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 U.S. agency pledges another $25M in food aid to Haiti
MIAMI The United States United States has a vital stake istic of its generosity of (help- 200 years now," she said, responding to the urge
Agency for International in providing both emergency ing) Haiti," he said. adding that "I think it's time crisis in his native land
Development (USAID) says assistance as well as long-term The announcement came for us to re-assess our inter- "Together for Hait
it will be dispatching $25 mil- support for Haiti's economic, six weeks after violent riots vention and understand it is which has the support (
lion more in food aid to Haiti, social and economic develop- over rising food prices rocked better for us to invest in bring- er Grammy-Award wir
bringing its total to $45 mil- Haiti, leaving several people musician Paul Simon, m
lion. [- I dead and the country without Petra Nemcova and inf


 "We know that we are not
the full solution, we are a part,"
said USAID Administrator
Henrietta Fore in a meeting
late last month with Haitian
American leaders at the
USAID warehouse in West
Miami-Dade County.
 "We are trying to be sup-
portive, and we are trying to
help," she added.
 Fore said USAID would
help provide 36,000 tons of
food staples to 2.5 million
Haitians through three types
of programs targeting the dis-
abled, orphans, mothers, chil-
dren and the elderly.
 The programs are to be
administered by the United
Nations World Food Program
(WFP), Catholic Relief
Services and World Vision,
and will pay Haitians with
food in exchange for helping
to rebuild irrigation systems
and roads to boost domestic
production efforts.
 "As close neighbors, the


ment," Fore said.


PRAISE
 The announcement was
welcomed by South Florida's
congressional delegation,
including Congressman
Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who
introduced Fore at the event.
 Diaz-Balart said that the
U.S. Congress in a "bipartisan
basis" had approved $250 mil-
lion in aid to Haiti.
 "Today, the United States
takes another step, character-


a working government. In the
wake of that unrest, Haitian
senators fired the prime minis-
ter on April 12, blaming him
for the crisis.
 The Lower House, the
Chamber of Deputies, also
rejected President Rene
Preval's choice of the prime
minister's successor after the
Senate confirmed him.

CRITICISM
 But Haitian activist
Marleine Bastien criticized
what she described as U.S.
short-term relief.
 "What we are doing here
today, it's only for short-term
relief," said the executive
director of Haitian Women of
Miami, who recently visited
the impoverished, French-
speaking Caribbean country
as part of a delegation led by
U.S. civil rights activist
Reverend Jesse Jackson.
 "The U.S. has been
engaged in Haiti for almost


Wyclef Jean


ing Haitian agriculture to its
past grandeur."
 Meantime, Haitian-born,
international hip-hop artist
Wyclef Jean and two leading
development organizations
have collaborated in dispatch-
ing immediate food aid to Haiti.
 The Grammy Award-win-
ning Jean last month said that
his foundation, Yele Haiti, the
WFP and the Pan American
Development Foundation
have established a group
called "Together for Haiti" in


ent food
J.
i",
of anoth-
ning
nodel
luential


economist Jeffrey Sachs, would
provide food, create jobs and
support local agriculture in
response to the crisis.
 Jean said they plan, over
the next six months, to create
labor-intensive jobs, paying
workers with cash and food;
distribute food to malnour-
ished children under five and
pregnant women, as part of
WFP's existing food assistance
programme; and provide fertil-
izer, seeds, training and micro-
enterprise grants, as well as
support local agriculture.
 "It starts with the
ground," Jean said.
 "Let's start implementing
projects, so that we can create
jobs. Job creation will slow
down the violence."
 He said, to date, the cam-
paign has raised $1.5 million,
with the Haitian cell phone
company, Voila, among the
corporate contributors.
0


NEW YORK Guyana's
President Bharrat Jagdeo last
month joined an international
conservation group in launch-
ing a new global campaign that
focuses on the "vital role of
healthy tropical fI ,rL "L in sta-
bilizing the climate.
 Jagdeo and top executives
of Conservation International
(CI) told reporters at the
launching ceremony that they
would like to change the prac-
tice of burning and clearing
tropical forests, since such a
practice emits at least 20 per
cent of total greenhouse gases
that cause climate change.
 "We must create incen-
tives to reward the conserva-
tion of existing forest and sup-
port our communities with
new economic development
alternatives for the 21st centu-
ry," Jagdeo said.
 "This will compensate
countries like Guyana that
have protected their forests
for decades, and prevent the
migration of deforestation to
countries where it historically
has not taken place."

