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Jamaica’s new Road Traffic Act to be passed by year end

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#Jamaica, November 6, 2017 – Kingston – Transport and Mining Minister, Hon. Mike Henry, says the new Road Traffic Act is currently going through changes and adjustments and should be passed in the House of Representatives by the end of the year.

“Right now, we’re completing the dotting of the ‘i’s and crossing of the ‘t’s. It contains minor things that we have to adjust, but I can confirm, from the Ministry’s point of view, that we will be ready by the end of the year,” he said.

The Minister was speaking at a breakfast function hosted by the Project Management Institute Jamaica Chapter (PMIJC), at The Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston on November 2.   Mr. Henry said he is hoping that road fatalities will remain below 300 by the end of this year.    As at October 31, the figure was 272, some 49 less than the 321 deaths for the similar period last year.

“I really hope that we can maintain that, to be able to say we have achieved under 300. One death is too many anyway. The reality is that I think we’re getting some response from the public,” Mr. Henry said.

The Minister hailed Jamaicans who continue to drive with care on the nation’s roads.   Among the features of the new Road Traffic Act are a restriction on handheld devices and a requirement for drivers to have a licence in their possession while operating a vehicle.   Fines for breaches will also be increased.

Meanwhile, PMIJC President, Arvette Henry, noted that the subject of project management is an integral part of local companies in Jamaica, “because those companies practising it are able to see faster and better results”.

During the awards segment, leading provider of information technology products, Fujitsu Caribbean Jamaica Limited, was awarded Project Management Organisation of the Year.    The company won for their project of providing high-performance computing solutions for the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI).

“The project that we put forward this year sought to improve the computing capacity of the climate control division of the UWI. In their data centre, they had challenges in predicting and monitoring what different climatic and seismic events occur,” said Project Manager of Fujitsu Caribbean, Nicola Denniser.

Seprod Limited received the silver award for their Irrigation in Agriculture Project, while Digicel Jamaica Limited won the bronze award for outfitting the St. William Grant Park with WI-FI hotpots.   Held under the theme ‘Change Management, Maintaining Consistency during Uncertainty’, the event was organised to observe International Project Management Day 2017 as well as to present the awards to the Project Management Organisation of the Year.

The PMI, a global organisation with more than 250 chapters and 500,000 members, is set up to advance the practice, science and profession of project management worldwide.   The PMIJC is one of two chapters in the English-speaking Caribbean, and has been operating continuously for 15 years.

Release: JIS

 

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Caribbean News

CANARI outlines climate priorities ahead of Cop28

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Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

 

The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) informed that the Caribbean Climate Justice Alliance, in preparation for the upcoming annual COP28 in 2023, launched its “Caribbean Climate Justice and Resilience Agenda,” outlining the priorities for climate justice and resilience in vulnerable Caribbean small island developing states (SIDS).

 

In a press release, CANARI highlighted that the agenda recognizes the major threat of climate change to the region as well as aims to louden the voices of the at-risk groups “on the frontlines of the climate crisis and catalyze actions for climate justice and local resilience in the Caribbean SIDS.”

 

The priorities stated under the agenda are:

 

  1. Curbing emissions to limit global temperature

increase to 1.5 ̊C

 

  1. Scaling up locally-led solutions for adaptation and

loss and damage

 

  1. Improving access to and delivery of climate finance

for frontline communities, small and micro enterprises, and civil society organizations as part of a ‘whole of society’ approach

 

  1. Scaling up just, nature-based solutions for resilience

 

  1. Supporting a just transition for pro-poor, inclusive,

sustainable and resilient development

 

  1. Promoting gender equity and social inclusion

approaches to climate action

 

  1. Promoting youth and intergenerational equity as

core to the climate response

 

  1. Integrating a rights-based and earth-centered

approach in addressing all these priorities and ensuring climate justice

 

The at-risk groups referred to in the release include small-scale farmers and fisherfolk, rural women producers, income-poor people, elderly and disabled people, Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, migrants, and LGBTQIA+ people.

