Environment TO BAGO new slett er
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Volume 2 Issue 4
Founded in 1995, ET is a proactive, advocacy group that campaigns against negative environmental activities throughout Tobago. We achieve this through a variety of community an environmental outreach programmes.
On the first day of Christmas E-Tech gave to me Cove Industrial Estate. This was an area of 143 acres of wood & scrub and wetland, a natural home for 56 varieties of birds one of them – a grey heron not spotted since 1895, very rare. On the second day of Christmas they cleared every tree. There were a number of very old & beautiful trees on this land. Most of them were marked to be preserved. However they were all cut down & burnt – which was an “accident” On the third day of Christmas an enormous drain was installed. This is to stop the land from flooding as there are no trees to absorb water. No filtration pond erected to facilitate water runoff; a “lake” has therefore formed alongside the drain. The installation of a large pump is facilitating this process. It is becoming a breeding ground for mosquitos. On the fourth day of Christmas drainage opened to the sea The aim is for the water from the drainage system to enter the sea, mixing with sea water & smothering the pristine Cove reefs. On the fifth day of Christmas WASA damaged for me the Flying Reefs. Although “unfortunate” this is necessary to run a pipe out to sea to dispose of waste waterfor the new sewage system. On the sixth day of Christmas the mangrove in Bon Accord was filled in This area included in the Buccoo Marine Park- Environmentally Sensitive Area- ESA. “NO NET LOSS OF WETLANDS” in development is our government policy. On the seventh day of Christmas a New Years resolution- Solve Studley Park Landfill. This toxic situation- leachate destroying reefs, the flies and odours affecting the residents. On the eighth day of Christmas my government plans for me a new jetty at Charlotteville. This will bring in huge cruise liners with hundreds of passengers who will then be taken in maxi taxis to other parts of the island. This will bring in little to no revenue for the village & will clog the roads so nobody else can get in or out. The social impact will be enormous. Not to mention the damage to the marine environment both during construction and post construction from gasoline and bilge water. On the ninth day of Christmas WASA wants to give to me two desalination plants. One at Charlotteville & one at Cove. We have enough wells & water for years to come. The damage to land & sea will be enormous. Reservoirs need to be cleaned and greater holding capacity added.
n vi r on m e n t TOBAGO (ET) is a nongovernment, non-profit, volunteer organisation , not subsidized by any one group, corporation or government body.
Environment TOBAGO is funded mainly through grants and membership fees. These funds go back into implementing our projects. We are grateful to all our sponsors over the years and thank them for their continued support
W
hat’s inside
The Twelve Days of Christmas
1
Pilot project: Belle Garden Waterland
2
My visit to Surinam
5
Watch out for those fire ants!
5
Tobago spider survey
6
Science, Technology and Media conference
6
Book Review
7
What’s Happening @ ET
9
Notes to contributors
10
December 2008
The Twelve Days of Christmas Environment TOBAGO
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December 2008 Editor: Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal Assistant Editor: Christopher Starr Design & Layout: Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal Technical Support: Nolan Craigwell, Jerome Ramsoondar Nigel Austin Enid Nobbee Contributors: Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal Christopher Starr Hema Singh Environment TOBAGO Photographs: Hema Singh Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal
Board of Directors 2007-2008 President:: Patricia Turpin Vice-President: Kamau Akili Secretary: Kay Seetal Treasurer: Shirley Mc Kenna Committee members: Wendy Austin William Trim Fitzherbert Phillips Geoffrey Lewis Bertrand Bhikkary Heather Pepe Ryan Allard David Antoine Andy Roberts
Environment TOBAGO newsletter
On the tenth day of Christmas a hunter brought for me a “gouti” and a “tattoo”. If hunting in and out of season continues at the current rate there will be no iguana, turtles, hammerhead sharks to hunt. Photos will be the only memories your children will have of our wildlife. On the eleventh day of Christmas, an industrious resident brought for Kilgwyn-3 derelict cars and a broken gate After 2 years of cleaning this wetland and removing 250 tons of solid waste- all by volunteers from every walk of life in Tobago. Fish and birds had returned. WHY? On the twelfth Day of Christmas –Revelry abounded, with deafening cacaphony we celebrate. We are all tone deaf in this country. The noise pollution laws ignored. No one to enforce the law. A total lack of concern or consideration for neighbours, babies and the elderly. We cannot celebrate anything without a music level that causes palpitations. Sleep is a thing of the past.