DAMAGE
 Jagdeo and CI leaders
said the central message of
the "Lost There, Felt Here"
campaign, which includes a
video featuring actor Harrison
Ford, is that "destroying trop-
ical forests anywhere hurts
people everywhere".


 They said the pri iii '
forests that are home to half
the species on Earth also
combat climate change and
provide essential resources to
the people who live in and
around them.
 Jagdeo said he was work-
ing with CI and other interna-
tional and local partners in
creating incentives to conserve
the irrLpLI,.LJhL habitat."
He has offered to place his
country's forest under a strict
regime that pays Guyana for
the carbon dioxide stored in
the trees and other biomass.
 Currently, the Kyoto
Protocol on Climate Change
does not recognize forest pro-
tection actions such as
Guyana's as valid carbon
credits. But CI executives said
United Nations' negotiators
were now considering an
expanded market to include
forest conservation.
 Jagdeo said Guyana has
retained up to 80 percent of its
original Amazon forest cover.
 "Conserving forests is one
of the quickest and most cost-
effective ways to combat cli-
mate change and help people
adapt to the impacts of a
warming planet," said CI
Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer Peter Seligmann.
 "We need to ensure that
these investments are propor-
tionate to the magnitude of
the problem."


 "These irreplaceable
forests are under threat from
increasing demand from a
resource-hungry world," said
CI President Russell A.
Mittermeier.
 "The fact that the carbon
market is finally beginning to
look at the critical importance
of forest carbon provides a
unique new opportunity to
compensate tropical countries
for protecting these forests at
a scale far beyond anything
that has been done to date
and in a way that is truly sus-
tainable both ecologically and
economically," he added.
 Mittermeier commended
Guyana's "enlightened
approach" to this issue, noting
that it could serve as a "model
for many other forest-rich
countries around the world."
 The "Lost There, Felt
Here" campaign calls for the
harnessing of nature's technol-
ogy the healthy ecosystems
that regulate the climate and
sustain life on Earth.
 "The goal is to raise aware-
ness of the cost and harm to all
of us from destroying some of
the richest tropical forests in
the world," said Bill Bruce,
chairman and chief creative
officer of BBDO New York,
which created the campaign.
 "It is intended to shake
people up and get them to
take action."
0


Children gain from World Bank's

$65M loan package for Jamaica


WASHINGTON The World
Bank Board has approved a
$65 million loan package for
Jamaica that would strengthen
the social safety net, improve
health and education services
for children and support
HIV/AIDS prevention and
control.
 "The World Bank is
pleased to continue supporting
the g< >\ I rnLn ik 111 social and eco-
nomic development strategy by
investing in projects that pro-
mote equal opportunities for all
Jamaicans," said the World
Bank Country Director for the
Caribbean Yvonne Tsikata.

CHILDREN'S AID
 The bank said that $40
million would go towards the
Social Protection Project
aimed at strengthening the
country's social insurance and
social assistance system by
supporting a number initia-
tives, including the improve-
ment of the Program of
Advancement through Health
and Education (PATH) a
cash transfer program that
provides benefits on the con-
dition that children attend
school and visit health centers
periodically.
 Since its launch in 2002,
PATH has become the
Jamaica's flagship social assis-
tance program, providing cash
transfers to almost 230,000


beneficiaries in 2007.
 "The World Bank's sup-
port will also allow the govern-
ment to increase the benefit
level by 23 percent to adjust
for inflation, to increase grants
for secondary school students
by up to 75 percent to stimu-
late grade progression and
high school completion and to
give a one-time bonus to stu-
dents moving to tertiary educa-
tion or training", a statement
from the World Bank said.
 "It also will expand benefit
coverage by 50 percent to
reach approximately 14 percent
of the population, the equiva-
lent of the country's poverty
rate in 2007. The increase in
benefits also addresses loss of
purchasing power of PATH
benefits due to the sharp
increase in food prices and the
need to compensate families
for the increasing opportunity
cost of schooling".
 The second loan for $15
million will be used to co-
finance the implementation of
the National Strategic Plan for
Early Childhood Development,
while the final loan of $10 mil-
lion would help support the
government's National
HIV/AIDS Program by target-
ing high-risk groups and
increasing access to treatment,
care and support services.
0


June 2008


 Guyana's president collaborates

with int'l group on climate change