 

Being cognizant of the severity of the effects of climate change on the Caribbean, CANARI referred to the fact that the very existence of the region is on the line.

 

“If greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated and global temperature exceeds 1.5 ̊C, the impacts of rising sea levels, more intense hurricanes, rainfall variability, ocean acidification, and other changes threaten the very existence of our way of life in the Caribbean and other SIDS that have contributed the least to global emissions.”

 

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Bahamas News

CARICOM Sec Gen speaks on Gender Based Violence

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Rashaed Esson

 

Staff Writer 

 

“Everyone must continue to invest in preventing violence against our women and girls (VAWG). It is an investment in our shared future,” were the words of Dr. Carla N. Barnett, CARICOM Secretary-General, as she reiterated the need for solutions against VAWG.

 

She called attention to VAWG as she gave a speech surrounding the annual campaign “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence,” which runs from November 25 to December 10, 2023.

 

Barnett expresses the well-known fact that VAWG is one of the most prevalent issues affecting all corners of society.

 

“VAWG remains one of the most pervasive forms of human rights violations in the world and cuts across all races, cultures, genders, and educational backgrounds,” she maintained, as she continued to point out the sad reality that this is still a major issue despite regional and global policies.

 

“Despite the existence of regional and global policies and legislation to combat VAWG, weak enforcement and discriminatory practices remain significant barriers to ending VAWG.”

 

The Secretary-General highlighted statistics for VAWG, bringing attention to how serious and embedded this issue is in society.

 

She said that globally, 736 million women—nearly one in three—have experienced violence—physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or even both.

 

For the Caribbean region, she said surveys conducted between 2016 and 2019 inform us that one in two women experience intimate partner violence, which is higher than the global average. 

 

In continuation, Barnett expressed that the campaign calls everyone to action against VAWG, including “development partners, civil society organizations, women’s organizations, youth, the private sector, and the media.”  Also, world governments are being asked to share how they are investing in gender-based violence prevention.

 

Ending her address, the Secretary-General urged everyone to wear the color orange for the duration of the campaign, as well as on the 25th of each month, “as a symbol of hope for a brighter future where women and girls live free from violence.”

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Caribbean News

Support for Flood-Affected Farmers

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#Kingston, November 26, 2023 – A total of $157 million is to be provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, to support farmers affected by the recent heavy rains from Potential Tropical Cyclone 22.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, made the announcement during a National ‘Eat Jamaican Day’ ceremony in Portland on Friday (November 24).

The Minister lamented that the country had moved from a period of harsh drought to the next extreme – flooding.

“A number of our farmers suffered tremendous loss and the team from RADA (Rural Agricultural Development Authority) has been out since last week Saturday, trying to quantify what has been the losses that have been suffered by our farmers,” he said.

According to the Minister, preliminary figures reveal that $274 million in damage was done to the agricultural sector, with livestock farmers suffering about $25 million in losses; equipment loss of over $10 million; $173 million in crop loss; and $64 million in damage to the farm road network.

“The good news is that we are not going to leave our farmers alone and we know, as they said to the Prime Minister when he toured last week, that once they get some support, they are willing to go back out and farm,” Mr. Green indicated.

The $157 million support package from the Ministry will be used in several ways. A total of $70 million is to be provided for crop support – inputs, seeds, and fertilizers – and another $8 million for equipment support.

A total of $15 million will be expended for support to livestock and $64 million will be used to rehabilitate farm roads.

Minister Green also announced that resulting from a gift from the Kingdom of Morocco, 24,000 bags of fertilizers will be distributed among farmers over the next two weeks.

The Minister informed that the parish that was most affected by the recent weather event was St. Thomas and that, “almost every farming community in St. Thomas suffered from flood damage.”

Farming communities in St Andrew were also cut off because of landslides.

 

Contact: Mickella Anderson-Gordon

 

Photo Caption: Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green.

Photo by Mark Bell

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