Coming to your reefs soon—Beware Environment TOBAGO The lion fish although beautiful is also dangerous. It originates from the Pacific & Indian Ocean’s but due to releases from aquariums in the USA it has now invaded the Caribbean’s warm waters. The Pacific Lionfish reproduces rapidly & can grow up to 18 inches in length. Each of the feathery spines is venomous. These fish are voracious predators & can eat any prey up to half their own body size including fish & crustaceans. They corner their prey using their large fins & with quick reflexes will swallow the fish. No matter the size of the fish, if they can get it in their mouth they will eat it. Lionfish have few if any predators in the Caribbean, though grouper have been documented to have eaten lionfish in the Bahamas. Lionfish are also cannibals. But why do we need to worry? Because studies are showing that Lionfish can impact native species, including commercially valuable fish, at rates faster than native fish can recover. The Lion fish has already reached the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Cayman, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic & Virgin Islands. They have also just arrived in Belize & researchers are collecting information & trying to prepare for the spread of this fish through Lion fish the greater Caribbean. This is what we should © 2008 Wikipedia.com be doing in Tobago as it will not be that long before they reach here. To view a map of the rapid expansion, visit hhtp:// fl.biology.usgs.gov/lionfish_progression/lionfish_progression.html This fish may not only wipe out our fish stocks but can also be harmful to humans. If one is stung, symptoms can include extreme pain, headaches, vomiting & breathing difficulties. Any wound should be treated straight away with hot water &
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emergency medical advice should be taken. We need to keep a very close watch for these fish and as soon as one is spotted it should be reported to a group called “REEF”. They will want the day, time, location and size of the fish and will help organize a collection and removal effort. The only upside to this is that these fish are edible. Only the spines are venomous and once they have been cut off—very carefully—the fish can then be cooked at very high temperatures and they are supposed to taste good. Restaurants in the Bahamas are currently serving Lionfish on their menus as a way to help reduce the populations. There are very few species of anything that we should hunt to extinction but this is one of them. To save your fish please KEEP A WATCH AND REPORT any sightings to REEF. You will find a form on http://www.reef.org/programs/exoitc/report. You can also pick up additional information on REEF’s website which is http://www.reef.org/ programs/exotic/lionfish.
e-Parliament - Legislators from around the world meet in Tobago Environment TOBAGO Meeting to discuss energy priorities in the era of climate change a groundbreaking global meeting took place in Tobago. Legislators from African and Pacific nations joined their Caribbean colleagues to discuss how to provide energy for the poor while also combating climate change. Legislators from Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Samoa joined colleagues from Trinidad, Jamaica, Guyana, Dominican Republic, the Bahamas and Barbados to hear presentations about renewable energy and extending the electricity grid to outlying districts. They were addressed by John Agard, professor of marine and environmental sciences at the University of the West Indies, who was a lead author for the Small Islands chapter of the recently released Fourth Assessment Report of the InterGovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He told the legislators how climate change and the resulting sea-level rise could have a profound and dangerous impact in Africa and on the small island states of the Caribbean and Pacific, where many islands are at risk of total submersion. “Our countries are not major polluters but no-one should underestimate the dangers that we face,” he said. “Climate change could result in major sea-level rise – much greater than the IPCC projections. There are already clear signs that we will face more extreme weather conditions, rising prices and difficulties in producing food.” The parliamentarians who participated in this high-level global hearing heard how large amounts of power can be generated using existing renewable technologies: solar, wind, tidal and hydro as well as biomass and geothermal. Nowhere in the world are these being exploited to their full potential. “Undoubtedly we do not make sufficient use of renewable sources of power in the Caribbean,” said Dr Indra Haraksingh, Physicist at University of the West Indies and President of Caribbean Solar Energy Society. “We live in a region which is famous for its sunshine and for its cooling breezes and yet we use fossil fuels to power our homes and our industry. This is beginning to look dangerously out of date especially in the context of the extreme vulnerability of
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MISSION STATEMENT
E
nvironment TOBAGO
conserves Tobago’s natural and living resources and advances the knowledge and understanding of such resources, their wise and sustainable use and their essential relationship to human health and the quality of life
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“ To many people t hes e t all pe aks mak e for a challe ngi ng but sce nic hike. B ut t hey are not j ust anot her t all mount ai n to clim b. ”
Environment TOBAGO newsletter
