

    July 15, 2026 — Belize’s tight-knit music community is navigating a dual moment of grief and gratitude this week, following the passing of beloved local producer and artist Kendoyll Simpson, widely known by his professional moniker KSBEATS. After a two-year courageous fight against cancer, Simpson left the world on Sunday, leaving behind an indelible mark on Belize’s cultural and musical landscape that peers, protégés, and fans are already working to honor permanently. The National Institute of Culture and History has partnered with Simpson’s family and close friends to organize a meaningful tribute that celebrates his life, creative vision, and far-reaching contributions to the Belizean sound.

    Over a career spanning more than two decades, Simpson worked largely behind the scenes, crafting countless tracks that became the soundtrack to ordinary and extraordinary moments across Belize. Whether refining tracks in a small recording studio, performing live on local stages, or mentoring the next generation of Belizean creative talent, KSBEATS built a reputation for uncompromising dedication to quality paired with a generous, encouraging spirit that lifted up everyone he worked with. His passing has left a gaping hole in the local music ecosystem, felt most deeply by those who shared a stage and a life with him.

    Horace Bryce, Simpson’s oldest friend, recalled their decades-long creative bond that began in their childhood church days, where both cut their teeth as musicians on the congregation’s praise team. “We started our musical journey in church where we were on the praise team. We were musicians, you know, Kendoyll playing the drums, I’m singing or playing the bass. I helped out Kendoyll with the drums when he was little, you know, when his foot couldn’t even touch the pedal. He had a smile to die for. I mean, everything that he did, he was smiling. He plays the drums, he was smiling. Whatever instrument he was on, he was smiling. Even when we hung out talking, he was smiling. So I will miss his smile. I will miss him always teasing me, you know, and stuff like that,” Bryce shared.

    Renowned Belizean vocalist Jackie Castillo collaborated with Simpson for nearly 20 years as a fellow member of the popular Center Stage Band, and remembered his gentle but firm commitment to bringing out the best in every artist he worked with. “Whenever you would be off-key, Kenny would be like, ‘You no hit the note. You need to hit the note.’ I always see that in my mind since I’ve been thinking about him. He would tell you quietly and sweet that you are not hitting the note properly, and he will insist that you hit the note. So he brought a lot of my best qualities and my best vocals in my recordings, because he ensured that it was top quality. I will always remember and appreciate him for that,” Castillo said.

    That unwavering dedication to excellence ran through every project Simpson touched, from local pop to roots genres that crossed both genre and national borders. He worked with many of Belize’s biggest mainstream music names, including acclaimed artist Melonie Gillett, who recorded more than 30 tracks with the producer. “I want people to remember him as a musical genius, that’s for sure, and a pioneer in the Belizean music industry. Innovative and so smart, talented, and always, always willing to help. I was going through some of our messages and trying to piece everything together because all of this just makes no sense to me, you know, that he’s gone,” Gillett reflected.

    Though Simpson’s live drumming has fallen silent, the body of work he leaves behind ensures his creative spirit will continue to resonate through Belize’s recording studios, local concert stages, and personal playlists for generations to come. This report was prepared by Shane Williams for News Five.

  • Govt weighs transfer pricing reforms to ease cost of living

    Govt weighs transfer pricing reforms to ease cost of living

    Barbados’ Senior Minister Kerrie Symmonds has outlined a sweeping two-pronged government strategy to tackle the island nation’s persistent high cost of living, targeting both opaque corporate pricing practices and wasteful household consumption habits that officials blame for inflating everyday expenses for citizens.

    At the core of the government’s regulatory proposal is a planned crackdown on transfer pricing practices among major supermarket chains, a mechanism where integrated corporate groups set prices for goods and services exchanged between their own subsidiary entities. Symmonds, who also holds the portfolio of Minister of Energy, Business Development and Commerce, explained that many local supermarket chains control every stage of the supply chain — from raw product procurement and importation to wholesale distribution and final retail sale — through separate entities under the same parent company. This structure allows for incremental markups to be added at every step of the process, which Symmonds says often includes hidden “padding” that gets passed directly to consumers in the form of higher shelf prices.

