E n viron men t TO BA GO n ewsl etter
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nvironment TOBAGO (ET) is a nongovernment, non-profit, volunteer organisation , not subsidized by any one group, corporation or government body. 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 and environmental outreach programmes. 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
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ET News
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Book Review
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Community Announcements
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Upcoming conferences and workshops
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What’s Happening @ ET
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Notes to contributors
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Environment TOBAGO
June 2014
Marine Turtles- Environmentally Sensitive Species Environment TOBAGO
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) provides a framework for Parties to combat the crisis of the increasing rate of extinction of the world’s biodiversity. Trinidad and Tobago became signatory to this MEA on June 11th 1992, and ratified (formally sanctioned it) on August 1st 1996. The Convention has 3 main objectives:
resources Obligations of the CBD including what has to be done, or already has been done, include developing a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) on biodiversity conservation and integrate this into broader national plans for the environment and economic development. This plan was submitted by Trinidad and Tobago in May 2001. The objectives of this plan include: •Identify and monitor the important components of biological diversity that need to be conserved and used in a sustainable manner. •Establish protected areas to conserve biological diversity while promoting environmentally-sound development around these areas •Rehabilitate and restore degraded ecosystems and promote the recovery of threatened species in collaboration with local residents •Respect, preserve and maintain traditional knowledge of the sustainable use of biodiversity with the involvement of indigenous peoples and local communities •Prevent the introduction of, control, and eradicate alien species that could threaten ecosystems, habitats or species •Promote public participation, particularly when it comes to assessing the environmental impacts of development projects that threaten biodiversity •Educate people and raise public awareness on the importance of biological diversity and the need for its preservation •Report on how the country is meeting its biodiversity goals •Minimise the risks posed by organisms modified by biotechnology The governing body of the Convention is the Conference of the Parties (COP) and advances implementation of the Convention through the decisions it takes at its periodic meetings. National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) are the
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Environment TOBAGO newsletter
June 2014
principal instruments for implementing the Convention at the national level, Article 6; (Total of 41 Articles and 3 Annexes of the Convention). The Convention requires countries to prepare a national biodiversity strategy (or equivalent instrument) and to ensure that this strategy is mainstreamed into the planning and activities of all those sectors whose activities can have an impact (positive and negative) on biodiversity.
Editor: Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal Assistant Editor: Christopher K. Starr Design & Layout: Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal Technical Support: Jerome Ramsoondar Enid Nobbee Contributors: Bertrand Bhikarry Anastasia Gordon Joan Latchman Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal Christopher K. Starr Photographs: Environment TOBAGO
COP 10 Decisions In decision X/2, at the tenth meeting of the COP, held in October 2010, in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, adopted a revised and updated Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, including the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, for the 2011-2020 period. This new plan has become the overarching framework on biodiversity, not only for the biodiversity-related conventions, but for the entire United Nations system. The tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties agreed to translate this overarching international framework into national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) within two years. Decision X/10, states that the fifth national reports of Parties, are due by 31 March 2014. These reports should focus on the implementation of the 2011-2020 Strategic Plan and progress achieved towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. The Strategic Plan (adopted in COP-10), is comprised of a shared vision, mission, strategic goals and 20 targets, i.e. the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. The Strategic Plan serves as a flexible framework for the establishment of national and regional targets and promotes the coherent and effective implementation of the 3 objectives of the CBD. The vision for the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, for the 2011-2020 period - “By 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used… for all people.” While their mission statement is “Take … action to halt the loss of biodiversity in order to ensure that by 2020 ecosystems are resilient and continue to provide essential services, … “
Board of Directors 2012-2014 President:: Patricia Turpin Vice-President: Bertrand Bhikkary Secretary: Wendy Austin Treasurer: Shirley McKenna Other Directors: William Trim Kai Trim Rupert McKenna Fitzherbert Phillips Renee Gift Geoffrey Lewis Darren Daly Allan Sandy
To ensure this: - pressures on biodiversity are reduced, - ecosystems are restored, - biological resources are sustainably used, - adequate financial resources are provided - capacities are enhanced, - biodiversity is mainstreamed, - appropriate policies are implemented, - decision-making is based on science and the precautionary approach.
Strategic Goal A •Target 1: People are aware of the values of biodiversity and the steps to conserve and use it sustainably. •Target 2: Biodiversity values have been integrated into national planning, development and poverty reduction strategies with appropriate reporting systems. •Target 3: Incentives, plus subsidies, harmful to biodiversity are eliminated, or reformed; whilst positive incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are developed and applied. •Target 4: Stakeholders have achieved or implemented plans for sustainable production and consumption, plus have minimised the impacts of use of natural resources.