the small island developing states.” Dr Haraksingh has recently been looking into the potential for using geothermal power and last week visited a plant in Nevis which is being developed to provide electricity for the island. “Geothermal has great potential on Nevis,” she said, “It could generate as much as 900 megawatts. “The initial plan is to sell power to St Kitts but then to run high voltage direct current cables to export electricity to St Maarten and the US Virgin Islands.” The hearing in Tobago did not just focus on generating electricity. There was also dedicated time to working out how parliaments can provide incentives to promote the transition to renewables and how parliaments can learn from each other by sharing good practice on energy-efficiency as well as energy generation. One energy saving measure that will receive attention is the initiative by the Ghanaian parliament to distribute free fluorescent lightbulbs. The government spent $12 million on these lightbulbs, saving so much electricity that it avoided building a new power station – which would have cost $300 million. The Tobago hearing was the third in a series of nine international hearings which saw legislators from Africa, Caribbean and Pacific island countries engage in a comprehensive study of what they can do to address climate change. At a hearing in Kenya in June, legislators expressed particular interest in generating electricity from geothermal sources – having found out that the Rift Valley has the capacity to generate as much as 9 gigawatts of power. In West Africa in September, the MPs heard how the combination of solar and wind energy was sufficient to satisfy the needs of the whole region provided the West African nations were linked by a “supergrid” of high voltage direct current cables (HVDC). The hearings are being organised by the e-Parliament which endeavours to spread good policy ideas around the world – particularly to address climate change. “Solutions to the climate and energy crises are urgently needed, and there is no need and no time for different parliaments to reinvent the wheel,” said Jesper Grolin, executive director of the e-Parliament. Sharing best practice policy solutions is in itself a step forward. ”There is no shortage of technologies that solve the climate and energy crises, it is all a matter of political will. This is why international parliamentary hearings are essential for us to take decisive steps to control climate change.”
My trip to Suriname Hema Singh Environment TOBAGO
The mode of transport on the Suriname River
Klaaskreek is a village on the bank of the Suriname River. It is a one to one and a half hours drive from Paramaribo, Suriname’s capital city. If you do not mind the bumpy ride, it is a place of overwhelming natural beauty, enhanced even more by the warmth of its inhabitants. Klaaskreek is one of thirty villages founded after the transmigration of the sixties. The inhabitants originate from Ganzee, a village which is now at the bottom of the Bronkopondo Lake. The Bronkopondo Lake in Suriname is a water reservoir created to provide energy to a bauxite plant. The Stichting Toerisme Ontwikkeling Klaaskreek (STOK) or Foundation for Tourism Development Klaaskreek was founded in 2007. The aim of the foundation is to develop a tourist friendly beach and the surrounding area, to conserve and promote
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The locals’ welcome in song
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the Saramaccan culture. The foundation also aims to improve the socioeconomic condition of the inhabitants. Visitors to Bena Beach can expect to totally immerse themselves in the Saramaccan culture- participate in the making of cassava bread in an outdoor fireplace, sit undisturbed in a hammock in a hut on the river bank or taste the delicious soup made from plantains and drink the fragrant juice of ginger root. The Suriname river is irresistible in the humid atmosphere. For the more adventurous a tour down the river to see
neighboring villages can be arranged. STOK demonstrates a sustainable tourism initiative which is underpinned by an even deeper respect for their natural environment and culture. Tourism of this sort is exemplary and should be encouraged throughout the region to reduce the negative impacts associated with mass tourism. The concepts of limits, equity, and futurity should always be at the forefront of tourism development and not only economic prosperity.
A young girl takes part in the special ceremony which celebrates her womanhood.
An elderly woman making cassava bread Special ceremony to celebrate a young girl’s womanhood—procession
“ the presence of FP may be an indication, an "early warning system", that our seas are polluted and that environmental changes are affecting the ability of wild animals to resist infectious diseases”
Watch out for those Fire Ants! Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal Dept of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies Fire ants (Solenopsis sp.) give a painful sting which gives the sensation of being burned by fire, hence the common name. Fire ants are also called red ants. You can tell them apart from other species by their copper colour, while workers can be black or red and can be 2 to 6 mm in length. But all sizes can be found in a single nest. These ants prefer to nest usually in moist soil along river banks, pond edges and lawns. One does not usually notice their nests as they are usually under objects like rocks, logs or pavers. But in open areas they build mounds up to 40 cm high. Hence, you are most likely to encounter them in your garden or while hiking. You usually get stung when you inadvertently stand on their nest and they start to swarm all over you. When you move then they attack. When one bites they secrete a pheromone signalling to the others to do the same. The result is many painful and irritating bumps which form white pustules which can get infected and can heal to form scars. So how to avoid all this? First be very careful when hiking and gardening, do not only look that the trees and animals around but down on the trail as well. If you are stung, antihistamines or topical corticosteroids can help with the itching. However, if you have a serious allergic reaction you should consult a doctor.
