30% of Barbados seas to be protected under innovative “blue bond” financing scheme
The Nature Conservancy announced it will work with partners to buy a piece of Barbados’ national debt and refinance it to facilitate this goal.
Caribbean
Stories from the Caribbean track progress across the region’s diverse island nations and coastal communities. Coverage includes advances in climate resilience, marine conservation, public health, and economic development — reported with context and care.
Barbados’ High Court strikes down laws criminalizing sodomy
Barbados becomes the third Caribbean nation this year to repeal such laws used to criminalize gay men.
Cuba approves same-sex marriage in historic turnabout
Same-sex marriage in Cuba is now legal, after roughly two-thirds of voters approved a sweeping new family code that also opens adoption to gay couples. Before the referendum, the draft was workshopped at more than 79,000 neighborhood meetings, drawing over 300,000 citizen suggestions that shaped the final text. The 100-page code goes well beyond marriage equality, condemning family violence, urging equal sharing of housework, and giving children a formal voice in family decisions. It’s a remarkable turn for a country that once sent gay men to labor camps, and it places Cuba alongside Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia in Latin America’s steady movement toward fuller recognition of who counts as a family.
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court strikes down ban on buggery
The Offenses Against the Person Act, imported from England, criminalized “unnatural offenses” and carried a maximum penalty of 10 years with hard labor.
Caribbean court strikes down gay ban in Antigua & Barbuda
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court found that Antigua and Barbuda’s 1995 Sexual Offenses Act “offends the right to liberty, protection of the law, freedom of expression, protection of personal privacy and protection from discrimination on the basis of sex.”
Cuba bolsters conservation efforts with new 271 square mile Marine Protected Area
The MPA will protect mangrove forests, seagrass beds and coral reefs, and boost the nation’s overall marine protected coverage to 28.5% of its marine continental shelf.
AXIS Capital becomes first North American insurer to commit to phase out coal business
AXIS Capital announced new measures restricting insurance and investments in coal, tar sands oil, and Arctic oil and gas, as part of the company’s efforts to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Barbados elects first ever president ahead of becoming republic
The government announced the plan to move to a republic status last year. It said “the time [had] come” for Barbados to “fully leave our colonial past behind”.
Cuba is the first country in the world to eliminate mother-to-child HIV and syphilis transmission
The country’s efforts include prenatal care, HIV and syphilis testing for pregnant women and their partners, treatment for women who test positive and their babies, cesarean deliveries and breastfeeding substitution.
Groundbreaking treaty protects environmental activists in Latin America
In addition to improving public access to environmental information and encouraging public participation in environmental policymaking, the treaty also requires participating countries to protect environmental human rights defenders.