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Strategic Goal B •Rate of loss of all natural habitats is halved, and degradation and fragmentation is significantly reduced. •All fish and invertebrate stocks and aquatic plants are managed and harvested sustainably and the impacts of fisheries on stocks, species and ecosystems are within safe ecological limits. •Areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry are managed sustainably. •Pollution, including from excess nutrients, has been brought to levels that are not detrimental to ecosystem function and biodiversity. •Invasive alien species are controlled or eradicated, and measures are in place to prevent their introduction and establishment. •Man-made pressures on coral reefs, and other vulnerable ecosystems impacted by climate change or ocean acidification are minimised. Strategic Goal C •≥17% of terrestrial and inland waters, and ≥10% of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services are conserved through systems of PAs etc. •Halt and improve the conservation status of known threatened species. •The genetic diversity of cultivated plants and animals is maintained, and strategies are developed and implemented for safeguarding their genetic diversity. Strategic Goal D •Ecosystems that provide essential services are restored and safeguarded, taking into account the needs of certain sectors of societies. •Restoration of at ≥ 15% of degraded ecosystems, contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation and to combating desertification. •The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation is in force and operational by 2015. Strategic Goal E •Adoption and implementation of an updated NBSAP. •Traditional knowledge relevant to biodiversity is respected, with full and effective participation of local communities at all levels. •The science and technologies relating to biodiversity, its values, functioning, status and trends, and the consequences of its loss, are improved and applied. •Mobilisation of financial resources for effectively implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 from all sources.
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BIODIVERSITY INDICATORS – A brief introduction to the development and use of biodiversity indicators Anastasia Gordon (Environmental Policy Analyst) Environmental Policy and Planning Division Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources Indicators points out the state or level of something. They also act as a measure based on verifiable data that conveys information more than itself. An example is a person’s body temperature as an indicator of his or her health. However, biodiversity indicators are direct statistical measures of biodiversity (e.g. species populations); and are actions that ensure biodiversity conservation and sustainable use (e.g. creation of protected areas) (CBD). Biodiversity Indicators are statistical measures of biodiversity which help scientists, managers and politicians understand the condition of biodiversity and the factors that affect it (IUCN). An example of this is to look at the numbers of threatened species in Trinidad and Tobago.
Barchart showing numbers of threatened species in Trinidad and Tobago by Categories. Source: IUCN , 2010
The same data can be interpreted as an indicator for many things. For instance a net change in forest area is an indicator of changes in availability of forest resources soil cover and erosion, carbon sequestration, conservation status of forest dependent species. This data can also indicate progress in forest conservation as well as the intensity of threats to forest ecosystems and results of investments of plantations. Biodiversity indicators are developed by government agencies, NGOs, consultancies, universities, research institutions or a combination of these. These indicators are used by national and regional government agencies, the media, NGOs, CBOs, universities, research institutions and commercial consultancies. However, this data is used to achieve a target, which is a specified value or level of performance of something that is to be achieved or maintained. It is set on the basis of a desired value of an existing indicator –Targets are S.M.A.R.T. An example is an increase in terrestrial protected area coverage from 5% to 15% of the country by 2020. To achieve this target four indicators have been suggested. The first is a 15% terrestrial Protected Area Coverage. The second is an increase in protected area coverage. The third is Protected Area coverage and finally the percentage of Protected Area Coverage. Biodiversity indicators are used to understand current and past status of biodiversity and why it may be changing. They can also be used to decide on the most appropriate goals, policies and actions to address an issue. These indicators are vital in as-
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sessing the progress, success and effectiveness of policy decisions and actions taken. This in turn is used to address an issue as part of adaptive management. Therefore it is possible to track progress towards global, regional and national targets (e.g. Aichi Biodiversity Targets). Therefore biodiversity indicators can raise awareness about an issue through different communication channels and means. In order to be successful, indicators are based on scientifically proven methods and available data. The factor chosen to be an indicator also needs to be responsive to change. It also has to be relevant to user’s needs and utilised for various intended purposes. Finally they need to be easily understood and have a ‘champion’ that promotes their use. Some key points to note when selecting/ using indicators are that they are purpose- dependent and can be used to identify the decisionmaking need. The same data can be used in an indicator for multiple purposes. Therefore, indicators always need to be put in context, which has to be kept in mind so that the correct message is conveyed when presenting the data. Indicators should also lead on to other things. But indicators can be presented in various ways so that they need to be analysed and interpreted so that it is clear what they are indicating. Therefore the data needs to be understood to ensure its relevance to its purpose The biodiversity indicator development framework was developed by the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (BIP). It is a guide to understand what is involved in producing biodiversity indicators and is divided into 3 themes: purpose, production and permanence. Therefore some points to bear in mind with biodiversity indicators is that they are direct statistical measures of biodiversity and actions that ensure biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. They also help us understand the condiFlowchart of development of tion of biodiversity and the factors that affect it. Finally they should be used to decide on appropriate goals, policies and actions to address issues related to biodiversity. Useful links http://www.bipindicators.net/resources/nationalindicatordevelopment http://www.bipindicators.net/globalindicators
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NEW POSTERS
“ To many p eopl e t hes e tall pea ks make fo r a c hallen ging b ut s cenic hike. B u t t hey a re not jus t a no the r t all m oun tain to climb . ”
Environment TOBAGO newsletter
What ET has been up to
A Small Island Developing States (SIDS) consultation entitled “The Tobago we want” was held and facilitated by the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) and the Ministry of Planning. A discussion was held on the issues affecting Tobago in relation to small island developing states for inclusion in the governments’ policy at the COP to be held in Samoa in September 2014. Ten issues relating to health, waste disposal, environment and sustainable development were agreed on and submitted. ET was present for the inclusion of environmental issues.
