The Belize Herald

Daily News from Belize

Education

Fifty-nine New Forest Rangers for Belize

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new Forest Rangers for Belize
59 Forest Rangers were sworn-in as Special Constables following two weeks of intensive training at the Belize Police Academy. Photo: GOB

Belmopan- A total of 59 Forest Rangers of both government and forest co-management agencies were sworn-in yesterday as ‘Special Constable’ following two weeks of intensive training at the Belize Police Academy. The training, which began on 14th May, 2018, culminated with Forest Rangers being sworn-in to exercise greater authority to arrest and seize for forest, protected areas, and wildlife-related crimes.

German Novelo, Key Biodiversity Areas Project Manager, stated that “the only way we can successfully stem illegal forest activities is by empowering our hard-working forest rangers within our partner agencies with the legal authority to seize and arrest.”

In speaking on the training conducted prior to the swearing-in, Novelo added that both the training and swearing-in were essential to strengthening the capacity of both Forest Department officers and its partners to enforce forest laws.

According to the Chief Forest Officer, Wilber Sabido, the training and swearing-in of Special Constables delivers on the Forest Department’s mandate to improve forest management compliance. As an intense two-week training, it was uniquely tailored to strengthen rangers’ knowledge and skills to effectively enforce all aspects of green-laws legislations, such as the Forest Act, Wildlife Protection Act, and the National Protected Areas System Act, and other legislation.

During the training, participants learned how to use a broad range of innovative and specialized law enforcement techniques, such as investigative skills, search and seizure skills, and gathering court evidence, through extensive mock-drills and simulation exercises. The training also exposed forest and wildlife officers and rangers to a wide range of tools and services available through partnering with other law enforcement agencies to respond to illegal forest crimes. Additionally, the training emphasized continued inter-agency collaboration and inter-departmental coordination in law enforcement activities, essential to combat forest and wildlife crimes.

The Rangers will be soon deployed in various nature areas of the country.

Beltraide Organizes Intellectual Property Workshop

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Intellectual Property workshop
The workshop will discuss Intellectual Property Tools for increased competitiveness.

Belmopan- ExportBelize, a unit of BELTRAIDE, in collaboration with Belize Intellectual Property Office(BELIPO), University of Belize, Citrus Research and Education Institute and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will be hosting a workshop on Intellectual Property from May 7 – May 9th, 2018.

The workshop aims to provide participants with a practical skill set for leveraging Intellectual Property tools for increased competitiveness. Also, the idea is to enhance the capacity of participants to commercialize research, ideas and products.

Another idea behind the workshop is to bridge the gap between the industry and experts at for instance knowledge institutes and universities.

Although the venue for the workshop is not know as of yet, participants can pre-register with shahera@belizeinvest.org.bz or shauna@belizeinvest.org.bz

Belize to Participate in CXC Green Energy Boot Camp

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Dr Bynoe (002)
Dr Paulette Bynoe, project consultant, will leading the Boot Camp which will be held in Jamaica. Photo: Caribbean Examinations Council.

Bridgetown, Barbados- Twenty-three teachers and two Curriculum Officers from across 13 Caribbean states will participate in a three-day boot camp hosted by the Caribbean Examinations Council from April 4 to 6 at the Iberostar Hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Sponsored by GIZ REETA of Germany and the Organization of American States (OAS), the boot camp is designed to equip and familiarise teachers of CAPE Green Engineering to use resources that have been created to support the implementation of the syllabus, which was launched in 2016.

At the completion of the Boot Camp, participants are expected to have a clear understanding of the requirements of the CAPE Green Engineering Syllabus; have a clear understanding of the resources developed to support the implementation of the CAPE® Green Engineering Syllabus; be able to use resources to guide students in the completion of the CAPE Green Engineering Syllabus; be aware of the importance of resources to facilitate the formative assessment process; and, acquire first-hand information on the operations of a renewable energy facility.

They should be able to demonstrate an understanding of the requirements of the syllabus; demonstrate an understanding of how to implement resources in the teaching and learning process; and, use a range of resources to support diverse assessment strategies.

For the first two days, participants will explore the integrating of resources in lesson planning, while on the final day, they will do a study tour of Wigton Windfarm. Wigton Windfarm Limited, is the largest wind energy facility in the English-speaking Caribbean, located in Rose Hill, Manchester.

Dr Paulette Bynoe, project consultant will lead the Boot Camp. At Wednesday’s opening, Dr Devon Gardner, Programme Manager, Energy Unit at the CARICOM Secretariat; Ms Amanda Harris, Project Officer, GIZ REETA Programme, CARICOM; and Mr Juan Cruz Monticelli, Senior Energy Specialist, Department of Sustainable Development, Organization of American States will give remarks.

Teachers participating in the boot camp will come from sixth-form schools and colleges in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

“Green Engineering can be defined as environmentally conscious attitudes, values, and principles, combined with science, technology and innovation directed towards improving local and global environmental quality,” according to the CXC syllabus. “It is the design of materials, processes, systems and devices with the objective of minimizing overall environmental impact over the entire life cycle, whilst meeting required performance, economic and societal constraints.”

According to the syllabus, students studying Green Engineering will acquire knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed to sustain the natural environment. In addition, Green Engineering will provide students with a suite of tools to improve their approach to, and effectiveness at, solving real world problems.

“This course of study will enable students to apply Scientific, Technological, Engineering and Mathematical (STEM) principles to improve their environment at the local, regional and global levels,” the syllabus states. “This inter-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary course of study will contribute to a Caribbean person who is empowered to finding solutions to current and future environmental problems.”