The Bahamas is at an Environmental Tipping Point

by Larry Smith

Over the holidays Tough Call spent time in two of our fastest-growing out island boom towns - Spanish Wells and Marsh Harbour. And for the past couple of years this column has been writing about critical development issues facing New Providence.

I am no expert (although I play one in the media), but as a reasonably close observer and a concerned citizen I have concluded that the Bahamas is reaching a tipping point - in more ways than one. Last week's column ended with a promise to look at what the future of the Bahamian environment will be like. Well, the short answer is that it will be shaped by what we are doing today.

For decades the Family Islands have been rural and remote. And the pressures now building on New Providence were not so daunting in the recent past. We could complacently overlook many of the unpleasant side effects of development and population growth because, by and large, things weren't that bad.

But now the chickens are coming home to roost. The problems are both multiplying and magnifying. And if we are not very careful, we stand to lose not only our quality of life but our very existence as a functioning society. Here are just a few of the more 'in your face' examples of these problems, culled from recent visits to North Eleuthera and Abaco.

The Wild, Wild West
We start with the fact that very little thought is given to planning issues in Family Island communities, where for the most part a wild west mentality prevails. Those with money (and those with no money, as the case may be) simply barge ahead and do what they want with little consideration for others or for the future.

Spanish Wells, for example, has exhausted just about all of its vacant land and is rapidly converting former farmland on nearby Russell Island into a residential suburb - shared with the ubiquitous Haitian refugees, of course. Nothing wrong with that, you may say. But now there is unregulated industrial development on Russell Island too.

In addition to the oil-fired power plant, a heavy equipment dump site sprawls along the main access road from the single-lane bridge linking Russell Island to Spanish Wells proper. No attempt is made to limit or hide this unsightly mess or to properly dispose of hazardous materials like batteries and oil. Just up the main road from the bridge a window and door factory has been built, while nearby residents dredge and clear large swathes of mangrove to build more docks.

Marsh Harbour's most congested area is at the Crossings - where a privately-owned ferry dock established years ago to service offshore communities like Hope Town and Guana Cay sits on a narrow isthmus separating the town from a residential community called Eastern Shores. As development has accelerated, the Crossings has degenerated into an impenetrable mass of vehicles and luggage. A chaos that will only get worse as surrounding communities grow like topsy.

This ferry dock, by the way, is across from Marsh Harbour's only public beach - a little cove that Friends of the Environment tried to restore and protect a few years ago by planting sea oats and other shoreline plants. A Nassau developer recently bought the adjacent three-quarter-acre property and set about building a series of three-storey apartment blocks right on the water's edge overshadowing the public beach as well as the ferry free-for-all.

Incendiary town meetings have been held over this project, with opponents pointing out that the contractor is also the chairman of the town planning committee. This is an intractable issue because the apartments are already half built and there are no easy ways to move the ferry dock. The best option, some say, involves dredging a couple of miles of hard bottom at a cost of up to $2 million.

The crisis at the Crossings is emblematic of the kind of development problems Marsh Harbour must deal with, but it pales in the face of the vast and totally unregulated Haitian squatter villages that have sprung up around the town and in the pine forest - all of which are growing exponentially. These illegal communities have the potential to unleash deadly epidemics as well as violent ethnic conflict, either of which would lead to severe economic consequences for the entire country.

Meanwhile, a decade after the government's IDB-funded waste project for the islands got underway, Abaco's sanitary landfill and garbage transfer stations remain unused while toxic mounds of trash burn like Dante's inferno near residential areas in Dundas Town. And contractors are busy excavating tons of quarry by razing the hills around Marsh Harbour at will, reportedly without paying royalties and with no planning oversight.

To the south, a venture capital group out of Atlanta recently bought 1300 acres from the Nihon family to replicate yet another second home resort on prime beachfront property. Just the act of surveying this land has produced storms of protest from environmentalists as historic ruins were bulldozed and tracks cleared through the wilderness of the adjacent national park.

In fact, Abaco's historic sites are increasingly threatened by careless and unregulated development. BEC is planning a new power plant at the old Wilson City lumber camp, and there are little-known 19th century sisal and pineapple plantations, whaling stations, early settlements and Lucayan Indian sites scattered throughout the island. Through inappropriate development we face the loss of what little cultural heritage we have left.

Graver and Graver
On New Providence circumstances are, of course, much graver. As one of the most densely populated areas in the Caribbean, Nassau has a population of more than 225,000. And it is expected to reach 340,000 by 2030 - more people than we have in the entire country today. Vehicle numbers on New Providence are increasing by 35 per day - or 7000 a year. And there will be 21,000 more drivers (those aged 16 to 65) by 2015, 35,000 more by 2020 and 50,000 more by 2030.

If you think those statistics are mind-numbing, you should reflect on the areas of New Providence that would be severely affected by storm surge from a direct hit by a major hurricane. A category five storm would flood the entire island, except for the coastal ridge running from Clifton to East End and the central ridge running from Marathon to Lake Cunningham. And scientists say we are going to see more intense storms more often.