    Right now, the island nation has not put in place clear rules to address this long-standing business structure, Symmonds confirmed. Cabinet members are currently evaluating targeted fiscal and regulatory reforms that would mandate full transparency for intra-group transactions, requiring related entities to adhere to arm’s-length pricing standards identical to those used between independent, unrelated companies. “There is in the minds of several members of the Cabinet a desire, a need, not just a desire, for us to have a fiscal intervention, and part of the consideration that we are now considering is this thing called transfer pricing,” Symmonds stated during the public event.

    He added: “What we must, at some soon stage, deal with is the way in which we can make those intercompany or intracompany transactions more transparent… Let us ensure that there are arm’s length transactions treated in the same way as we would if they were unrelated companies, and that there’s no padding taking place in terms of the cost. We have to have that conversation in Barbados because that is one of the ways in which not only we educate our public, but that we protect our public.”

    Alongside regulatory reform for supermarket pricing, the government is rolling out a national conservation push designed to insulate consumers from volatile global commodity price shocks. Symmonds pointed out that widespread wasteful household habits — including leaving lights, electronics and water taps running when not in use — drive unnecessary collective increases in energy and water consumption, pushing up utility costs for households across the country.

    But the strategy goes far beyond changing individual behavior: the government plans to strengthen enforcement of existing building codes to mandate more energy-efficient infrastructure. Symmonds highlighted simple measures like mandatory motion-activated lighting in public and commercial buildings as an example of a low-cost change that could cut widespread energy waste across the island.

    “How do we enforce basic building codes now, which will see for example, in a new hotel, or frankly, in an existing structure like this [with] motion-activated lighting. So that when we all leave in here, all these lights should automatically be able to go off, rather than stay on for the whole day in a room where nobody is, and that is what we do across Barbados, let us be very frank. And if we’re going to talk about seriously protecting consumers, the question of our conservation is critical,” he said.

    The minister also confirmed the government is laying the groundwork for a full national transition away from gasoline and diesel-powered internal combustion engine vehicles to electric options within the next decade. If senior leaders have their way, the shift will be well underway within five years, Symmonds noted. Currently, many consumers opt for fossil fuel vehicles even when comparable electric or hybrid models are available at similar or lower purchase prices with far lower long-term maintenance costs. The government will launch a public education campaign to reset consumer thinking and encourage adoption of lower-cost electric vehicles, which will reduce household transportation costs over time and cut reliance on volatile global fuel markets.

  • KTV The Remix Heats Up with Reggae and Caribbean Night

    KTV The Remix Heats Up with Reggae and Caribbean Night

    On the eve of July 14, 2026, the popular singing competition KTV The Remix brought its second week of competition to the iconic Bliss venue, and organizers shook up the competition with a vibrant theme: Reggae and Caribbean Night. What was set to be another standard week of performances quickly evolved into a lively, culturally rich celebration of Caribbean musical heritage, turning the venue’s stage into a colorful hub of island rhythm and soul.

    Ten remaining contestants took on the challenge of the night, which carried two layers of difficulty. First, each participant was required to deliver a performance rooted in the distinct stylings of reggae and Caribbean music, pushing many vocalists outside their comfort zones to adapt to the genre’s characteristic off-beat cadence and storytelling lyricism. Second, the competition introduced an unexpected twist: it was also duet night, requiring contestants to pair up and collaborate on joint performances that tested not just their individual vocal talent, but their ability to work as a cohesive team on stage.

