The Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Housing & the Environment, has began to assess the degree of damage caused to the agriculture, livestock, and fisheries sectors, due, to the passage of Tropical Storm Earl.

Initial estimates are still to be defined from the impact.

On Tuesday, Minister of Agriculture, Lands, Housing & the Environment Hon. Hilson Baptiste, received preliminary reports of the agricultural sector, during a brief meeting with technical and communications officials within the ministry. These reports comprised four of the six agricultural districts and livestock.

Kingston (Panos) August 26, 2010 - SIX Caribbean islands have now endorsed the controversial Copenhagen Accord, a key outcome of the 15th United Nations climate change conference held in Denmark last December.

They include Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, the Bahamas, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica.

August 24, 2010, St. Johns, Antigua: A new initiative under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is being facilitated through the Environment Division, geared toward to creation of interest about the growing phenomenon of climate change.

The United Nations’ newest venture, through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is a photo and video contest which encourages participants to capture images which tell an interesting clean development story, under the theme “Changing Lives”.

Since the dedication and renaming ceremony of Boggy Peak to Mount Obama in August 2009, members of the Mount Obama Committee (MOC) have been engaged in the planning and related activities needed to establish and manage the Mount Obama National Park. Such efforts include an official website antiguamountobama.com. The site which was launched last week is aimed at sensitising the public to some of the preparations being made to transform Antigua & Barbuda’s highest point to a multi-use world class protected area of excellence.

The birdlife of Montserrat, as well as its wide array of other fauna and flora, will be showcased at this year’s British Birdwatching Fair. The Fair is the world’s first and largest international birdwatching event, which saw 23,000 visitors in 2009, and will be held at the Egleton Nature Reserve in Rutland from August 20-22, 2010. Montserrat will be represented by well-known nature tour guide James “Scriber” Daley, whose presence is being sponsored by the Montserrat Tourist Board (MTB).

Fifty-six young people will be in Lincoln, Nebraska, from August 2 to 6 to attend a Forum for Young Leaders in Agriculture of the Americas. One event planned as part of the Forum is a panel discussion involving the Deputy Director General of IICA and four former ministers of agriculture.