Pro Eco Serve UNEP/GEF Consultation for Ecosystem services Human well- being is closely linked to ecosystem services-for this reason, the payment for ecosystem services scheme is being developed where ecosystem services beneficiaries pay the landholders that maintain these systems. A Pro Eco Serve consultation for Ecosystem services facilitated by Prof John Agard (on behalf of the UNEP/ GEP) was held on the 2nd May 2014. It showed the need to combine the need for effective management and an effective and innovative tool for developing livelihoods while conserving the environment- An economic accounting tool which will be combined with national budgets for sustainable development mainstreaming.
Global water partnership meeting All bodies worldwide, dealing with water issues and partnering with the GWP came together under the banner “A Water secure world” was held on 27th to 29th of June 2014. It was the first time that this meeting was held outside of Stockholm Sweden. Discussions took place about the thematic issues surrounding water security. Prof. John Agard delivered the feature lecture on “Climate Change and water in a water secure world”. It was very well received. An International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) discussion was also held.
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Easter Eco Camp 2014 Barry Lovelace Education Coordinator, Environment TOBAGO Since 2007 Environment TOBAGO has been successfully hosting annual Eco Camps for children between the ages of eight to twelve years old in Tobago. Typically, the camps occur over one to two weeks during the Summer and Easter vacation periods respectively. At Environment TOBAGO we believe, that if at an early age, our citizens develop a deep bond with the Nature, learn how life works on Earth, work together on creative solutions to environmental problems, and become practitioners of sustainable living (with understanding of its principles and some practice in its processes), succeeding generations will attain the societal transformation that is imperative for sustainable development. Imparting that love and appreciation of the value of Tobago’s natural heritage to young citizens is what ET’s Eco-Adventure Camps are about - “greening our future”! As such, we attempt to make our delivery as hands-on and experiential as possible. Thanks to the generous support from the JB Fernandez Memorial Trust II, Environment Tobago was able to host a very successful 2014 Eco Adventure Camp during the Easter period, April 7th to 11th. Twenty-six participants and five counsellors were involved in this Easter cycle. The objectives of Easter Eco Camp 2014 were of such, that at the end of it, these participants should: 1. Have a greater appreciation of Tobago’s natural history and be stimulated to continue learning about their environment and its conservation. 2. Have an enhanced awareness and understanding of ecological processes and how human interactions impact on the natural environment. 3. Adopt positive environmental practices, as well as, a commitment to conservation and the sustainable use of Tobago’s natural resources. The Easter Eco Camp was promoted on the local radio station, Tambrin. In addition, information was sent to all primary school principals on the island. Web pages developed specifically for managing information pertaining to ET Eco-Camps, hosted on ET’s domain (www.learn.environmenttobago.net) were updated. Interested persons could have viewed information about the camp, such as, the schedule of activities, and if interested, register online. The Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (DNRE) and Community Development, THA (ComDev), proved to be very valuable partners in the execution of the Easter camp. DNRE provided vehicular transport for the field trip days and organized facilitators for the visits to the Studley Park Landfill, the visit to the Hillsborough Dam and the exercise at the Botanical Gardens. Community Development also contributed five full-time counsellors. Daily Activities Following are brief descriptions of ET’s Eco-Adventure Easter Camp Daily Activities during the period April 7th – 11th 2014. ● Day 1: Monday 7th. Orientation, games and artwork. Participants were briefed on rules and expectations. An “introduce yourself” game helped to break the ice and students were interacting from the get go. An activity/presentation on the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) was given and later in the day, participants played outdoor environmental games and created posters in preparation for the Advocacy activity on
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Wednesday. ● Day 2: Tuesday 8th. Trip to Bon Accord Mangrove Wetlands and Buccoo Reef. This was the favourite camp activity for most of the participants – a first for many. It involved a very educational trek through the Bon Accord Mangrove wetland - the largest mangrove area on the island - and then, a trip to the lagoon and coral reef on a glass bottom vessel. ● Day 3: Wednesday 17th: Advocacy thorough the streets of Scarborough. Following on from Monday’s 3Rs lesson and poster creation activity, participants took to the streets of Uptown and Downtown Scarborough with poster in hand and projecting the messages, “Keep Tobago Clean, Green, Safe and Serene.” This culminated with a guided tour of the Botanical Gardens, facilitated by DNRE. At the end of the day, participants were allowed to play games in the gardens until picked up by parents. ● Day 4: Thursday 18th: Trip to Studley Park Landfill, Hillsborough Dam, Fort Grandby and Gilpin Trace. Students had the rare opportunity to pass by the overburdened landfill site with they heard so much about in days prior. Not so far from the landfill is the largest reservoir in Tobago, the Hillsborough Dam, which students had the opportunity to tour. Furthermore, a qualified operator from the Water and Sewerage Authority lectured them on the process of water purification – from the water cycle to the taps. The group then went to the serene Fort Grandby for lunch before continuing East to the oldest protected Rainforest in the world. Here, the group met with an experienced forest guide, who took then on an educational trek along the Gilpin trace. Yes, it was a full day… well spent! ● Day 5: Friday 19th: Tobago Heritage experience at Fort George. To culminate, participants were encouraged to express their impressions of the week’s experience in artistic drawings. After spending a morning of expressive drawings, they were very happy to the day, and culminate the week, with a visit to the Fort George. At the fort they were able enjoy a guided tour of the museum, and asked questions about the history of Tobago. The evening ended with games in the scenic ambiance of the fort. We would like to again thank the JB Fernandez Memorial Trust (JBF), as well as Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, THA (DNRE), Community Development, THA (ComDev) and Johnson’s Sea Tours (JST) for their support in this programme.