    Many of these collaborative duet sets ended up becoming the most talked-about and memorable moments of the entire evening, with surprising on-stage chemistry turning in standout renditions of classic Caribbean hits. As the competition progresses, the race for the $10,000 grand prize is already growing more intense with each elimination round. Contestants are under growing pressure to demonstrate range in their vocal abilities and command over the stage, as every performance now carries higher stakes for securing a spot in the next round of the competition. Local entertainment correspondent Britney Gordon has prepared full highlights of the night’s performances, which will be included in the full televised and online broadcast of the newscast. This article is a direct transcript of an evening television news segment, with Kriol language portions transcribed using a standardized spelling system for accessibility. Readers can access the full newscast via the link included in the original report.

  • ‘Ask Dealia’ app launches to help find deals, events

    ‘Ask Dealia’ app launches to help find deals, events

    Barbados has entered a new era of digital consumer convenience this week with the official launch of Ask Dealia, an AI-integrated mobile and web application designed to reconfigure how both locals and visitors shop, track local events, and access price information across the island. Unveiled on Wednesday, the platform marks the second government-backed digital tool launched by the country in two months, following the June debut of Pearlie — a service that streamlines public service requests and citizen reporting of government agency issues.

    At the core of Ask Dealia is its namesake AI assistant, built to deliver personalized consumer support that goes far beyond basic price lookup. Unlike generic comparison tools, the platform consolidates real-time price tracking, promotional alerts, event updates, and tailored product recommendations into a single, accessible digital space, addressing a longstanding pain point for Barbadian shoppers who previously had to travel across the island to compare prices across retailers ranging from grocery chains and hardware stores to fashion boutiques on Broad Street.

    Minister of Business Development and Commerce Kerrie Symmonds emphasized the transformative impact of the new tool during the launch. He noted that for decades, Barbadian consumers faced the unnecessary hassle of visiting multiple physical locations to research prices and find the best deals across the island’s diverse retail landscape. With Ask Dealia, that entire process shifts to a centralized virtual marketplace, putting all pricing, promotional, and event information directly into users’ pockets.

    Developed by local digital firm Infolytics, the platform already tracks a massive dataset of more than 400,000 products from 2,000 registered businesses across Barbados, a number that Infolytics CEO Quinn Weekes says continues to grow as more retailers join the platform. Weekes stressed that the app’s AI assistant Dealia is far more than a standard chatbot: she adapts to individual user preferences over time, learning from interactions to identify the deals, products, and local events that align with each user’s specific interests.

    The app also includes user-centric features that set it apart from traditional shopping apps. Shoppers can set custom price thresholds for desired items, receiving automatic notifications when prices drop below their target limit. It also supports event tracking for major local and seasonal occasions, from Father’s Day and Mother’s Day promotions to Barbados’ iconic Crop Over festival, back-to-school sales, and year-end holiday deals. For both residents and tourists, the platform also serves as a curated guide to local events, highlighting happenings that match each user’s preferences.

    Weekes added that the platform will remain iterative, with development teams incorporating user feedback to refine features and improve the overall experience over time. Currently, Ask Dealia is available for access via its official website askdealia.gov.bb and for download on the Apple App Store, with a Google Play Store release scheduled for later this week.

  • Community resilience must evolve as climate threats intensify, CDEMA warns

    Community resilience must evolve as climate threats intensify, CDEMA warns

    As the Caribbean faces a rapidly evolving landscape of cascading climate threats and shifting social vulnerabilities, the region’s top disaster management authority has issued an urgent call for a fundamental rethink of how governments and communities prepare for and respond to crises. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) is pushing for a bold pivot from outdated reactive response models to a new, people-centered framework of anticipatory risk management that matches the growing complexity of modern hazards.

    In her keynote address to CDEMA’s annual Comprehensive Disaster Management conference, Executive Director Elizabeth Riley argued that traditional approaches to disaster management have been rendered obsolete by 25 years of dramatic social and environmental change. Pointing to the Caribbean’s long-standing status as one of the world’s most hazard-prone regions – a dynamic she described as a “living laboratory for climate and geological risk” – Riley highlighted the $12.2 billion in damages and losses from Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica as a stark example of the region’s ongoing vulnerability.

