News stories by Desmond Brown, page 16

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua, Jul 25 (IPS) - In a case of "if you can’t beat them, eat them," Caribbean countries have embarked on a new strategy to deal with the invasive lionfish, whose voracious appetite is wiping out fish stocks from Bermuda to Barbados in what scientists believe to be the worst marine invasion in history.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, Jul 19 (IPS) - Thirty years into the HIV and AIDS epidemic, Caribbean countries are slowly putting necessary legislation in place to ensure the rights of workers despite their HIV/AIDS and chronic disease status.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Jul 18 (IPS) - When it comes to pursuing a greener path to economic development, the tiny Caribbean island of Barbados is not about to allow its small size and limited resources to get in its way.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Jul 13 (IPS) - Ordinarily they live for at least half a century. But at least 20,000 leatherback sea turtle hatchlings never made it past their nesting ground at Grand Riviere, a stretch of shoreline along Trinidad's north coast, in what's been described as "an engineering disaster" last weekend.

It has been dubbed the 'Nature Isle' of the Caribbean, its craggy and dense rain forests, usually covered with fog, bearing testament to how cool temperatures can be here.

It has been dubbed the 'Nature Isle' of the Caribbean, its craggy and dense rain forests, usually covered with fog, bearing testament to how cool temperatures can be here.

Mere weeks ago Arthur Smith, who has been farming here for more than 20 years, was dangling thousands of carrots in front of local consumers, but there were no buyers to be had.

Something is decimating the coconut and other palm trees here and no one seems to know exactly what it is.

Eli Fuller is a third-generation Antiguan who, for the past two decades, has been exploring the Antigua and Barbuda coastline. But he laments the fact that he can no longer see the coral that he recalls were somewhat of an underwater jungle when he was a young boy, akin to what you'd see in the Amazon rain forest.

The tourist brochure shows pictures of lovely white sandy beaches, tall coconut trees and rolling mountains. Welcome to the Caribbean.