fp Turks and Caicos

The Turks and Caicos Islands have recently been faced with increasing illegal importation of agricultural products and has stepped up its biosecurity measures to intercept and mitigate threats to the country’s plant resources to the agriculture industry.

A very young flamingo found on the road by Daniel Forbes several weeks ago on Middle Caicos has a new home.

It has been said that tourism is the engine that drives the Turks and Caicos Islands’ economy, and the heart of this engine is the 230 miles of beaches and the third largest coral reef ecosystem in the world.

The Turks and Caicos Reef Fund recently installed new informational signs on the beach by the Bight Reef, replacing previous signs that were destroyed by storms over the past few years.

The Turks and Caicos Islands are now better prepared to handle wild fires and manage pine forest reserves after government officers received hands on training in controlled-burning techniques at a recent workshop.

The Ministry of Environment and Home Affairs, through the Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs, recently requested the technical assistance of Dr. Christopher Malumphy, Senior Entomologist of the Food and Environment Research Agency, to survey various places on Providenciales to determine if there are insects that are not yet recorded and ascertain if they pose danger to existing plants and to the agriculture sector.

Local and international officials conducted a controlled burn in the pine forest on Middle Caicos to see if the widely used method can help save the country’s national tree, the Caribbean Pine.

The Turks and Caicos National Trust will celebrate International Day of Biodiversity on May 22 to raise awareness in the importance of the country’s marine resources in human life.

Six students from the Osetta Jolly Primary School will forego their free-time May 5 to help the environment by planting mangroves on Star Island in the Leeward Channel.