Meanwhile, public access to our coastline has been shrinking steadily, protective wetlands are being destroyed all over the country and beaches are eroding wherever careless development takes place. Two of the worst examples on New Providence are Cable Beach and Delaporte Beach, which offer a warning for the pending bisection of Adelaide Beach by the Albany project.

Sandyport was built in 1989 when the developers cut a canal through Delaporte beach and began filling in a wetland. This has not only destroyed the mangroves, it has impeded public access, promoted beach erosion and removed huge amounts of sand from the coastal system over the years. In fact, the entire degraded north coast of New Providence is a testament to poor environmental management promoted by government indifference.

On Cable Beach, the ill-advised construction of the garish Crystal Palace Hotel had much the same impact as Sandyport on one of the country's most valuable assets. This once spectacular beach has been degraded, public access has been cut off and tourists now play in an artificial lagoon. And if the Baha Mar project ever gets underway there are legitimate fears that a marina channel will be cut through the beach, leading to further damage and loss of access.

Years ago there was a plan to identify and protect "windows to the sea", so that Bahamians could retain some access to our all-important shoreline. The Christie government talked much the same talk (while handing foreign developers a license to take over Athol and Rose Island), and just this past weekend Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham spoke of the need for environmental stewardship, improved town planning and a programme to "identify, label and clear all public beach access on New Providence."

The issues outlined above are just a selection of the kind that we are all familiar with, but just haven't had the time, guts or brains to deal with. They will continue to degrade our quality of life over the near term - a little bit here and a little bit there. But looking further ahead we can discern some of the more dangerous threats looming on the horizon.

That Sinking Feeling
The burning of fossil fuels since the industrial revolution has released enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to cause major climate shifts with the potential to inflict serious damage on the natural systems that human civilisation relies upon. The overwhelming scientific consensus is that we must cut these greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent below 1990 levels by the year 2050 - and be extremely lucky - in order to stabilise the climate and avoid a global catastrophe.

In the last decade of the 20th century the rate of sea level rise doubled to 3 millimeters a year, and the greatest fear of scientists is that a runaway domino effect caused by global warming will lead to an ice-free world and massive sea level rises. Some are predicting a rise of 10 to 20 feet over the next century or two, but even much lower estimates carry serious implications for our low-lying islands.

According to Neil Sealey, who is updating a regional geography textbook for Macmillan Caribbean, a sea level rise of just one foot would flood virtually every coastal community in the country at high tide and damage ground water lenses. "The impact would be severest in areas like the north coast of New Providence where man-made coastal damage has reduced the natural defences."

Works & Utilities Minister Earl Deveaux, who took part in the United Nations conference on climate change in Bali last month, says global warming "would effectively submerge 80 per cent of our islands," meaning that inland water tables would be pushed up by sea water intrusion. He added that we can expect stronger storms, more coastal erosion and flooding of low-lying areas, and the degradation of ecosystems on which many Bahamians depend.

So what are the appropriate policy responses to these threats? They include a strict building code for shoreline construction, restoring and protecting beaches and dunes, avoiding construction in flood-prone areas, and relocating roads and other infrastructure away from vulnerable shoreline areas.

Which Way Will We Tip?
But perhaps the biggest short-term threat to our way of life (other than the breakdown in social relations) is the rising cost and consequences of producing energy from fossil fuels. In his weekend address the prime minister belatedly acknowledged that the "dramatic impact of oil prices gives validity to demands for the development and use of alternative energy sources, including solar and wind."

And he signaled a renewed effort to formulate an energy policy that will make it easier for Bahamian consumers to access alternative energy sources and more energy-efficient technologies. That is something that this column has been urging for a long time - and it is something the Christie administration was supposed to have been working on for years. Who knows when such a policy will ever be implemented?

While all this may sound like a litany of woes, the good news is that the solutions to our problems are not rocket science and are not out of our reach. In many cases the information is already there, the costs are reasonable, the benefits clear, funding is available, people want to help, and the hurdles are far from insurmountable.

Our failure to address them stems more from sheer indifference and a gross lack of political will, complicated by corruption and naked self interest. But business as usual is no longer an option. We are at a tipping point - which way do YOU want the Bahamas to tip?

Comments

[drew Roberts]

"And he signaled a renewed effort to formulate an energy policy that will make it easier for Bahamian consumers to access alternative energy sources and more energy-efficient technologies."

1. All parts needed to install sorlar or wind powered generator SYSTEMS for personal* use are duty free and stamp tax free.

2. Any Bahamian who can take his/her home/business off grid and possibly be a net supplier to the grid gets exempted from property tax.

* personal use includes business use. it means use on the site where the generating is done.

Any think making such changes might kick start the move?

Better alternative ideas?

all the best,

drew

[C.Lowe]

I echo Drew, the parts of the system like charge regulators, inverters, and deep cell batteries must also be duty free, as eliminating the duty on wind mill generators and PV panels alone is only a reduction on half the install equipment costs.
Solar waterheaters also would reduce demand on the grid, but most Bahamians cannot handle the up front cost, even though a solar waterheater would pay for itself in two years.
Net metering for commercial property install is a must.
Residential can follow.
Oh, by the way, change legislation on the books that currently prohibits generating your own.

