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The Ocean Conference: Our Oceans Our Future At the opening ceremony for the Ocean Conference, held from June 5th to 9th 2017, the UN Secretary General stated that: “the health of our oceans and seas require us to put aside short-term national gain, to avoid long-term global catastrophe. Conserving...

Some say we live in a borderless world, but based on the stringent anti-immigration policies doled out by the Dominican Republic against its neighbour, Haiti, borders are to be respected at all costs. Haiti, a Francophone nation, and the Dominican Republic (DR), a Hispanophone nation, are two Caribbean countries...

Global concerns about climate change and the emergence of potential new energy markets such as renewable energy have attracted a great deal of attention. Nothing concentrates the mind as much as crises do and this is why there have been ongoing debates about being climate resilient and meeting climate...

One week ago, several countries in the Caribbean celebrated Emancipation Day.  On August 1st, we decked out in our African-inspired outfits and enjoyed traditional African music all over the region.  But how was independence and emancipation from colonial rule achieved in the Caribbean? A host of inspirational quotes could...

Globalisation means different things to different people. A central feature however, is the growing interdependence and interconnectedness of the modern world. Economic globalisation intensified in the post-Cold War period, as evidenced by increased ease of movement of goods, services, capital, and information across borders, creating a global economy; technological...

In the Caribbean Sea Ecosystem Assessment report, Professor John Agard and Angela Cropper, describes the Caribbean Sea as a distinct ecological region – the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem. The Sea was described in this way due to the interconnectivity of its characteristic habitats like mangroves, seagrass communities, and coral...

“The energy crisis of the 1970s will take a back seat to the water crisis of the 1980s and 1990.” – United States Department of Agriculture, The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1981 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are those coastal countries grouped based on certain characteristics they share. These include...

Data is a collection of facts (numbers, words, measurements, observations, etc).  If it is only readable by humans, it is known as “unstructured data” whilst if it only readable by machines, it is known as “structured data”. In their report, “Open Data Impact: When Demand and Supply Meet”, Stefaan...

As of July 2016, there were 1,052 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites scattered across the globe. They are considered to have cultural or natural value and so should be safeguarded for future generations. There are currently 22 UNESCO sites spread across 13 islands...

The Garinagu (plural of Garifuna) of Belize are an indigenous group with a history that is as similar as it is different from that of other indigenous groups. Every Easter Saturday since 2014, Hopkins Village in western Belize, comes alive, in a celebration of the culture of the Garinagu....

Cuba’s relationship with the United States of America (U.S.) has been afflicted with scepticism and antagonism since 1959. This was the year Fidel Castro and a group of revolutionaries eliminated Fulgencio Batista’s U.S. – backed regime in Havana and began reshaping the country’s social and economic systems. Establishment of...

The tourism dependent three island state, consisting of Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique, is the southernmost of the Windward Islands in the Caribbean. Historically an agrarian society, it is known as the ‘Isle of Spice’ or the ‘Spice Island of the Caribbean’ due to its production of large quantities...

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and sexual harassment are issues of increasing importance in Caribbean society, where women are hyper-sexualised and masculinity is often demonstrated in the ability to exert power over women. However, Caribbean women have been rising up against GBV by using social media as a tool. A great...

It is impossible not to notice when Carnival season comes around in the Caribbean. Months in advance, Soca and Calypso music (and all their variations) take over the airwaves, and as February draws near, fêtes (parties) are in greater abundance and a multitude of tourists flock to our shores...

The Caribbean is often associated with tantalising images of captivating, blue waters lapping on white, sandy shores; lush, green forests encapsulating villages; and birds freely soaring through azure skies. Consisting of over seven thousand islands, islets, reefs, and cays framed by the Gulf of Mexico, North, South, and Central...