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The FORECAST Grand Innovation Challenge 2022 (GIC) is to develop a feasible innovation (prototype/product/concept) that will revolutionize the management, protection, and use of water resources in the Caribbean.
The worldwide ginger market was valued at US$6.82 billion in 2020, with India, Nigeria and China being the top global producers (Global Ginger Market Report, 2021). Jamaican ginger once held pride of place in the global market, with its widely accepted superior quality, uniqueness of flavor and high oil content. However, since the initial outbreak of the ginger rhizome rot disease in 1995, production has drastically plummeted to insignificant levels and the industry has not yet recovered. In this regard, a number of intervention strategies have been implemented by the Government of Jamaica over the years, including the Eastern Jamaica Agricultural Support Project of 1993 under RADA, the Ginger Agricultural Science, Technology and Innovation Working Group initiative supported by the CTA ACP-EU under the National Commission and Science and Technology in 2005, the Ginger Resuscitation and Expansion Programme of 2011 led by the Export Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ginger Value Chain Study supported by the FAO, the Ginger Varietal Study funded through the Jamaica Business Development Fund in 2018 and the ongoing Ginger Value Chain and Certification Programme supported by the FAO, with propagation and production of disease-free planting materials. These programmes, amounting to investments of millions of dollars, through partnerships with the key private, governmental and international stakeholders, have been met with varying degrees of success.
Invasive alien species (IAS) are implicated in the extinction or decline of numerous native aquatic species worldwide. Their negative impacts occur through mechanisms including habitat alteration, competition, predation, hybridisation, and the spread of disease (Strayer et al. 2006). Small island ecosystems are most susceptible to the impacts of IAS. Once established, freshwater IAS are difficult to eradicate without negatively impacting native species.
The malaria epidemic was responsible for about 241 million infectious cases and 627,000 deaths worldwide in 2020.[1] This infectious disease, transmitted by the female Anopheles mosquito, is caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium namely P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, P. knowlesi, P. ovale curtisi and P. ovale wallikeri.[2,3] Also, malaria is found predominantly in the highlands of Africa which accounts for more than 90% of infections worldwide. While there has been some success in the treatment of malaria, its eradication has been negatively impacted by insecticide and drug resistance. With emergence of thiosemicarbazone as antimalarial agents, the combination of pyridine and amide or thioamide moieties into one scaffold makes for an interesting target.[4]
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