Top row: (left) Walk through Bon Accord Mangrove wetland (right) Tour through the Botanical Gardens Bottom row: (left) Glass Bottom boat tour (right) group photo
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ARTICLES Natural Accounting Bertrand Bhikarry Environment TOBAGO
“Who co u ld have predicted that a litre of water and petrol would cost the same? “
Back in the day who’d have thought a dry coconut could have market value? Who could have predicted that a litre of water and petrol would cost the same? One day soon, somebody will put a price on the air that we breathe. Sustainable development requires attention in equal parts to economic growth, social equality and protection of the natural environment, but according to economist Carl Obst of the Sustainable Society Institute of the University of Melbourne, it will be difficult to find countries - even developed ones - which respect all three pillars. Indeed, many nations consider economic growth as the ‘litmus’ of their development, adopting the term ‘sustainable’ only in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its buoyancy over time. Suffice it to say, Mr Obst and his colleagues believe the time has come for social equity and environmental protection to claim its share of our attention, with more focus on the latter because when nature disappears, it will make its absence felt. Mr. Obst’s visit to Tobago had to do with creating awareness and acquiring initial feedback from island businessmen and institutional partners. He - well the UN has in mind a system which will (hopefully) help combat the negative effects of climate change by establishing a value system for nature’s services. So, if we were to use agriculture as an example, fresh water taken from the nearby riverside will factor as a resource which carries cost, generates profit and possibly incurs tax. Over the course of his day here, Obst showed the results of the United Nations Statistical Division’s (UNSD) work to develop a System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SE-EA). From what he said, it is likely that Trinidad and Tobago will adopt SE-EA into its domestic accounting structure, as the country has already committed to achieving the goals set out at the Convention on Biological Diversity and ratified in Cartagena in 1992, consolidated more recently in Nagoya, Japan in 2010 and even now, these goals are taking the global conscience by storm with the catchphrase ‘Aichi Targets’. Given the scope of what the SE-EA intends, it is ambitious in the extreme to try to simplify the details of the UN’s work in this commentary, but suffice it to say, by allowing for the successful integration of environmental accounting within the national system overseen by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Trinidad and Tobago (ICATT), local tourism for one, may come out a winner. Further downstream, Trinidad and Tobago may be able also to reflect better economic diversity in its GDP, stuck in a rut as it is in the petro-chemical sector. All of this may be stuff of dreams for environmentalists, but how is this important or even relevant for the cash-strapped Tobago tourism entrepreneur? The answer has to do with clean air and water, nice beaches, vibrant reefs and forests acquiring monetary value when entered into commercial balance sheets. Here’s the UN rationale adapted to a familiar scenario. At present, with all things being equal, rooms on the Tobago waterfront command a better rate than those further inland. Subsequently SE-EA assists by quantifying the risk of business survival (by providing numbers) for bankers or investors who are approached to finance holiday properties sitting by the sea.
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Accounting for its environmental services also facilitates a realistic tax levy for the state. To apply Obst’s (and the UN’s) logic, shore-side hotels benefitting from such services would be better informed/prepared to make reparations to the general public and to nearby nature by way of figures that they themselves submit to the Revenue Board. Similarly less attractive (to tourists) land-locked properties with rustic or ‘in-country’ ambience will also be able to show bankers collateral as they can present trees (which improve air quality and generate well-being) as book assets. Looking at it from the perspective of both entrepreneur and environment, the deployment of such a system will ensure all is fair, just and equitable. Indeed, in the Tobago case it fundamentally ensures hotel owners – all corporate entities really - run their operations along the (sustainable) lines recommended by the Brundtland Report (1987). However, there are problems as Mr Obst readily admits. If and when hoteliers (and others) in this scenario do try to quantify inputs facilitated by nature-assisted activities, there is no global standard or internationally recognized schedule for evaluating the share or percentage of trees, air or ambience for that matter, which can be referenced. What’s the tax value of a beach fringed with coconut trees, azure water lapping pink sand and a pristine coast begging to be explored by snorkelers? For now, no one knows, but that doesn’t mean United Nations Environment Programme and those other parties involved in balancing the three pillars of sustainable development won’t come up with one soon. As far off as SE-EA seems, its time is nearer than we think. According to Obst and many others, there is growing awareness worldwide of how critical it is to help nature regain the ability to produce clean air, drinkable water and the other goodies that keep life on Earth intact. On the sustainable development front, when Trinidad and Tobago decides to get serious and incorporate environmental economic accounting within the tourism sector, ascribing cash value to nature’s contributions in tourism-centric or agri-type projects will certainly encourage growth. Bankers will have numeric assurances that the potential borrower is wielding a resource that can stand the test of time; the idea is therefore sustainable. Indeed, the standard inputs taken up by accountants (like cash, labour and building material) match up quite lightly against ‘free’ tourism (and agri-business) assets like clean air and water, light, peace and natural harmony. But in closing, Trinidadians and Tobagonians need to seriously mull over what it would cost in tomorrow dollars to re-instate our natural environment should we let it go away. Internationally, those others who belatedly came to recognize nature’s value found that the cost to rebuild, re-establish biodiversity and natural habitat is greater and exceedingly prohibitive the later it is attempted. Friends, nothing is cheaper
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“What’s the tax value of a beach fringed with coconut trees, azure water lapping pink sand and a pristine coast begging to be explored by snorkelers? “
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Environment TOBAGO newsletter
Earthquakes and Tobago Joan L. Latchman – Seismologist, Seismic Research Centre, University of the West Indies St. Augustine, Trinidad
“we have moved away from the supernatural to processes that are firmly rooted in how the natural World works.” “ To many p eopl e t hes e tall pea ks make fo r a c hallen ging b ut s cenic hike. B u t t hey a re not jus t a no the r t all m oun tain to climb . ”
