Climate change and health impact on Caribbean

BRIDGETOWN — How climate changes and their health effects impact on social and economic developments in the Caribbean region will be the central theme of a conference organised by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) for Tuesday morning, May 21, at Sam Lord’s Castle.

The Barbados-based Caribbean Programme Co-ordinating Office said yesterday that representatives of several regional and international agencies and organisations supporting the conference will be in attendance.

They include the United Nations Environment Programme, States Environmental Protection Agency, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Caribbean Environmental Health Institute, US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), World Meteorological Organisation, Planning for Adaptation to Global Climate Change and Health Canada.

Dr Tuiloma Slade, an internationally recognised expert on climate variability and its impact on the development of small and vulnerable economies, will deliver the keynote address.

He is the chairman of the Alliance of Small States (AOSIS), a coalition of small island and low-lying coastal countries and territories that share similar development challenges and concerns about the environment, especially their vulnerability to the adverse effects of global climate change.

Ambassador Slade is expected to outline to his assembled guests, among them cabinet ministers, resident diplomats, key regional public officials involved with health and environment, the progress made over the last 10 years since the 1992 Rio Summit of 1992 sponsored by the United Nations.

Another keynote speaker for the conference will be Professor Tony McMichael, who is scheduled to provide a perspective on global public health.

The conference and a follow-up workshop have been organised by PAHO/WHO under the auspices of the Interagency Network on Climate and Human Health, in collaboration with the Barbados Ministry of Physical Development and the Environment, and the Ministry of Health.

Sanctions call against Guyana TV stations

GEORGETOWN — The Guyana Government wants to see prompt sanctions imposed against two television stations that last week featured a controversial, unsourced videotape, with a wanted criminal cradling an AK-47 and dressed in army fatigue, attacking the police and the Government.

The self-confessed bandit in the videotape was Andrew Douglas, who is among five armed and dangerous criminals being sought by the police since their daring escape from the Georgetown Prison on February 23 when they murdered a prison warder and critically wounded another before disappearing.

The airing of the videotape, strongly denounced by Police Commissioner Floyd McDonald, on VCT Channel 28 and WRHM Channel 7, is currently being investigated by the recently established bipartisan Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB). The Committee is empowered to impose sanctions for violations, including revocation of licences.

Dr Roger Luncheon, head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet secretary, has told a post-Cabinet briefing that the two stations must be “visited with the most appropriate sanctions provided by our (regulatory) system.”

The broadcast of the so-called “Andrew Douglas tape”, said Luncheon, “is a classical example of the irresponsible lengths to which media houses can go in the name of information, in the quest to attract viewership, and in an irresponsible effort to display more and more sensationalism”.

The two stations have claimed lack of knowledge of the production and circulation of the videotape, copies of which were delivered by unidentified personnel. And the VCT has explained that it did not think it was condoning violence in airing the tape.

The three-member ACB is to make a ruling shortly on the matter.