    Yet Riley also emphasized that the Caribbean has long been a global pioneer in progressive disaster risk governance. Decades ago, regional leaders recognized that protecting populations, preserving livelihoods and safeguarding hard-won development gains required moving beyond responding to disasters after they strike to proactively managing risk before impacts occur. That forward-thinking philosophy gave rise to the region’s landmark Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) framework, which will mark its 25th anniversary in 2026. Built on a whole-of-society principle, the CDM strategy rests on the core idea that resilient communities are the foundation of resilient nations.

    Despite the framework’s early successes, Riley warned that both the region and the threats it faces have transformed beyond recognition since the CDM was first launched. Demographic shifts are rapidly reshaping the social fabric of Caribbean nations: the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean projects that by 2050, one in four Caribbean residents will be aged 60 or older, creating new layers of vulnerability for communities navigating extreme weather. Compounding these demographic changes are growing societal challenges including rising violent crime, shifting migration patterns and escalating geopolitical tensions, all of which introduce new interconnected risks that were largely unaccounted for in older disaster management models.

    Most critically, climate change has rewritten the rules of disaster preparedness entirely. Where hazards once occurred in isolation, today’s climate-driven threats are increasingly cascading and compounding, creating overlapping crises that overwhelm traditional response systems. Recent high-profile storms have exposed fatal gaps in long-held assumptions about disaster preparedness, Riley explained. During Hurricane Melissa, pre-existing hazard maps failed to anticipate the devastating convergence of a 14-foot storm surge and more than 20 inches of simultaneous intense rainfall, turning a predictable event into an unprecedented catastrophe. Even more striking was Hurricane Beryl, which made history as the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Beryl upended the region’s long-held understanding of hurricane season timelines: for decades, planners operated on the assumption that there was a gradual ramp-up to the September peak, giving communities time to prepare after the June season start. Beryl’s early arrival proved that this timeline is no longer valid, and that preparedness must be a year-round priority.

    Another persistent, underaddressed gap that Riley highlighted is the critical disconnect between early warning systems and community action. She referenced the 2019 Hurricane Dorian disaster in the Bahamas, where the Bahamas Meteorological Service issued flawless forecasts and clear evacuation orders days before the storm made landfall – yet many residents still chose not to leave their homes. To close this gap, Riley argued that disaster management authorities need to integrate insights from behavioral science to better understand how communities perceive risk and why people make the choices they do during crises. If risk communication fails to trigger life-saving action, she said, the entire approach to outreach must be re-evaluated.

    To address these interconnected challenges, Riley is calling for a structural overhaul of community-level disaster governance. She questioned whether the region can continue to rely exclusively on traditional volunteer-led frameworks, such as Barbados’ long-standing district emergency organisations (DEOs), noting that volunteer systems often break down under the pressure of catastrophic, long-duration disasters. “Volunteers are the glue that holds our disaster management system together, and they deserve tangible support and formal recognition for their work,” Riley said, “but we have to ask whether it is time to integrate community resilience arrangements into the paid, structured mechanisms of government to ensure sustained capacity during crises.”

    Riley also highlighted the critical role of cutting-edge technology in strengthening the region’s anticipatory risk management. Tools including high-resolution geospatial analytics and “digital twins” – virtual community-scale models that can simulate a wide range of future climate scenarios – are already being deployed to map emerging hazards, including the increasingly frequent extreme prolonged heatwaves that have become a major silent killer across the Caribbean. Partially funded by the European Union, these tools, paired with the new Caribbean Community Risk Information Tool (CCRIT), will give local planners far more accurate data to prepare for hazards that have never been seen in recorded history.