[Bob Knaus]

I hate to sound like a broken record... for the young, we used to have these things called LPs that you put in a "turntable" and if the tracks got worn they would play the same thing over & over... anyways the solution is empowered local government. Seriously. I've said this again and again.

Who knows the landfill problems the best? The locals, not the bureaucrats in Nassau. Who hires, and feeds, and helps, the Haitians? The locals, not the bureaucrats in Nassau. Who has the best ideas on how to solve development issues? The locals, not the bureaucrats in Nassau.

Forget the pie-in-the-sky dreams of solving Bahamian environmental problems by tweaking duty rates for solar and wind gadgets. That is SO colonial, SO soviet central planning, SO elitist. Devolve power to the locals. Trust the locals. This is where the future lies.

If you give the people the power to solve their own problems, they will.

[larry smith]

I am all for more devolution, but I am not sure it is a panacea for the problems discussed above - many of which are intractable precisely because of local involvement.

We need forward-thinking national policies that are effective and enforceable, as well as more local government.

[Bob Knaus]

I should clarify what I mean by empowered local government. This is local government that is freely and frequently elected; has designated sources of revenue that can be adjusted to need; has authority to set budgets and service levels within its jurisdiction; and can be overridden by the central government only for gross incompetence or malfeasance.

In short, local government with equal measures of authority and responsibility.

What we have today is toothless town planning committees, rubber stamp town councils, and editorials from Dave Ralph bemoaning the lack of competent citizens willing to serve. Well, why in the world would they want to, when they would have no power to get anything done?

So, yes, we have horrid examples of locals messing up the environment. But in my opinion that comes from too little local involvement, rather than too much.

[drew Roberts]

Bob,

the two things are not mutually exclusive as far as I see.

Just last night at dinner I suggested that one of the things needed to "fix" the problems in Nassau are to get us off this island.

I suggested that one approach to doing this would be to move parliament to Andros, Gran Bahama, or Abaco, preferably Andros or Freeport for different reasons.

Along with real local government which you call empowered local government.

In fact, we need local government for Nassau itself as well.

And as little of it as is reasonable from my perspective.

Making alternative energy "stuff" duty and even stamp tax free would still help though. (In my opinion.)

all the best,

drew

[Dan Sitarz]

The use of government incentives to spur renewable energy is a very cost-effective way to develop new energy sources. The rebate of any taxes or duties on the importation of parts for wind or solar energy systems is common sense. The additional rebate of property taxes for anyone able to generate sufficient energy to be off-grid is also a very cost-effective way to both spur energy efficient development and lower emissions in the Bahamas. The technology is available to allow any current and future development in the Out Islands to be wholly self-sufficient energy-wise with wind and solar energy. The up-front cost is higher per unit, but these costs can now be rolled over into mortgage products that provide for energy upgrades, and thus allow the user to pay for the higher initial costs over time. Any additional governmental support (such as the tax/duty rebates or, perhaps, actual subsidies) can only assist in the inevitable process of lessening the use of fossil-fuel based energy in the Bahamas. These islands are blessed with an abundance of renewable energy sources, both the trade winds and the sunshine, that can be valued in the billions of dollars. Governmental support to take advantage of these energy sources would be an excellent starting point. Thanks, Dan

[Kimberly]

Thank you, thank you, thank you ... can you stop by Briland the next time you're in the neighbourhood ;-)? Same dish, different day.

[Tim Roberts]

I would like to comment on one aspect of your article, having lived in Nassau and presently living in Abaco, I see a number of things that need to happen in order to effect change.
First of all, as previously stated, Empowered Local Government is needed; however, I would also suggest that these men be EDUCATED in their duties and responsibilities, fully realizing their mandate as public representatives of the people. Far too many representatives do not understand the functions their office demands, and what they are able or not able to do. I do know these people are by and large volunteers, however, since they desire a position that is for the service of their communities they ought to give the right amount of diligence to doing their job well.
Second, the problem I see here in Abaco comes from indifference and ignorance. We need to educate people on the value of preservation and help the masses understand that we need to plan for more than just jobs (money in our pockets) today, but try to have a vision for the future; one that is a sustainable future.
One of the biggest dangers to the environmental concerns of Abaco is that we have an island full of natural treasures that are ultimately going to be sold away to the interests of developers (foreign or local) who will in the end (rightly so) want to get something out of their investment. Often there will be outright disregard for the natural, historic and cultural environment of Abaco. If we want to see change we the people need to make it known. We need leaders who will be willing to inform the people and stand for them in the government –this is what is needed immediately. We need citizens are involved in ensuring the ‘transparency’ of the government in all things.
Also, creating incentives and concessions will only help the minority of Bahamians who are knowledgeable and that are legitimately concerned about the environment. It is a good idea, however, not a solution. Government at present rules what happens in this country, and until we get a better educated electorate that is not indifferent there will continue to be ‘cheap’ solutions to big problems. The biggest hurdle is the people themselves. If the majority doesn’t care, than why should the government?
On that note I petition as many as are able to create entities to educate, and groups that will relentlessly pursue the government on education reform. And, in the meantime stand and let your voice be heard as much as possible and hope more voices join.