Poor Little Rich Haiti to Be Fleeced of Copper-Silver-Gold Via Caracol Deep-Water Port (UPDATED)

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Plans are under way for Canadian corporations to mine Haiti’s northeast area near Caracol, which has been discovered to contain a wealth of silver and gold, in addition to copper. As in the Dominican Republic’s Pueblo Viejo project, construction of the mines will involve dynamiting of mountains, and the ore will be extracted by an opencast (or open-pit) mining process that contaminates large volumes of water with cyanide. In addition a deep-water port is slated for construction in Caracol. UPDATES: May 7 (Le Matin) Martelly formally announces construction of a “modern port” in Fort Liberte, near Caracol.

Chilean Farmers Fight Brazilian Billionaire’s Plans for Thermoelectric Plant In Area of Rich Marine Biodiversity

By Marianela Jarroud, IPS, Tierramerica | Haiti Chery. Plans to build a massive power plant complex, called the Castilla Thermoelectric Project, near an area of rich marine biodiversity has sparked fierce opposition from the small northern Chilean farming town of Totoral, which has now scored its first victory in court. Behind the Castilla project is the energy company MPX, a subsidiary of the EPX Group owned by Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista, the seventh wealthiest man in the world according to Forbes magazine.

Amplified Acceleration of Ice Loss from Antarctica to the Sea

PRESS RELEASE, UT Austin Institute for Geophysics (UTIG). A study examining nearly 40 years of satellite imagery has revealed that the floating ice shelves of a critical portion of West Antarctica are steadily losing their grip on adjacent bay walls, potentially amplifying an already accelerating loss of ice to the sea.

Rapid Changes to Global Water Cycle Imply Severer Floods, Droughts, Famines

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | Julia Whitty, Mother Jones. An article by Paul Durak and colleagues in the Journal Science represents yet more confirmation that the effects of global warming are stronger than anticipated from scientific models. An intensification of water evaporation and precipitation over the Earth implies severe consequences for living things, including famines, floods, droughts, and general climate instability.

Breadfruit With Okra – Tomtom ak Kalalou Gombo – Veritab ak Gombo

By Jean Edner Dorvil in: A Taste of Haiti (Hyppocrene books, NY) | Introduction and recommendations by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Tomtom ak Kalalou Gombo is now considered to be traditional to the town of Jeremie in southern Haiti, but in colonial times this was the everyday dish of the Haitians. It is never eaten alone.

New Wildlife Sanctuaries in the Sundarbans for Freshwater Dolphins

By Staff, SPX via Terra Daily | Staff, Wildlife Conservation Society. The Government of Bangladesh recently declared three new wildlife sanctuaries for endangered freshwater dolphins in the world’s largest mangrove ecosystem – the Sundarbans. In 2009 these areas were discovered to harbor thousands of freshwater dolphins, when only a few hundreds were thought to remain in the entire world.The sanctuaries will protect the last two remaining species of freshwater dolphins in Asia: the Ganges River dolphin and the Irrawaddy dolphin.

West African Giraffes Back from the Brink

By Staff, Al Jazeera | You Tube. Distinguished by its paler spots, the West African giraffe once roamed Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, until drought and hunting decimated their numbers to only 50 in 1996. Helped by eco-tourism, the wild populations of this giraffe grew to some 175 individuals in 2007, 250 in 2010, and 310 in 2012, according to the Nigerian government’s counts.

Tiny Primate Uses ‘Private Channel to Talk’

By Staff, Al Jazeera | Marissa A. Ramsier, British Royal Society Biological Letters | Haiti Chery. The Philippine tarsier, Tarsius syrichta, one of the world’s smallest primates, was recently discovered to communicate in the ultrasound. T. syrichta can hear frequencies above 90 kilohertz (kHz) and vocalise around 70 kHz. Communication at above 20 Hz is possible for only a few mammalian species: domestic cats, some whales and some bats.

Caracol Free-Trade Zone Jeopardizes Natural and Cultural Heritage

By Rachelle Charlier Doucet, AlterPresse | Translation and editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. A massive industrial park is scheduled to open in the Caracol Bay area of Haiti at the end of March 2012, although no plan is in place to mitigate the park’s impact on a region that has been proposed as a World Heritage Site for its ecological, historical, and archaeological importance. The park’s manufacturing and textile dyeing alone will require pumping 6,000 cubic meters of water daily from the groundwater and ejecting toxic wastewater into the Trou du Nord River and, ultimately, Caracol Bay. Electricity will be produced from oil, resulting in heavy and toxic wastes. Construction of 5,000 homes for a predicted migration of 30,000 to 300,000 people is expected to result in bantustanization of the area and neighboring communities. (English | French)

A Poem By Michael Leunig: Spring Diary of a Small, Brown Bird

By Michael Leunig, Spring Diary of a Small, Brown Bird | Introduction by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The poem below is a favorite of mine and the only one I’ve found so far that describes falling in love entirely from the point of view of an animal. From a collection by Leunig titled: Short Notes from the Long History of Happiness (Penguin Books Australia, Ltd, 1996).

Jamaican Wildlife Threatened By International Biopiracy

By Zadie Neufville, IPS | Haiti Chery. News of Vienna’s Schoenbrunn Zoo’s newest attraction shocked Jamaican authorities. The unlikely stars: a flock of 45 endangered Jamaican Amazon parrots, hatched from eggs smuggled out of the island in rum-cake boxes.

Recent Uranium Mining Ban from Grand Canyon Under Industry Attack

By Roger Clark, Arizona Republic. Environmentalists, Native Americans, and Arizonans welcomed a 20-year ban by the U.S. Interior Secretary on Jan 9th on new uranium claims on a million acres of public land around the Grand Canyon National Park because mining activities would have violated sacred sites, polluted the river and aquifer, created relatively few short-term jobs, and principally benefited foreign companies. The ban was challenged with a lawsuit on Monday Feb 27th by the National Mining Association.

Globally Threatened Seabird Found Nesting in La Selle Mountains, Haiti: First Ever Chick Photos, Video

By Staff, Bird Life International | Groupo Jaragua | Editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The Black-capped Petrel (Pterodroma hasitata) is a Globally Threatened bird species with a population estimated at 1,000 breeding pairs. With support from the Cornel Laboratory of Ornithology, a joint Haitian-Dominican field team discovered several individuals to be nesting in the Massif de la Selle. (English | Spanish)

Scientists, and Squirrels, Regenerate a Plant — 30,000 Years on

By Staff, AFP via Seed Daily | Haiti Chery. Scientists have managed to grow flowering plants from the flesh of the fruit associated with seeds retrieved from squirrel burrows now 20-40 metres (65 to 130 feet) deep and in layers with the bones of mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, bison, horse, deer, and other animals from the Late Pleistocene Age. The squirrels had dug the frozen ground to build these burrows about 30,000 years ago, as confirmed by radiocarbon dating of the fruits.

Haiti Chery

Dancing With Our Gods | En Dansant Avec Nos Loas

Category Archives: Natural History