quarta-feira, 30 de janeiro de 2013

Meeting on Natural Disaster Management

On Tuesday 15 January 2013 the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MSS) organized an inter-ministerial meeting in Caicoli with the participation of national and international NGOs and the civil society. The objective of the meeting was to prepare measures aimed at acting on, and preventing, natural disasters during torrential rains.

The Vice Minister for Social Solidarity, Jacinto Rigoberto de Deus, stated that “torrential rains, a consequence of climate change, adversely affect the well-being of many families, which is why the Ministry of Social Solidarity convened this inter-ministerial meeting with the participation of all Ministries, the Civil Society and NGOs, assigning to each stakeholder its role to play in case of a natural disaster.

The Minister of Commerce, Industry and Environment (MCIA), António da Conceição, added that “natural disasters presuppose a shared responsibility, and that the responsibility for the environment falls under the purview of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Environment. Thus, MCIA takes part in this meeting so as to contribute with its efforts and to correspond to the demands posed by natural disasters, intervening through the provision of humanitarian aid. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Environment cannot act alone in responding to the demands posed by such situations; it needs to cooperate with the Ministry of Social Solidarity and has already extended its support by distributing rice to affected communities. MCIA has also been looking for adequate alternative ways of providing assistance to the services of the Ministry of Social Solidarity”.

“Measures of prevention and of support to communities for the preparation of their environment adaptation plan, information on the measures to be taken in the face of natural disasters such as immediate evacuation, reserve of food products”, the Minister added.

The Viqueque District Administrator, Francisco da Silva, underscored the importance of the meeting and commended the coordination services between the Ministry of Social Solidarity and the local authorities through the focal-points in the districts and sub-districts. He also suggested the need to facilitate the budget at the local level so that care services for victims of natural disasters can be mobilized.

SOURCE: TL Gov

segunda-feira, 28 de janeiro de 2013

U.S. and Timor-Leste Naval Forces Build Maritime Partnerships

PORT HERA NAVY BASE, Timor-Leste (NNS) - The U.S. Navy and Timorese Navy commenced the first Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Timor-Leste exercise Jan. 25, with an opening ceremony held at Port Hera Navy Base.

U.S. Ambassador Judith Fergin and Col. Falur Rate Laek, Chief of Staff of the Timor-Leste Defense Force (F-FDTL), officiated the ceremony.

Fergin reaffirmed U.S. support for Timor-Leste's efforts to consolidate peace and security gains, noting the exercise enhanced mutual cooperation.

"The contributions that the participants in Exercise CARAT will make this week will strengthen the foundations of cooperation between our two countries for years to come," said Fergin.

In his opening remarks, Laek noted that the upcoming exercises build a stronger relationship between Timor-Leste and U.S. naval forces.

"The partnership between the Timor-Leste and U.S. Navy and Marines is not a new one. These Naval and Marine exercises between Timor-Leste and United States help to will ensure peace, build experience, and strengthen the permanent partnership between Timor-Leste and the United States," said Laek.

Over the next four days, Marines from U.S. Fleet Antiterrorism and Security Team (FAST), Pacific, will conduct hands on skill transfers and combat fundamentals with their F-FDTL counterparts.

In addition to FAST, Coast Guardsmen from the U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Training Branch homeported in Yorktown, Va., and Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 5, homported in Port Hueneme, Calif., will conduct subject matter expert exchanges with the F-FDTL Navy on several F-FDTL ships. Coast Guardsmen will hold training on engineering, navigation, seamanship and damage control, while the Seabees will conduct medical, mechanical and electrical classroom courses.

Representing U.S. forces, Lt. Cmdr. Jennie Stone, CARAT Liaison Officer, Logistics Group Western Pacific, noted these exchanges allowed maritime professionals to share best practices and build partnerships.

"Our partners in the F-FDTL are skilled professionals, and this exercise helps increase interoperability between our forces, while at the same time building personal and professional relationships. This ongoing development becomes critical should future events call for our forces to work side-by-side," said Stone.

CARAT is a series of annual, bilateral maritime exercises between the U.S. Navy and the armed forces of Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Timor-Leste.


SOURCE: US Navy

sexta-feira, 18 de janeiro de 2013

China and Timor together to the fishery

*China to help professionalize Timorese in the field of fishery

The Government of China has pledged to help provide capacity building for Timorese to increase their skills and knowledge in the field of fishery.

State Secretary for Fishery, Rafael Gonsalves made the comments after meeting with Chinese ambassador to Timor-Leste yesterday in Dili.

"They are ready to help provide capacity building for the Timorese in very specific area, namely fishery. But in our recommendations it will more focus on laboratory. We have set up our laboratory, but from now we should prepare human resources", he said.

Mr. Gonsalves affirmed that, the Government would send eight officers to take part in the training on how to control quality of fishery.    

SOURCE: ETAN

sexta-feira, 11 de janeiro de 2013

Weather Check!

Woho! A pretty important tool has been installed in Atauro Island and now is working.
The Aussie NGO Seeds of Life leads several projects in Timor-Leste and one of them is about collecting weather information.
They have set up a machine that collect, process and release online the weather data from Atauro. The updates happen each 30 min, so we can have a full description of the Atauro's weather immediatly.
Seeds of Life is about to instal a second machine in Oecusse, but it is still under tests.
To know more about the project, click here
To see the weather performance in Atauro, click here.... Suggestion: Very worth checking it out!!




segunda-feira, 7 de janeiro de 2013

Ramos Horta talking about the environment

This is the first post of the year. Interesting video where Ramos-Horta speaks about the Australian NGO WithOneSeed. Cool Horta's reading about the Timorese environment.
                                                                    
                                                                      

WithOneSeed Patron – Jose Ramos Horta from WithOneSeed on Vimeo.