While detailing his recent efforts to shore up relations with the United Kingdom during a May 16 press conference, Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley also announced the creation of the …
May 23, 2023
May 12, 2023
At dumpsite, ministers promise better, but incinerator still down
Seven days before the general election, Dr. Karl Dawson stood outside the House of Assembly to protest burning at the Pockwood Pond dump that had been sending clouds of acrid …
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May 9, 2023
EDITORIAL: Rebranded ministry a double-edged sword
We see a step forward and a step backward in the new government’s decision to replace the former Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour with the rebranded Ministry of Financial …
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March 8, 2023
EDITORIAL: Don’t fear the Virgin Islands tree boa
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Just like all snake species that live in the territory, the Virgin Islands tree boa is completely harmless. In fact, it …
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November 1, 2022
EDITORIAL: Cross-agency strategy needed for sargassum
We are impressed by the innovative plan to use drones to track the increasing amount of sargassum washing up on the territory’s shores. However, the growing problem also needs a …
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October 21, 2022
Community plans for Long Bay’s future
Long Bay Beach on Beef Island serves a different purpose to every visitor. Some enjoy exercising, cooking out, snorkelling among the corals, swimming, participating in water sports, visiting as tourists, …
October 4, 2022
Volunteers clean up 8,828 feet of coastline
Volunteers across the territory joined in a belated observance of International Coastal Cleanup Day last weekend, clearing piles of waste from shorelines at Salt Island; Spring Bay on Virgin Gorda; …
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August 29, 2022
EDITORIAL: Gov’t right to apologise and re-form climate board
It’s about time. More than three years ago, then-Premier Andrew Fahie’s newly elected government unlawfully disbanded the Climate Change Trust Fund Board, stalling years of hard work and showing a …
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August 18, 2022
Ghost busters: Discarded tackle cleaned up
A boat full of volunteers recently travelled from Tortola to the south side of Cooper Island, where they combed the sargassum-covered rocky shore for waste that had washed up on …
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April 19, 2022
EDITORIAL: Beach plans are a welcome step
Kudos to the government for finally starting work on a series of management plans for the territory’s beaches. These long-needed strategies can’t come soon enough. The importance of the Virgin …
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February 9, 2022
EDITORIAL: The Virgin Islands must save the mangroves
The importance of mangroves and other wetlands has been well known for more than half a century. The delicate ecosystems offer habitat for birds and marine life; they naturally prevent …
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January 28, 2022
Mangrove destruction leaves VI ever more vulnerable to climate change
When Donald De Castro was a boy in the 1940s, mangroves lined the shore and cays in front of his family’s small waterfront home in Road Town. “We used to …
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January 19, 2022
EDITORIAL: Please read, comment on draft national plan
For too long, the Virgin Islands has suffered from a failure to plan for the long term. The result can be seen in shoddy infrastructure, ill-conceived public projects, struggling schools, …
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December 1, 2021
Self-determination discussed at UK meetings
Fresh off their diplomatic travels to Europe last month, government leaders explained their progress on planning for the future of environmental management, national security, marijuana legalisation, and greater self-determination. During …
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November 25, 2021
Climate a focus as JMC wound down
At the conclusion of the Joint Ministerial Council meeting in London last week, Prince William made an appearance as world leaders turned their attention to how climate change is impacting …
November 19, 2021
UK-VI relations raised in London
At the first in-person Joint Ministerial Council meeting since 2019, Premier Andrew Fahie is in discussions with United Kingdom leaders this week about sustainable development, Covid-19, UK relations, economic resilience, …
October 18, 2021
EDITORIAL: Where’s Anegada’s solar grid?
At a time when much of the world is steadily switching to alternative energy, the Virgin Islands is falling further and further behind as it continues to generate nearly all …
September 29, 2021
One weekend, 400-plus pounds of litter
With one 10-person team working along the road near the ocean and another working the hillside, volunteers set to work clearing all the litter in sight on Sept. 18 in …
September 14, 2021
EDITORIAL: Premier dropped the ball on climate change fund
As we’ve said before, the current government’s 2019 decision to revoke all six appointed members of the Climate Change Trust Fund board was a huge mistake. The failure to replace …
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May 14, 2021
EDITORIAL: The waste strategy is great, but it must be followed
The territory’s outdated waste disposal system is nothing short of a national crisis, and it is endangering residents’ health and degrading the environment. We are therefore glad that the government …
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May 27, 2020
EDITORIAL: New coral disease is a crisis for long-suffering VI reefs
As the territory responds to a human pandemic on land, another catastrophe is brewing underwater. The highly infectious stony coral tissue loss disease, which has been spreading south from Florida …
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December 3, 2019
EDITORIAL: ‘Blue economy’ has promise in the Virgin Islands
Kudos to the government for working with the United Nations Development Programme to explore the possibilities offered by the so-called “blue economy.” At a time when financial services and tourism …
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July 30, 2019
COMMENTARY — Need seen to move ‘beyond carbon’
Dr. Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, has asserted that the dominant economic model of the latter 20th Century — supply side free market economics — is obsolete in today’s …
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July 23, 2019
LETTER — Gov’t criticised for undoing predecessors’ climate work
Although among the smallest of Caribbean island states, the Virgin Islands has long been a leader in the region in formulating climate change policy and establishing a governance structure to …
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June 28, 2019
Contract for incinerator parts not yet signed
The government plans to distribute facemasks and to reduce the smoke coming from the Pockwood Pond landfill, but the parts needed to repair the non-functional incinerator there still have not …
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