    Closing her address to conference delegates, Riley issued a clear call to action: if attendees leave the conference willing to challenge long-held assumptions about what community resilience means and what it must become in the face of a changing climate, and renew their commitment to shared responsibility and people-centered resilience building, it will mark a monumental step forward for securing the Caribbean’s future. “Placing people at the absolute center of our risk management work is not just a moral imperative – it is the only way to build a resilient Caribbean that can thrive amid uncertainty,” Riley emphasized.

  • Private sector wil onafhankelijke Local Content Council voor snellere uitvoering oliebeleid

    Private sector wil onafhankelijke Local Content Council voor snellere uitvoering oliebeleid

    Suriname’s united private sector has put forward a bold proposal to establish an independent Local Content Council, aimed at speeding up the implementation of local participation policies in the country’s fast-growing oil and gas sector. Leading industry and business groups argue that the South American nation does not need to delay progress by waiting for new national legislation, as existing Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) already create sufficient legal space to help domestic Surinamese businesses capture greater benefits from the emerging offshore oil and gas industry.

    Per the private sector coalition, the foundational framework for local content requirements is already partially embedded within the PSAs signed between state-owned oil firm Staatsolie and major international oil companies. Specifically, Article 32 of these agreements provides a solid legal foundation to boost the participation of Surinamese enterprises, local workers, and domestic service providers in sector activities, the coalition notes.

    To turn these existing legal opportunities into tangible outcomes for local businesses, the private sector is calling for clear policy agreements on core regulatory details, starting with a standardized, official definition of what qualifies as a Surinamese domestic company. The coalition emphasizes that clear, consistent guidelines of this kind will deliver much-needed legal certainty, greater industry transparency, and a level competitive playing field — particularly for small and medium-sized domestic enterprises that have historically faced barriers to entering the sector.

    The proposed Local Content Council is designed to operate as an independent public-private collaboration platform, bringing together key stakeholders from across the ecosystem: the national government, Staatsolie, international oil operators, major contractors, and official representatives of Suriname’s domestic business community. All parties will work collectively to advance the rollout of local content policies under the council’s structure.

    Initiators of the proposal stress that the council is not intended to take over core government responsibilities. Instead, its core mission is to improve cross-stakeholder coordination, identify implementation bottlenecks at an early stage, boost overall transparency, and support the practical on-the-ground execution of local content policies. This approach will allow the coalition to deliver quick, early wins (often referred to as “low-hanging fruit”) while work continues on developing a full, formal national legislative framework for local content requirements.

    The proposal already enjoys broad cross-sector support, backed by a wide coalition of leading Surinamese business organizations. These include the Association of Surinamese Manufacturers, the Federation of Surinamese Farmers, the Suriname Business Association, and the Suriname Energy Chamber, alongside 17 additional industry and business groups.

    On behalf of the coalition, preliminary discussions have already been held with Staatsolie to outline a practical implementation model for the local content framework. Talks have also been conducted with the Local Content Board based in the Office of the President of Suriname. According to private sector representatives, all parties have agreed that the coalition’s proposals will be integrated into the ongoing development of national local content policy.

    Looking ahead, the business coalition plans to hold follow-up discussions with two key government bodies: the Ministry of Oil, Gas and Environment, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovation. The overarching goal is to finalize a fully implementable policy framework in the near term, which will allow Surinamese companies to better prepare for the significant economic opportunities created by the country’s offshore oil and gas development.

    The coalition notes that early conversations with all relevant stakeholders confirm that every party shares the same core end goal: securing a strong, sustainable position for Surinamese businesses and workers within the expanding oil and gas sector. The main challenge ahead, the group says, is not aligning on the ultimate objective, but rather coordinating to agree on the collective path, set clear priorities, and establish a feasible pace for delivering on these shared goals.

  • Grenada celebrates Caricom’s 53rd Anniversary in London

    Grenada celebrates Caricom’s 53rd Anniversary in London

    On July 6, 2026, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) gathered for a landmark celebration of its 53rd year of regional integration at a special reception and awards ceremony hosted at London’s DoubleTree by Hilton near the Tower of London. Grenada’s High Commission to the United Kingdom took a leading role in organizing the event alongside all other Caricom diplomatic missions based in the British capital, bringing together a diverse cross-section of attendees from across diplomatic, political, business and community spheres.