Although Tobago is part of the Eastern Caribbean and earthquakes are often felt in the region, Tobago appears to be less affected and this might lead some to think that there is no need for those living, and planning for development, there to be concerned over the earthquake hazard. Nothing could be further from the truth. Accounts of damaging, even devastating, earthquakes have been found throughout recorded history. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, described in Genesis 19:24, is considered, by some seismologists, to be the earliest account of a devastating earthquake and accompanying fire. Down through the ages, in cultural folklore, there were attempts to explain the phenomenon, with many looking to the supernatural. In Norse mythology, for example, their god Loki, who was bound in a cave, with a poisonous serpent placed above his head dripping venom as punishment for the murder of another god, Baldr, was thought to create earthquakes as he tried to move his head away from the dripping poison, when his wife, who would collect the poison in a bowl, moved away to empty the bowl. In Greek mythology, earthquakes were inflicted on those, who had angered Poseidon, the Olympian god of sea, floods and earthquakes. This notion persists even among Christians, who continue to suggest that high level earthquake destruction shows God’s displeasure. In recent times, we have moved away from the supernatural to processes that are firmly rooted in how the natural World works. Following the discovery of a continuous, submarine, mid-ocean, volcanic ridge system in the 1960’s, the plate tectonic theory was proposed to explain the plot of earthquake locations across the globe. The theory suggests that the Earth’s surface, crust, is made up of a small number of rigid slabs, called plates, all moving, relative to each other, over a semi-molten layer, called the mantle. While there is a tendency to move, the movements are neither smooth nor continuous; the plates become stuck, due to frictional forces, and are released in a jerk, when the energy accumulated, in the stuck portion, becomes more than the rocks can hold. The energy is released as waves moving through the various layers making up the Earth and is felt as an earthquake. Therefore, earthquakes, in general, occur along plate boundaries. Some earthquakes do occur within plates, where there are zones of weakness that accumulate, rather than transmit, strain energy.
Fig.1: Annual global earthquake output. Note the well defined zones of activi-
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Plate boundaries are comprised of a system of faults of varying sizes, which give rise to earthquakes of different magnitudes. Research suggests that the fault size distribution is hierarchical and is scale independent. This means that if we could order the faults by their sizes, and fit them in a geometric shape, we would get a triangle, with a large number of the small faults making up the base of the triangle; the number becomes fewer and fewer as the faults become bigger. It has been found that there is a logarithmic scaling relationship between the number and magnitudes of earthquakes, in all earthquake zones, from small islands, to regions, to the global seismogenic system. There are many small faults that produce low magnitude earthquakes that occur every day or so. As the fault size increases, the magnitudes also increase, but their number decreases and the time between their occurrence is longer than for earthquakes on smaller faults. The largest fault in a given zone would release its pent up energy in time frames of hundreds, in some cases, thousands of years. It is for this reason that, in promoting sustainable development, it is important to understand the seismic history of our territories to ensure that the necessary measures for mitigating disasters are included in our plans. The UWI, Seismic Research Centre began its operations in the English-speaking Eastern Caribbean in 1953, with a view to understanding the regional volcanic activity initially, which was quickly expanded to include earthquakes in general. While it became immediately clear, based on the locations of earthquakes being recorded, that the area west of Trinidad generated significant numbers of earthquakes, almost on a daily basis, seismicity in the Tobago area was at a relatively low level and the magnitudes generally small. This led to Tobago being considered to be in an area of low seismic hazard. The perception was further strengthened when a project to compile all newspaper reports from the 16th Century up to those early monitoring days, found only three reports of regional earthquakes being felt in Tobago. In 1982, that perception changed. Early in the year, two earthquakes occurred, near Tobago, that were widely felt throughout the island. Then in August of that same year, a series of earthquakes, located generally in the area south-west of Tobago, began. The activity was sufficiently unusual for one of the SRU scientists, in collaboration with other colleagues, to test a novel earthquake forecasting technique, with which he was working. The series continued into September and on 17th September, the analysis led to the projection that an earthquake of magnitude 5+ could be expected. The activity culminated, on 20th September, with a magnitude 5.2 event, which caused some damage and effectively shattered the low seismic hazard perception for Tobago. The high level activity subsided to background after a few months. A study of that sequence of events being conducted in 1996 concluded that the fault system revealed by those earthquakes, the South-West Tobago Fault System, has the potential to generate earthquakes of magnitude 6+ and possibly 7+. On the 22nd April 1997 at 05:31a.m., one of those conclusions was forcefully endorsed when an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 occurred about 10 km south of Tobago. It was the strongest near Tobago earthquake in modern times and caused damage in excess of TT$18M. Two people were injured, requiring hospitalisation, and six houses collapsed, in south-west Tobago. There was a dramatic coseismic, i.e. associated with the earthquake, increase in groundwater discharge, in some instances sufficient to threaten building foundations. This earthquake followed one of magnitude 5.6, which had occurred, just three weeks earlier, on 1997/04/02. It was located off the west coast of Tobago and had also caused damage. The unusual activity level during the weeks following the first event prompted the application of the same analysis technique used on the 1982 events. The results suggested that an earthquake bigger than
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“Earthquake activity in the Tobago area may be influenced by movements on the Vema Fracture zone.�
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the magnitude 5.6 event was likely. By 1997, however, the seismological community had had few successes in earthquake forecasting and was not as accepting of such forecasts as it was in 1982, therefore, only an in-house alert was raised on 1997/04/15. The occurrence of the magnitude 6.1 earthquake on 1997/04/20 provided encouragement that there was important value in the technique, which has been expanded and refined and is being routinely used to assess regional and even global seismic activity. On average, there are about 20 earthquakes of magnitude 3.1 and larger in the near vicinity of Tobago every year (Fig. 2). This low level is interspersed by earthquake sequences, during which hundreds of events may occur. Four such sequences were recorded during the instrumental era: in 1958, 1982 and two in 1997.
