FAO, ITTO, CABI hosting key April 12-14 forum in Port of Spain
A two-day forum jointly organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO), the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) will address several key issues relating to forestry management in the region. Stabroek Business has learnt that the April 12 -14 forum which will be staged in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago will address, among other issues, current statistical systems and the status of collection, analysis and dissemination of forest products statistics; methodologies used to collect and report on forest products production and trade and the use of forest products statistics at the country level.
LAC countries take action towards ending hunger by 2025
The 34th Session of the Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO) has adopted a number of measures aimed at achieving the region’s goal of eradicating hunger by 2025, five years ahead of the deadline agreed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The goal’s first target calls for an “end to hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round,” by 2030.
The LAC forum paid particular attention to consolidating regional efforts towards eradicating hunger and malnutrition, promoting family farming, inclusive food systems and sustainable rural development and ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources in the context of adaptation to climate change and disaster risk management.
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva committed the organisation to maintaining support for key activities such as the Hunger Free Latin America and the Caribbean initiative, and the Food Security, Nutrition and Hunger Eradication Plan of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
Conference delegates agreed to develop a priority regional initiative on the sustainable use of natural resources in the context of climate change adaptation and disaster risk management, which will focus on climate change adaptation in Latin America’s Dry Corridor, a region experiencing more frequent and erratic droughts caused by climate change.
Civil servants vow to have gov’t foot cost of using new highway
Approximately 12,500 government workers represented by the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA) have vowed to only use the North-South Link of Highway 2000 on official business to ensure that toll charges are covered by the public purse and not their pockets.
The workers are categorised as travelling officers and are, therefore, entitled to certain allowances, including the reimbursement of toll charges if they travel on toll roads to carry out their duties.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness yesterday officially opened the latest leg of the highway project which runs from Caymanas in St Catherine to Ocho Rios in St Ann amid mounting public backlash over the proposed rates, which range from $80 to $3,700.
O’Neil Grant, president of the JSCA, said his members generally have challenges in using the toll roads across the country because of the cost. According to him, the proposed rates for the North-South Link will prove “prohibitive” except when the workers are travelling on government business.
“They [travelling officers] have committed to the union that they will ensure that they use the tolls roads for official government business because it is a reimbursable item. In their personal capacities, it’s too high,” Grant told The Gleaner.
He added: “We can’t absorb that cost as public officers. It has to be the employer that bears that cost. (Reprinted from the Jamaica Gleaner)