    The guest list included senior diplomats from across the global diplomatic corps, sitting UK parliamentarians, senior government representatives, leaders from the international business community, members of the large Caribbean diaspora based in the UK, and longstanding allies of the Caribbean region. Together, the group gathered to honor more than five decades of shared cooperation and integration across the Caribbean bloc.

    Leading Grenada’s delegation to the event was Her Excellency Rachér Croney, Grenada’s High Commissioner to the UK, who also holds the position of Chair of the Caricom Events Committee. In this capacity, Croney oversaw all coordination and planning for this year’s anniversary celebration. In addition to their participation in the broader program, the Grenada High Commission team staged a dedicated “Pure Grenada” exhibition designed to highlight the island nation’s one-of-a-kind cultural heritage, premium local goods, and untapped investment openings for global partners.

    The curated exhibition offered attendees a sensory introduction to Grenada, widely known as the Isle of Spice, featuring samples and displays of award-winning Grenadian chocolate, a range of locally harvested spices, and other artisanal goods produced on the island. Beyond showcasing local culture and products, the exhibit outlined targeted investment opportunities across the nation’s priority growth sectors: sustainable tourism, renewable energy development, agribusiness, the Blue Economy, and the creative industries. The presentation underscored Grenada’s longstanding commitment to inclusive, sustainable economic development and cemented the nation’s reputation as a competitive, welcoming destination for international trade and foreign direct investment.

    Addressing attendees during the official program, Croney emphasized that the annual Caricom Day celebration serves a dual purpose: it strengthens bonds of regional solidarity while creating space for individual member states to advance their national development priorities. “Caricom Day is a celebration of our shared Caribbean identity, resilience and collective achievements. It also provides an opportunity to showcase Grenada’s unique strengths and the many opportunities available for partnership, trade and investment. As Small Island Developing States, our greatest strength lies in our unity, our collaboration, and our shared commitment to sustainable development and regional prosperity,” Croney said.

    The official ceremony opened with opening remarks from His Excellency Dr Kevin Isaac, High Commissioner for St Kitts and Nevis, who marked the end of his tenure as Chair of the Caricom Caucus of Diplomatic Missions in London. A core ceremonial moment followed the opening address, with the Caricom flag formally passed from Isaac to His Excellency Anthony Severin, High Commissioner for St Lucia, signaling the official handover of the Caucus Chairmanship for the coming term.

    Guests also received remarks from The Honourable Chris Elmore MP, UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for Multilateral Affairs, Human Rights, Latin America and the Caribbean. Elmore used his address to reaffirm the strength and enduring importance of the longstanding strategic partnership between the United Kingdom and the Caribbean region. A pre-recorded video message from The Honourable Philip J Pierre, Prime Minister of St Lucia and current Chair of Caricom, was also shared with attendees, outlining the bloc’s ongoing commitments to deepening regional integration, building economic resilience, advancing ambitious climate action, and coordinating collective responses to pressing shared global challenges.

    One of the most anticipated highlights of the evening was the presentation of the 2026 Caricom Awards, an annual honor that recognizes exceptional individuals whose work has driven forward Caribbean development and strengthened cross-regional cooperation. This year’s three award recipients reflected the breadth of contributions to the community: Jacqueline Roberts of St Vincent and the Grenadines received the Advocacy for Small States Award, Bertha Joseph of Dominica took home the Community Development Award, and Dr Les Johnson of Jamaica was honored with the Culture and Education Award.

    The formal program drew to a close with a ceremonial toast to Caricom, delivered by High Commissioner Croney. The toast celebrated 53 years of the bloc’s collective achievements and reaffirmed the core values of unity, cooperation, resilience, and shared purpose that continue to shape the Caribbean Community’s mission.

