Puerto Rico's power crisis (Oct. 7, 2021)

Power outages across Puerto Rico have surged in recent weeks, with some lasting several days, leaving residents feeling as if they are, once again, living in the aftermath of a major storm. Officials have blamed everything from seaweed to mechanical failures as the government calls the situation a “crass failure” that urgently needs to be fixed, reports the Associated Press. Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority, which is responsible for the generation of electricity, and Luma, a private company that handles transmission and distribution of power, have blamed mechanical failures at various plants.

The energy company Luma took over the U.S. territory's power transmission and distribution system on June 1. Since then, customers have complained of an increase in outages, reports Axios. In fact, Luma has taken longer to repair outages than its predecessor, in the three months since it took over, according to a report by the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo.

Hundreds of Puerto Ricans gathered outside the governor's mansion in San Juan last week, angered by outages, which come as residents will see another increase in their electricity bill, even though they already pay twice as much as mainland U.S. customers for unreliable service, reports NBC.

But the issue is long-term: Hurricane Maria in 2017 destroyed electric infrastructure on the island. In response, Congress authorized some $23 billion in disaster aid, including at least $10 billion to restore or replace Puerto Rico’s electricity grid. But, so far, none of this money has been earmarked for renewable power, a waste of Puerto Rico's once-in-a-lifetime chance to build a clean energy grid, argue Patrick Parenteau and Rachel Stevens in the Conversation.

"It would be very disappointing for a disaster relief agency to lock us into decades more of the same dirty energy responsible for the climate crisis that intensifies the hurricanes thrashing Puerto Rico," argued environmental lawyer Ruth Santiago in the Miami Herald. She points to a proposal called Queremos Sol, put together by a coalition of community groups, labor, economists, engineers and environmental organizations, and backed by a study, that found that the energy needs of 75% of the island’s energy and 100% of homes can be powered by rooftop solar paired with battery storage by 2035.

Experts note that solar energy would be more resilient. Concerns over hurricane seasons to come — and whether LUMA can handle the aftermath of a storm — are also front and center in many Puerto Ricans' minds, reports the Miami Herald.

Climate Justice and Energy

• The careful implementation of a Caribbean carbon pricing regime could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions but should be associated with a redistribution of any revenues, according to the Jamaican Economy Panel. (Petchary's Blog)
  
  
• Between 2009 and 2018, the continuous rise in sea temperature cost the world 14 percent of its coral reefs – that’s more than the size of Australia’s reefs combined – according to the UN-backed  Sixth Status of Corals of the World: 2020 Report. It revealed that almost invariably, sharp declines in coral cover, correspond with rapid increases in sea surface temperatures, indicating their vulnerability to temperature spikes, and found that this phenomenon is likely to increase as the planet continues to warm.
  
  
• The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) has launched its first podcast, the eight-episode series – Islands on Alert, highlighting the realities facing Small Island Developing States as the climate change crisis erodes lives and livelihoods.
  
  
• The Sprouts and the Mystery of the Flood is a Guyanese children's book on climate change by The Breadfruit Collective.

Democratic Governance

• Four United Nations agencies called for countries to "refrain" from deporting Haitian migrants without "proper assessment of their individual protection needs," last week. In the statement, the agencies cited the "various catastrophes affecting Haiti" as factors that countries should consider before immediately expelling Haitians. (The Hill)
  
  
• Members of the United Nations Security Council pressed for elections in Haiti at a meeting this week, the council's first since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July, and a devastating August earthquake. Security Council members placed emphasis on a political accord being pursued by acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry, but paid little attention the concerns of a coalition of Haitian civil society organizations pressing for a delay in the polls in order to address some of the root causes of Haiti’s dysfunction, reports the Miami Herald.
  
  
• “The U.S. is not clear,” Emmanuela Douyon, a Haitian grassroots activist, said after addressing the Security Council as a member of Haitian civil society and listening to the statements. “We have the impression that there is a rush to take shortcuts and extend support to the people that the majority don’t trust to lay foundations for a return to democracy. The key word is ‘rupture.’ We want to break with the old practices that led us to crisis, but we are not witnessing any effort toward it.” (Miami Herald)
  
  
• Haiti is currently undergoing “one of the most fraught periods of its recent history”, the head of the UN office in the country told the Security Council.

• Haitian foreign minister Claude Joseph asked the Security Council for help tackling gang violence and crime, saying the existing UN political mission needs to pivot toward strengthening security and law enforcement institutions in the crisis-wracked country, reports the Associated Press. The UN's Haiti mission's mandate, which is up for renewal this month, currently includes promoting police professionalism and supporting a national strategy to reduce violence.

Indigenous rights

• Indigenous peoples hold the master key to a transformative post-COVID-19 recovery based on their knowledge, their collective conscience and their worldview, Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), said at a high-level event organized by the Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean.
  

Economics, Finance and Debt

• Addressing the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley scolded the international community for imposing a number of problems ranging from climate change to debt repayment on small island developing states (SIDS), as she reiterated her call for a more just and equitable global society in the future. (Caribbean Media Corporation)
  
  
• Mottley also planned to use the occasion to lobby for Covid-19 vaccine production in Barbados, which could then be used to supply the region with vaccines. (Barbados Today)
  
  
• The European Union removed Anguilla, Dominica and Seychelles from its tax haven blacklist. The three countries were moved to a “grey list” after they agreed to a review of their tax transparency systems. (Loop News)
  
  
• The Pandora Papers trove shows how the Caribbean’s wealthy elite have for decades masked their fortunes and protected their assets through offshore shell companies that point to Swiss bank accounts, reports the Miami Herald. 
  

 Public Security

• Jamaica's Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) has renewed its call for a full roll-out of body-worn cameras among the security forces even as it acknowledged the increased use of their own devices by some cops to record incidents and provide investigators with evidence, reports the Jamaica Gleaner.
  

Histories

• Slaves and Highlanders, Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean, is the result of more than 20 years of research by Dr David Alston into the connections between the vast acquisition of wealth in the north and the human suffering of slaves shipped west from Africa. (The Scotsman)
  
  
• Strictly Facts is a podcast and educational platform that aims to educate and celebrate Caribbean history through our art and music.
  

Culture

• Jamaican chef Norma Shirley immigrated to the U.S. and tried to make it as a restaurateur. Then she became an icon by cooking for her own people. -- New Yorker
  
  
• The exhibition, The Other Side of the Pentaprism, looks at the ways that Bahamians and the greater Caribbean culture sees itself. (Hyperallergic)
  
  
• Jada-Marie Lum from Trinidad & Tobago won the Caribbean Climate Change Art Competition commissioned by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC). (Breaking Belize News)
  

Events

• 12 Oct. The Wellcome Collection at the University of London  -- Dr. Rana Hogarth, will explore “Racial Difference in the Anglophone Caribbean.” 
  
  
• 3 Nov. "Soon Come: Anticipating Memory” Museum Association of the Caribbean Conference opening Keynote Speaker – Director of the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, Mark Raymond.

Opportunities

• Climate Smart Accelerator: For the Caribbean to better prepare itself by becoming more climate resilient, we need all climate innovators, philanthropists and investors to see climate change not as an adversity, but as an opportunity to build forward, create new jobs, save lives and make our countries more sustainable.  If you have a climate-adaptation or mitigation project that needs assistance to move it forward, share it with CSA, and let them see if they can assist. Email them at hello@caribbeanaccelerator.org or visit their website: https://lnkd.in/eUvCJRK

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