Copyright Linda Beamish 2006
Possible Tree Ark Project Site
Caribbean: With Potential for Participatory Eco-Tourism
Original Notification 10th February 2010
A friend's family has a ten acre plot which could provide a site for participatory eco-tourism, which would offer a wealth of advantages to people who currently lack employment, education, food & water in Grenada.
Initial research has shown that Grenada, along with many other Caribbean Islands, is currently suffering from terrible drought problems.
I read the article "The Caribbean Drought and Precipitation Monitoring Network (CDPMN)" and contacted Mr Adrian Trotman of The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) to ask whether the current drought was due to climate change, or rainforest decimation.
Mr Trotman very kindly answered my enquiry the next day by email, suggesting that this drought is more of a climate variability issue. Going on to say that "Extremes such as drought is a part of the climate. There have been droughts in the past. This does not necessarily mean that such episodes would not increase in frequency or severity due to climate change, but certainly I would want to treat this as a case of an extreme that is part of the climate of the region."
The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have information on their website, dated 19th February 2010, and a full report on the Caribbean drought is available in .pdf format from:
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-82U3B7?OpenDocument
The other line of research which I followed was the poverty and deprivation felt by many locals on the island.
According to The Rural Poverty Portal ( http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/web/guest/country/home/tags/grenada )
"About 32 per cent of all people are poor, and almost 13 per cent are extremely poor. Poverty is a predominantly rural problem, driving many young people from family-run farms to look for work in urban areas or abroad."
Another report I found showed that the highest poverty rate is attributed to single (female) parents in Grenada, proportionally loaded to those under 20 years of age. Many women who find themselves alone with a baby, find a man to help them bring up their young family, and end up with children from more than one family to bring up alone. (There is no social security or benefit payments.)
The IFAD had some valuable resources and study data available on their website: :http://www.ifad.org/gender/learning/challenges/women/g_6_2.htm
Potentially, we have a situation where our proposals may well be even more viable in the Caribbean than they are in the UK.
I will update this page and add pages to our website as I research the possibilities, and gain more information/feedback from other organisations involved in this field of expertise.
Linda, 24th February, 2010.
Initial research has shown that Grenada, along with many other Caribbean Islands, is currently suffering from terrible drought problems.
I read the article "The Caribbean Drought and Precipitation Monitoring Network (CDPMN)" and contacted Mr Adrian Trotman of The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) to ask whether the current drought was due to climate change, or rainforest decimation.
Mr Trotman very kindly answered my enquiry the next day by email, suggesting that this drought is more of a climate variability issue. Going on to say that "Extremes such as drought is a part of the climate. There have been droughts in the past. This does not necessarily mean that such episodes would not increase in frequency or severity due to climate change, but certainly I would want to treat this as a case of an extreme that is part of the climate of the region."
The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have information on their website, dated 19th February 2010, and a full report on the Caribbean drought is available in .pdf format from:
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-82U3B7?OpenDocument
The other line of research which I followed was the poverty and deprivation felt by many locals on the island.
According to The Rural Poverty Portal ( http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/web/guest/country/home/tags/grenada )
"About 32 per cent of all people are poor, and almost 13 per cent are extremely poor. Poverty is a predominantly rural problem, driving many young people from family-run farms to look for work in urban areas or abroad."
Another report I found showed that the highest poverty rate is attributed to single (female) parents in Grenada, proportionally loaded to those under 20 years of age. Many women who find themselves alone with a baby, find a man to help them bring up their young family, and end up with children from more than one family to bring up alone. (There is no social security or benefit payments.)
The IFAD had some valuable resources and study data available on their website: :http://www.ifad.org/gender/learning/challenges/women/g_6_2.htm
Potentially, we have a situation where our proposals may well be even more viable in the Caribbean than they are in the UK.
I will update this page and add pages to our website as I research the possibilities, and gain more information/feedback from other organisations involved in this field of expertise.
Linda, 24th February, 2010.
IPPFWHR -- March 10, 2008 — 43% of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean live in poverty. Latin America and the Caribbean is frequently characterized by the highest levels of social inequality in the world. Poor, rural, and indigenous people lack access to the most basic needs, in particular reproductive health services. By providing health services to the most vulnerable populations, including women, IPPF helps to improve community wellbeing and contribute to poverty reduction in the region. To learn more, visit www.ippfwhr.org