    As Caricom works to amplify its collective voice on the global stage, Grenada has reaffirmed its commitment to collaborating closely with fellow member states to advance shared regional priorities. These priorities include building climate resilience, driving inclusive sustainable economic growth, strengthening global food and nutrition security, advancing digital transformation across the region, expanding youth empowerment initiatives, and opening new opportunities for cross-regional and international trade and investment.

    Following the handover ceremony, the Grenada High Commission issued a formal statement congratulating Severin on his assumption of the Caricom Caucus Chairmanship, and extended sincere gratitude to Dr Kevin Isaac for his dedicated leadership and distinguished service during his tenure. The statement closed by reaffirming Grenada’s ongoing commitment to advancing its national interests, strengthening cross-regional cooperation within Caricom, and deepening the longstanding, enduring partnership between the Caribbean bloc and the United Kingdom.

  • FAO data ranks Saint Lucia sixth globally for pesticide use intensity

    FAO data ranks Saint Lucia sixth globally for pesticide use intensity

    A recent analysis published by *The Economist* has amplified a longstanding warning from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): multiple Caribbean small island nations face alarmingly high levels of pesticide application on agricultural land, bringing with it serious risks to human health and fragile regional ecosystems. Drawing on 2025 FAO data that tracks global pesticide usage trends across 33 years (1990 to 2023), the report ranks five Caribbean countries among the top 10 highest intensity pesticide users out of 176 surveyed nations and territories.

    Topping the Caribbean entries, Antigua and Barbuda claims second place globally, applying 36.6 kilograms of pesticides per hectare of cropland. The Turks and Caicos Islands follow in fifth at 28 kg per hectare, Saint Lucia in sixth at 27.6 kg per hectare, Trinidad and Tobago in eighth at 25 kg per hectare, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in tenth at 21.9 kg per hectare. These figures stand in stark contrast to major agricultural economies globally: China averages just 1.8 kg per hectare, while the United States records 2.8 kg per hectare, less than one-tenth the application rate seen in the most affected Caribbean nations.

    Public health researchers have linked heavy, long-term exposure to many common pesticides to elevated risks of aggressive cancers, including prostate cancer and multiple myeloma. These links align with regional cancer statistics: in 2024, the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s Global Cancer Observatory confirmed that prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men in the Caribbean. A decades-long peer-reviewed study of 11,182 banana plantation workers across Guadeloupe and Martinique, tracked between 1981 and 2019, further reinforced this connection. Workers with the highest cumulative pesticide exposure were 2.2 times more likely to develop prostate cancer than peers with minimal exposure, and faced almost four times the risk of blood cancers such as multiple myeloma.

    Beyond human health risks, intensive pesticide use inflicts lasting damage on Caribbean ecosystems. When persistent pesticides accumulate in agricultural soil, they kill earthworms and other beneficial micro-organisms that maintain soil fertility, gradually degrading land quality for future cultivation. Runoff from treated fields carries chemical residues into rivers and nearshore coastal waters, where they threaten vulnerable coral reefs – a critical foundation of the region’s biodiversity and tourism economy. Improper storage and disposal of obsolete pesticide stockpiles also create ongoing hazards for native wildlife and terrestrial ecosystems. Recognizing this risk, the FAO launched a regional Obsolete Pesticide Disposal project in 2019, supporting 11 Caribbean nations to safely eliminate accumulated toxic pesticide waste.

    Environmental and agricultural experts point to a combination of unique geographic and economic factors driving the region’s high pesticide reliance. Tropical Caribbean climates create ideal, year-round conditions for weeds, pests and fungal pathogens to spread rapidly, increasing pressure on farmers to control outbreaks. Much of the region’s agricultural land is located on steep, hilly terrain that makes low-rate, targeted pesticide application less effective. Chronic agricultural labor shortages have also pushed many farmers to depend on chemical weed control instead of manual or mechanical removal, while limited access to affordable, certified low-toxicity alternative pest management tools leaves few practical alternatives for small-scale producers. Compounding these challenges is widespread lack of specialized training for farmers on proper pesticide selection, dosing, and application techniques.