“ To many p eopl e t hes e tall pea ks make fo r a c hallen ging b ut s cenic hike. B u t t hey a re not jus t a no the r t all m oun tain to climb . �
Figure 2. Annual earthquake activity in the near vicinity of Tobago since 1990 (from Latchman 2009) Research suggests that earthquake activity in the Tobago area may be influenced by movements on the Vema Fracture zone, which is within the mid-Atlantic ridge system some 2,000 km to the east of Tobago. This research is ongoing. While an understanding of the processes governing earthquake activity in the Tobago area is still developing, evidence, to date, suggests that the seismic hazard in the Tobago area is significant and should be factored into all development plans for the island.
Environment TOBAGO newsletter
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Saving our local reefs. Simply a matter of all Tobago NGO’s working together. Bertrand Bhikarry Environment TOBAGO I would like to start off by stating two facts; the first is that climate change is a global problem. The second fact is that it is also a threat which Tobagonians do not take seriously. This false-happy state of the local mind is no doubt attributable to nature’s ability to disguise her intentions and cover her threats. Remember how calm it gets before a storm? But what really is climate change and why do reefs matter in that equation? An appreciation of the situation helps. Life as we know it thrives in a narrow band of time and occupies a space after which the Earth itself will be no more. If we accept, and can realize that we are the delicate species among all those others: The ones most dependent on the widest of ranges of organisms to survive, we will grasp that would be a few more degrees of heat and we are dead. Indeed, the simplest approach for us to ensure lengthy tenure is to assume the role of caretaker for the planet. This should be taken to mean ensuring all forms of living things survive. At the country level, especially in small places like Tobago, there is a sense that others elsewhere will do the job for us, especially when it’s about managing things that warm the planet (emissions) or otherwise place Earth in jeopardy (deforestation). All that is not good enough though. Rather, ordinary people taking the small, simple steps to help Tobago’s reefs handle the rigours of the changing climate may be the bigger deed/contribution at the end of the day. If this is the case, everyday people do not really need to understand correct science. What’s preferable is for Mr and Mrs Ordinary to realize that there is a threat – a clear and present danger. Everyone must appreciate that surviving in a changing climate is all about taking up (and winning) the fight to save living space, ensure there is a proper food supply, and employing practical measures to hold on to the ‘quality of life’ benefits we’ve become accustomed to and wish to pass on to our children. As the current Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon once noted, this is ‘the defining issue of our era’. Anyone agreeing with him or with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for that matter, merely has to commit to work alongside with nature until better can be done. The easiest point of entry for Tobago to become a caring and climate friendly community is arguably via its reef systems and through its non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Think of the eco NGOs here as ordinary groups of concerned citizens. If Group H, (who harbour hillside concerns for soil conservation wrought by bad agricultural or building development practice) works with Group W (who worry about water quality emanating from built-up areas) both team up with Group R to draw attention to the poor conditions on the near-shore reefs, the chances of them all winning workable solutions improve dramatically. There are other potential partners in the Tobago/climate change war, again people with strong motivations for pristine reefs. The Tobago business sector through its tourism industry is one. This group has quite a lot to lose in the short term. If the reef dies, the tourism goes along with it. Indeed, if a portion of the sizable sums they spend on polishing marketing strategies could be used in ‘reef’ sensitization work, then far less money overall would be needed to be spent on bespoke advertising campaigns, given the quick flow of positive information that social media allows.
“Climate change is a threat which Tobagonians do not take seriously.”
