THE UNIVERSITY of the West Indies (UWI) will today put prevailing threats to Caribbean coastlines under the microscope, with a look at the connection between mangroves, microplastics and sargassum seaweed. To do so, they are utilising ‘The.
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The Institute of Jamaica has named ten recipients of its Musgrave Medal Awards: The Institute of Jamaica has announced 10 recipients of its coveted Musgrave Medal Awards. These distinguished ladies and gentlemen have demonstrated excellence in their respective fields of literature, art, and science, going down in history as recipients of the oldest award in…
Iconic Jamaican beach vanishing as pollution, climate change take a toll
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REBEKAH KABEDE -
Hellshire Beach, one of Jamaica’s cultural icons, has appeared in countless documentaries, movies and travelogues about the island nation. The strip of sand, a half-hour drive from the capital and backed by seafood restaurants, is a weekend favourite for Kingstonians, a place to kick back and “lyme” - the local term for “chill”.
But Hellshire Beach is fast disappearing. What once was a wide strip of sand in front of Aunt May’s Fish Place has vanished so quickly that Kingstonians find themselves digging through old photos to make sure their memories aren’t playing tricks on them.
The arguments were recently advanced by Professor Mona Webber, Director of the Centre for Marine Sciences at the University of the West Indies and head of the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory during a TEDxWorthington talk.
“Although compromised, these coastal ecosystems are critical in the fight against climate change effects and they still offer the capacity to recover and the capacity to recover against the ravages of climate change,” she said in her opening salvo.
“Mitigating their destruction and loss is very important because Jamaica and the Caribbean has as much as 75 per cent of the population living in the coastal zone and, in fact, if you consider coastal as far inland as the effects of the sea is felt, then the entire island is coastal,” she added.