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Environment TOBAGO newsletter
Scientists from Smithsonian and UWI collaborate for biodiversity survey of Tobago spiders
Research team (L-R): Dave Hardy, Dana Deroche, Jo-Anne Sewlal & Christopher Starr
In September a team of scientists from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and the University of the West Indies, led by Mr. Dave Hardy conducted a three-week biodiversity survey of the spider fauna of Tobago and Little Tobago. A wide variety of habitats were sampled both natural and those that are influenced or created by human activities. Other members of the team include Dana Deroche, Jo-Anne Sewlal, and Dr. Christopher Starr. Mr Hardy has worked relentlessly at documenting the flora and fauna of Tobago for the past 40 years. Although he has participated in the collection of a wide variety of organisms from the island, Hardy’s area of expertise includes, fishes, reptiles and amphibians and he and his research teams have found many new species during his numerous visits. DeRoche works as a museum technician at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. in the department of Entomology and has accompanied expeditions to Thailand and French Guiana. From the University of the West Indies, is Dr. Christopher Starr, a senior lecturer with over 30 years experience in entomology. Also from UWI is Jo-Anne Sewlal, a PhD student in arachnology and in addition to her research in Trinidad and Tobago, her current research has resulted in the sampling and documentation of the spider fauna of other islands in eastern Caribbean; St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Anguilla, Grenada and St. Vincent. Both UWI scientists comprise the editorial team for the Environment TOBAGO newsletter.
Conference - “Science, Media and Society: Towards more effective communication”
Mrs. Maureen Manchouck NIHERST, introducing a panel discussion at the conference.
The two-day regional conference - “Science, Media and Society: Towards more effective communication” – hosted by NIHERST–UTT, in collaboration with SciDev.net and the OAS in Latin America and the CCST was held on 24 and 25th November, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. It was attended by Jo-Anne Sewlal and Christopher K. Starr both of the editorial team of the ET newsletter, and from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. Other participants included journalists both local, which included those from newspapers, radio and television and foreign from such countries as Mexico and Brazil, as well as scientists, science communicators and educators, both local and regional. Keynote addresses were given by Brian Trench, a distinguished international science communications expert based at Dublin City University, and Dr. Luisa Massarani, the Latin American and the Caribbean coordinator of SciDev.Net, which is a website based in London. This NGO is dedicated to providing reliable information on science and technology in the developing world. A series of practical group exercises and lectures spanning the two days, allowed participants to explore practical ways of improving communication between disciplines in science and technology and the media. Panel discussions were also included where issues on science, media and society were debated. Studies on the inclusion of science in a variety of newspapers in both Latin America and Latin Caribbean were also analysed and it was proposed that a similar study be conducted in this country. It was hoped that future conferences on this topic would strengthen the ties and develop a better understanding between science, technology and the media.
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Page 7 Book Review: DEEP DOWN IN THE JUNGLE
Review of William Beebe's Guyana books: 1918. Jungle Peace. New York: Henry Holt 297 pp. 1921. Edge of the Jungle. Garden City, NY: Garden City 303 pp. 1925. Jungle Days. New York: G.P. Putnam 201 pp. [Thirteenth in a series on "naturalist-in" books.] Christopher K. Starr Dept of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies ckstarr99@hotmail.com
C. William Beebe (1877-1962), at one time the most famous American naturalist, is the subject of two full-length biographies (Gould 2004, Welker 1975). He is well known here as the founder of the Simla research station in the Arima Valley of Trinidad. For about 60 years Beebe worked at the New York Zoological Society (NYZS), which not only managed the Bronx Zoo but had a substantial research programme. He was a strong believer that tropical biology was best pursued through varied, long-term studies at permanent, well-equipped stations. In 1916 the NYZS established a Tropical Research Station on the Mazuruni River of Guyana, between where the Cuyuni empties into the Mazuruni and where the Mazuruni joins the mighty Essequibo. This was, then, very much in a land of rivers. By this I mean real rivers, the kind that can float boats, with big islands in them, not the tinkling little brooks that witty Trinibagonians call rivers. Furthermore, it was only about 65 km from the sea, so that tides were an important factor. The station was in time devalued by degradation of the surrounding area, but for a decade it was probably the single most productive site for tropical research. These three books are a selection of Beebe's writings from this period. Most chapters first appeared as popular articles in the Atlantic Monthly magazine. With few exceptions, they are reports from the field, not reminiscences from back in New York. Together with the books of Bancroft (1769), Rodway (1894) and Hingston (1932) and a multi-author collection of studies (Beebe et al. 1917), they are part of a rich literature on Guyana's natural history. A fourth book of similar title and thrust (Beebe 1949) is set at Rancho Grande in Venezuela, a successor to the Guyana station. Beebe went to the tropics at a time when they had a reputation as dangerous, pestilential places. He vigorously refuted this nonsense and counterposed his own view of the rain forest as not only filled with wonders but relatively benign. The title of the first book, Jungle Peace, reflects this view. At the same time he took a thoroughly unsentimental view of predation and parasitism as key parts of the natural order. And a chapter in Jungle Days on "The Life of Death", for example, treats the plants and animals found in the crown of a newly-fallen giant tree and the succession of organisms on it as it decays. Beebe is not always careful with his identifications. In Edge of the Jungle, for example, we find a flabbergasting passage, some pages long, about a wayside weed being mauled by leaf-mining caterpillars, which in turn are attacked by a parasitic wasp, with no attempt to identify any of them. This, I fear, is little better than travel literature. Still, he more than makes up for such lapses with his hard-core approach to nature -- when he wanted to know what it was like to be bitten by a vampire bat, he did what any real naturalist would do and slept with a foot exposed -- and original viewpoints. He does not take things for granted, as seen, for example, in his characterization of sleep as "one of the romances of existence, and not by any chance the simple necessity that it is reputed to be."