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“The good news is the local NGOs can save Tobago’s day. ”
“ To many p eopl e t hes e tall pea ks make fo r a c hallen ging b ut s cenic hike. B u t t hey a re not jus t a no the r t all m oun tain to climb . ”
Environment TOBAGO newsletter
But, if there’s a sticking point in this plan it’s the problem all the Tobago NGOs face in acquiring capacity (primarily education for their volunteers, staff and leaders). Given that their work is limited to the realms of creating awareness to their cause, it stands to reason that they need training. However, by virtue of the island remoteness, the constraints created for costs of travel or housing or even printed material, the fact that they survive at all is a testimony to this sector’s resiliency. However, where there are problems it stands to reason there must be fixes. The good news is the local NGOs can save Tobago’s day. They just need to ensure there is a sustained and comprehensive educational programme for their focus areas. But how to pay for that? Partnership power of course. They need to demonstrate by example, methods to address three major problems faced by places with small island development status (SIDS) (i.e. issues about sustainable development, negatives associated with climate change, and concern about food security.) This they can do by simply asking their membership to walk the talk at home and when among friends. They need to provide to their target groups a state-of-the-art library, paper or digital, on who is doing what globally on the environmental front. This merely needs to be a simple blog to start with, and some regular posts (even though writing seems harder in a community here, reading is not a popular pastime). Further, our NGOs need to encourage local farmers to become practicing environmentalists through the reintroduction of organic agriculture, redirection of outdated farming methods, and increasing sales to new markets. They’d need to enlist members by and large, like the very young, the elderly, the artists and the business community. This can be achieved by a system of small rewards (recognition?) emanating out of each group. Our NGOs must also encourage observation and reporting through an active eco-media branch with all the trimmings of conventional news (i:e work the social network to spread good as well as ugly news). Furthermore, these groups must encourage the formation of land trusts, especially in coastal areas that are subject to sea level rise. Nobody should be encouraged to do things that places strain on the wider population when high water comes. Also, NGOs must develop a relatively new travel niche, science based tourism for the triple topics of climate change phenomenon, food security models and other innovative sustainable development models. Here, they’d need to develop (more) capacity among the groups to research, to create situations and projects among the communities in which they operate to achieve goals for mitigation and adaptation to the climate threats. Last but not least, our local NGOs need to create a physical school that allows for innovation in science-based projects. Beyond the technical aspect, it will educate wider communities to preserve watersheds, water regimes and change damaging and archaic agricultural practices. What’s noteworthy here is there are about 14 qualified volunteer based groups within the Tobago society, which can, if they work cooperatively, make the difference in the local fight against climate change. Will they? Perhaps.
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Environment TOBAGO newsletter
ECOLOGY NOTES What is Microevolution? Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal Dept of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies Mention the word “evolution” and thoughts go to the famous phrase “survival of the fittest”. Generally evolution is taken as any change that occurs over time, which can range to the formation of mountains or changes in river courses. With respect to biology, evolution refer to these changes that occur in living organisms, both plants and animals. When this occurs on a large scale it is referred to as macroevolution or on a smaller scale, as microevolution. This article will briefly describe the process of microevolution and how it occurs. Microevolution can be defined as “a type of biological evolution that refers to the change in gene frequencies with a population of organism changed from one generation to the next.” Four processes are responsible for these changes; selection, mutation, gene flow and genetic drift. In any population of a species there is a natural variation in the genetic makeup of the individuals. For example individuals of a population of a beetle species that inhabit a rocky habitat can be either black or white. But if that population is found in an area where the rocks are black then the white individuals stand out and are eaten by predators like birds. Therefore there more black individuals left which will mate and leave offspring. So nature selects for dark individuals which are more camouflaged and avoid predations. During development, as the organism grows the cell divide and the genetic material in each cell replicates itself. Sometimes during this division and replication the sequence of genes change these changes are called mutations. Mutations can occur naturally or sometimes they are helped along by viruses, radiation or chemicals. These changes can result in some significant changes like different eye colour or shorter leaves for plants. A mutation can occur either naturally of his stay with a mutation either natural or artificial has led to a favourable trait in the offspring. For example, if a mutation makes the tail feathers of a male individual red. This turns out to be more attractive to females so that they get more mates and have more offspring. These offspring in turn get many mates and over time and successive generations males with red tails are the dominant trait over those with blue tails. Naturally some individual will leave behind more offspring to others and therefore more genes thus increasing the likelihood of their offspring mating and leaving offspring of their own. So with time the genes “drift” toward the resulting population getting more genes of one type than another. The final process is gene flow also referred to a migration or the movement of individuals and the genes they carry. This becomes important if genes enter a population they are not found before. This could make them better than the individuals of the population native to that area for example they can be more resistant to diseases. Therefore they will survive and take more of the habitat than population they entered.
“Survival of the fittest .”