    Local Saint Lucian farmer Ibed’Negus Sealy, who told *St Lucia Times* he applies pesticides at least once per week as part of his regular integrated pest management routine, confirmed that access to appropriate alternatives is a core barrier to reduction. “I have to acknowledge the limitations of farmers within their respective nations; governments play a bigger role in deciding what products the country imports,” Sealy explained, noting that he and other regional producers hope to eventually gain access to pest control products tailored to Caribbean growing conditions that carry lower health and environmental risks.

    In response to the growing crisis, the FAO has rolled out targeted programming to cut Caribbean reliance on highly hazardous pesticides. In 2023, the organization launched the Implementing Sustainable Low and Non-Chemical Development in Small Island Developing States (ISLANDS) project, which works with nine Caribbean nations including Saint Lucia. The initiative sets an ambitious target: to cut regional consumption of highly hazardous pesticides by 220 metric tons over its first five years, while supporting farmers to transition to more sustainable, low-chemical agricultural practices.

  • Taylor stars as West Indies Women sweep Ireland 3-0

    Taylor stars as West Indies Women sweep Ireland 3-0

    On a crisp Wednesday at Bready Cricket Club, the West Indies Women’s national team delivered a dominant closing performance to seal a clean 3-0 ODI series sweep against Ireland, anchored by a Player of the Match-winning century from veteran all-rounder Stafanie Taylor. Taylor’s knock marked only the second time a West Indies women’s batter has recorded consecutive centuries in international one-day cricket, a feat that captain Hayley Matthews achieved just days earlier in the series’ opening two matches.

    The day began with West Indies batting first, and the side got off to a disastrous early start when Matthews, the series’ standout performer, was dismissed for just six runs in the third over. The top order continued to struggle through the opening 19 overs, and by the time Deandra Dottin was out for 21, West Indies had slumped to a precarious 82 for five wickets. It was Taylor who stepped in to steady the innings, playing a fluent, controlled knock while her batting partners struggled to build momentum at the other end.

    As the innings neared its close, Taylor found critical lower-order support to push the team’s total to a competitive mark. Jahzara Claxton contributed a steady 30 runs off 43 deliveries, while Aaliyah Alleyne smashed a quickfire 33 runs from just 30 balls, including six boundaries. Entering the final over of West Indies’ innings on 90, Taylor turned on the power: she hammered back-to-back boundaries off Irish bowler Georgina Dempsey, then scrambled two runs off the third delivery to reach her third ODI century. Tragically for Taylor, she was run out on the final ball of the innings, finishing with 105 runs off 113 balls, decorated with 10 fours.

    Ireland’s bowling attack put in a solid collective effort to restrict West Indies: Orla Prendergast finished with 2 wickets for 37 runs, Jane Maguire claimed 2 for 44, and Dempsey ended with 2 for 61. West Indies’ final total of 257 set Ireland a target of 258 for victory.

    The Irish side got off to a promising start in their chase, reaching 81 for one wicket after just 18 overs. But a collapse triggered by West Indies’ spin attack turned the game on its head. Spinners Karishma Ramharack and Afy Fletcher each took three wickets for just 33 runs apiece, while Matthews added two wickets for 37 runs. Ireland collapsed all the way to 193 all out in 44 overs, losing their final four wickets for only 35 runs, securing a 64-run win for West Indies. For the hosts, Gaby Lewis top-scored with 50 runs, Leah Paul contributed 32, and Amy Hunter added 30 in a losing cause.

    Matthews capped off a historic individual series, ending with a total of 265 runs with the bat and seven wickets with the ball, earning her the Player of the Series award to go alongside West Indies’ series sweep.