“Butterflies doing strange things in very beautiful ways were on my mind when I sat down, but by the time my pen was uncapped my thoughts had shifted to rocks. �
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Environment TOBAGO newsletter
Each chapter has a well-defined theme. An especially striking feature is the way Beebe opens many chapters with an image that puzzles and grabs. The puzzlement has to do with the subject of the chapter, which Beebe is prepared to reveal to us, but not just yet. Beebe sets a leisurely pace and often takes a while to come to the point. To me, this is part of the charm, like a column by Wayne Brown that gives no forwarding address until he is good and ready. "Butterflies doing strange things in very beautiful ways were on my mind when I sat down, but by the time my pen was uncapped my thoughts had shifted to rocks." [Okay. Now, is this going to be about butterflies, rocks or something else? "A most admirable servant of mine once risked his life to reach a magnificent Bornean orchid, and tried to poison me an hour later when he thought I was going to take the plant away from him. This does not necessarily mean that we should look with suspicion upon all gardeners and lovers of flowers." "There is a great gulf between pancakes and truffles: an eternal, fixed abysmal ca単on. It is like the chasm between beds and hammocks." [It is only three pages later that we learn that the chapter is about just that, hammocks, i.e. about the value of sleeping outdoors amid the nightly sounds and rhythms.] A powerful sense of strangeness pervades these books. Let me illustrate this with three quotations: "If an Indian had appeared down the trail, hopping endlessly and gripping the trunks, gazing upward with staring eyes, I should not have thought it more strange than the next thing that really happened." "Like a rainbow before breakfast, a sloth is a surprise, an unexpected fellow breather of the air of our planet. No one could prophesy a sloth." "Where a moment before was an unbroken translucent surface, were now thirteen strange beings who had appeared from the depths, and were mumbling oxygen with trembling lips." Ernest Hemingway must surely have learned some of his pacing and punch from William Beebe. References Bancroft, E. 1769. An Essay on the Natural History of Guiana. London: T. Beckert & P.A. de Hondt 402 pp. Beebe, W. 1949. High Jungle. New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce 379 pp. Beebe, W., G.I. Hartley & P.G. Howes 1917. Tropical Wild Life in British Guiana. New York: New York Zoological Soc. 504 pp. Gould, C.G. 2004. The Remarkable Life of William Beebe. Washington: Shearwater 358 pp. Hingston, R.W.G. 1932. A Naturalist in the Guiana Forest. London: Edward Arnold 384 pp. Rodway, J. 1894. In the Guiana Forest. London: T. Fisher Unwin 242 pp. Welker, R.H. 1975. Natural Man: The Life of William Beebe. Bloomington: Indiana Univ.
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WHAT’S HAPPENING @ ET Thanks from ET Scrip J Jaric Environment Safety & Health Services Ltd. Funding received from Methanex and UNDP/GEF
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Environment TOBAGO Environmental and Services Map of Tobago They are excellent and will be published every two years. Published in January 2008. Requests for these maps can be made to ET office. .
New Members
With a membership of 388 worldwide, ET welcomes the following members: Deborah Lamkin- Tobago McKerby Reid- Tobago Melisa Moore- Tobago Bryan Bain- Tobago Hazel Bernard- Tobago Rudy Melville- Tobago Misa Nurse Francis- Tobago Andra Bovell- Tobago Buchschacher Ueli- Switzerland Angela Fries- Mahabir- Switzerland Yvette Riesen- Switzerland
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Environment TOBAGO newsletter
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