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Environment TOBAGO newsletter
COME, FLY WITH ME Theodore H. Fleming 2003. A Bat Man in the Tropics. Berkeley: Univ. California Press 311 pp. [Thirty-sixth in a series on "naturalist-in" books; see www.ckstarr.net/ reviews_of_naturalist.htm ] Christopher K. Starr Dept of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies ckstarr@gmail.com
Ted Fleming has studied the ecology of bats for more than 40 years, especially in the forests of Central America and Australia. His research unites two large questions that can be posed as "How do bats make a living?" and "How do bats impact on their environment?" This book has 11 chapters, with two appendices on the diversity and names of bats. Fleming opens by noting that to most people bats are mysterious, ghostly -- he could just as well have said "creepy" -- creatures that fly about silently in darkness. He, of course has a radically different view and is eager to share it. There are plenty of black-and-white photos of field biologists at work and portrait shots of bats. Most of the latter are by Merlin Tuttle of Bat Conservation International, the world's premier photographer of bats. It bears mention that Tuttle's photos are the key to the success of his organization, founded in 1982. They are elegant, up close and have great propaganda value. “to most people bats are mysterious, ghostly -- he could just as well have said "creepy" “ “ To many p eopl e t hes e tall pea ks make fo r a c hallen ging b ut s cenic hike. B u t t hey a re not jus t a no the r t all m oun tain to climb . ”
As a child in the northern city of Detroit, Fleming dreamt of zoological expeditions in the tropics, and in 1966 he had the great luck to get a job studying mammals in Panama. This first time in the tropics certainly lived up to expectations. Flying to his village in a small plane, he experienced first a bumpy landing and then the very basic conditions of village life. Almost immediately, he spent several hours ascending the Jaqué River to a camp site. His task there was to collect as many mammal species as he could. The shocking diversity of the fauna was seen in the fact that at that one site he collected three-quarters as many bat species as are found in all of North America. On some days the harvest was so good that he had to work late into the night to skin and preserve his specimens. In the 1960s, little was known about seasonality in the lives of neotropical mammals. A key tool with respect to bats was mist nets. First introduced for scientific purposes in the 1930s, these have revolutionized the study of birds and bats, as they are much better than shotguns and hand-held nets for collecting specimens, and of course these can be released alive. One night the nets yielded 160 bats of 20 species. After a few weeks, he moved to the other end of Panama, near the border with Costa Rica, again spending several weeks at one productive site. He later set up a year-long trapping programme for small mammals -- mostly marsupials and rodents -- at two localities in the Canal Zone, planning to continue for a year. It was very routine work that became decidedly tedious in the rainy season, when he was constantly getting soaked, but he had to keep to the daily programme. At the same time, there was the constant readiness for surprises, not knowing what might show up in the traps today. Mark-and-recapture data gave new information on survivorship, home
Environment TOBAGO newsletter
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range and the timing of reproduction. This showed, among other things, that about half of the species are strictly seasonal breeders. And he supplemented the trapping data by finding occasional nests or burrows. Later he spent a year in Costa Rica, again in systematic trapping, at a time when that country was the focus of a growing effort in tropical ecology. Fleming periodically returned to the Santa Rosa National Park in Guanacaste province for several years. He was in Guanacaste at the time of the 1979 ouster of the dictator Somoza in nearby Nicaragua. (I was there, myself, a few months earlier and saw some military movements, although I heard no shots fired.) Some of the anti-Somoza Sandinistas used Guanacaste as a refuge, and it was well known that the people of Costa Rica were mostly in sympathy with them. There were fears that Somoza, with his much greater military forces, would bomb the Santa Rosa park, where the costarican Civil Guard was bivouacked. One long chapter is about the shorttailed fruit bat, Carollia perspicillata. This is one of the commonest neotropical bats, including in Trinidad & Tobago, and the subject of a monograph (Fleming 1988). It is also one of the species in Donald R. Griffin's (1958) classic demonstration of echolocation in bats. Unlike most of the bats treated in this book, C. perspicillata's social behaviour in its roosts is subject to much direct observation. There is also considerable attention to the Piper species on which it feeds. Short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata) Fleming tells of a long, serious illness, Photo: Wikipedia in the course of which he knew he was recovering when he dreamt of explaining to someone why C. perspicillata has a malebiased sex ratio at birth. Two other species that he studied in depth are the false vampire bat, Vampyrum spectrum, the largest of the New World bats, and the Jamaican fruit-eating bat, Aribeus jamaicensis. Another chapter's focus is fruit-eating bats. Most of these are in two families, including the New World leaf-nosed bats, Phyllostomidae. Trinidad & Tobago naturalists will see an analogy here with David Snow's (1976) study of fruit-eating birds
The book has a more consistent focus on the research programme than is usual in naturalist-in books. Even so, Fleming gives ample attention to the very human aspect of what it was like to be there, including the conditions of working out of a field station for months at a time and the daily routine. Sometimes he had to get up at dawn, with rain pounding on the roof, to make the rounds of his traps, and he was often soaked to the skin. Other biologists are another important aspect of field-station life, and Fleming remarks on many of them, some of whom were or went on to become well-known ecologists. He also has many personal encounters with individual mammals, birds and reptiles, the kind of narrative detail to hold the attention of even the most unscientific naturalist. For example, he gets a good laugh at being maliciously urinated upon by a howler monkey way up in a tree. The true naturalist finds joy in some strange situations. Nonetheless, his research programme revolved around the collection of very large
“As a child in the northern city of Detroit, Fleming dreamt of zoological expeditions in the tropics“
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population-level data-sets, with not much time spent just watching the mammals going about their business. There is a good reason for this. Unlike birds, bats do not perch and sing, and their behaviour at roosts is not nearly as rich as that of birds at the nest. Besides, they are mostly nocturnal, so that direct behavioural observations will usually not yield very much. My one quibble with Fleming's prose has to do with the frequent unnecessary use of spanish terms, such as papas fritas (french fries), empleado (employee) and mercado central (central market). Such frivolous exoticism, while quite at home in novels and travel literature, has no place in a hard-core naturalist-in book. In addition, the accents are usually omitted from proper names, which amounts to misspelling. That aside, A Bat Man in the Tropics is a wonderfully readable, first-hand account. References Fleming, T.H. 1988. The Short-Tailed Fruit Bat. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press 380 pp. Fleming, T.H. & P.A. Racey (eds.) 2010. Island Bats: Evolution, Ecology and Conservation. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press 560 pp. Griffin, D.R. 1958. Listening in the Dark. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press 413 pp. Reprinted 1974 by Dover, New York. Snow, D. 1976. The Web of Adaptation. New York: Quadrangle 176 pp.
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