Cayman hunts mistletoe/HIV-AIDS and ganja debated
The hunt for “Dendropemon Caymanensis”
By Angela Piercy Cayman Islands Government
The Cayman Islands Department of Environment (DoE) are currently collaborating on a project with longtime partner Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (RGB Kew), UK, to locate a mysterious Mistletoe species – Dendropemon caymanensis – known to be located only on Little Cayman.
There is very little known about this parasitic plant but records from botanist George Proctor, author of Flora of the Cayman Islands, indicate that it is possibly located within the northeastern interior of Little Cayman and is a parasite of the Headache Bush (Capparis cynophallophora) and the Black Candlewood (Erithalis fruticosa). No one has seen this plant since 1991 and there is no photographic record – just a single herbarium collection as proof of its existence.
In order to find this plant, the DoE and RGB Kew used a mini unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV is a small flying vessel with a camera; it weighs less than a kilogram and is controlled by a sophisticated remote computer system. It takes aerial photographs on a pre-programmed course, mapped using GPS coordinates.
The search team included DoE’s Research Officers Jessica Harvey and Jane Haakonsson, and GIS Officer Jeremy Olynik; and RGB Kew’s Species Conservation Assessment Officer Steven Bachman and Kew’s GIS Officer Justin Moat; and from the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme (BIRP), Frederic Burton, acting as the local plant specialist. Mr Moat and Mr Bachman are highly trained and certified UAV pilots with previous experience in the UK and Peru, and both are off to Burkina Faso after their trip to Cayman.
The DoE worked closely with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to establish and follow all safety protocols. This included ensuring all launch and search sites were inspected and approved by the CAA prior to the project start date.
Approval also was granted by the Lands and Survey Department, and all flights were coordinated and approved by the Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac Air Traffic Control towers prior to takeoff. This is very important as flying UAVs without authorisation could be a hazard to all types of aircrafts, including police helicopters and mosquito jets. Launching and landing sites were also granted permission from the relevant land owners.
Survey areas included the Colliers Reserve and Salina Reserve in Grand Cayman, where locations of the host plant species are already known. Images taken from these areas will be compared with images taken in Little Cayman. The project will also allow the DoE to try a new method of monitoring the booby colony in the Booby Reserve on Little Cayman, which could prove highly time and energy efficient compared to previous monitoring techniques.
Upon completion of this project the DoE hopes to determine the true status of the endemic Dendropemon caymanensis in the Cayman Islands, while also gathering data on the current status of the booby breeding area in the Booby Pond Reserve.
This project was possible with assistance from the Mohamed Bin Zayed Conservation Group, which donated just more than US$3,000 to the project through a grant; the Cayman Islands National Trust including BIRP; the CAA; and RGB Kew.
This project started on 12 June and was completed on 19 June. For more information, contact the DoE at [email protected] at 949-8469 during working hours or on our Facebook page.
IMAGE: Dendropemon caymanensis Proctor Little Cayman. George R. Proctor No.47309 12-Nov-1991From: http://www.virtualherbarium.org/vh/CAYM/833.html
HIV/AIDS stigma and ganja-use debates in Caricom
By Rickey Singh From Trinidad Express
AS Caribbean Community Heads of Government finalise arrangements for their participation in this week’s four-day summit in Antigua, a senior American diplomat and a Jamaica-based non-government organisation have come forward with surprising positions on two different issues of much importance to the regional economic integration movement.
First, there was the statement by the US assistant secretary at the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, William Brownfield, last week that there has been “no consultation” between his government and Caricom that member states of the Community were moving to change their laws to decriminalise possession of small quantities of marijuana for personal use.
Subsequently followed a complaint from the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS) against the declared intention of Caricom governments repealing laws that discriminate against and criminalise people in consensual sex acts between adults that bear the dread HIV stigma.
The troubling dimension for the JCHS, as it said, was a recent press statement from the Caricom Secretariat that the Community’s Heads of Government would be considering at their 35th summit this week various recommendations for action on the elimination of HIV-related stigma and discrimination. The recommendations originated with the Community’s Pan-Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS Justice for All project.
In the reasoning of the “Healthy Society Coalition”, this announced decision by Caricom to take action on the PANCAP recommendations would be an imposition that “fundamentally re-order society”. Further, that implementation of the recommendations would be “contrary to the Caricom Charter of Civil Society”.
As independent observers would note, whatever the merits of the Health Coalition’s case against Caricom leaders taking action on the PANCAP recommendations in relation to eliminating HIV stigma and discrimination, it should be borne in mind that though warmly welcomed 17 years ago, the Charter of Civil Society has, most regrettably, no legal status.
The charter remains, at best, an inspiring, encouraging “Declaration”. However, as of this week, when Caricom leaders meet for their 35th regular summit, hosted by Antigua and Barbuda’s first-time Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, not a single government of the 15-member Community had tabled legislation to give the Charter of Civil Society legal status.
Perhaps Jamaica’s Health Coalition, as well as groups and organisations across this region committed to the promotion and defence of human rights and human development could stir action on this front while negotiating their particular concerns over the implementation of PANCAP’s recommendations in dealing with the HIV/AIDS problems.
In relation to the claimed “lack of consultation” on Caricom’s intent to decriminalise possession of small quantities of marijuana for personal use is concerned, a simple truth needs to be appreciated, and not only by the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, but all regional and extra-regional partners of the Caribbean Community:
That truth is the proposed initiative by the region’s governments is a work in progress and they are not yet ready to present a collective plan for discussion/consultation with any foreign partner state or regional agency, institution or organisation.
Just last week, the Prime Minister of St Lucia, Dr Kenny Anthony, former head of Legal Affairs at the Community Secretariat in Georgetown, made the very relevant observation that “the movement of (Caricom) citizens within the region makes it difficult to deal with the decriminalisation of marijuana on an individual (country) basis.
Therefore, I believe that the issue must be dealt with on the regional level”.
Outgoing chairman of Caricom Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines fully embraces the necessity for a “regional approach” on what he recognises as a sensitive issue that cannot be ignored.
In this context, the Vincentian Prime Minister, who hands over chairmanship of the Community tomorrow to new Prime Minister Browne in Antigua, stressed “no proper consultation” could have taken place with any representative of the US government, or else, since Caricom Heads of Government have not yet determined the approaches to be collectively pursued on decriminalising possession and use of marijuana.
For more on this story go to: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/HIVAIDS-stigma-and-ganja-use-debates-in-Caricom-265072571.html
IMAGE: http://www.avert.org/hiv-aids-stigma-and-discrimination.htm
