Bahama Pundit

Lessons From the Flood

by Pat Rahming

Pat Rahming is one of the country’s leading architects and storytellers. This guest column developed from an online conversation immediately after the recent floods.

As  a child, I played “under the floor”. It was a wonderful place, full of possibilities. My friends and I would find places to hide or to play house or school, or to hide our childhood treasures – marbles, baseballs, comic books – or to just pretend adventure. My uncle stored lumber there as well, waiting to be delivered to the jobsite. The world “under the floor” was different for everyone, but it was important to us all.

The first time I remember a flood in my part of Bain Town, I was not yet a teenager. The water in the street was above my knees, but I could sit, high and dry, on the top step leading up to my porch and watch things float by.

I listened as my grandmother held her three-way conversations, standing on our porch, with her friends across the street, also on their porches. Only one house in the neighbourhood was affected by the flood. It was a small house owned by a man who was leasing a spot in the yard next door to ours until he had paid for his own lot nearby, at which point he would move the house. Ignoring the warnings, he had placed on six blocks – much too low to the ground.

I don’t think my grandmother felt particularly lucky that there was no water in her house. That was why the house had been built on tall, cut stone blocks nearly 30 years earlier. Instead, she was annoyed that she could not get to work. You see, back then everyone knew a house should be built above the flood level. Everyone.

More than a half century later, no-one knows. Two weeks ago, following a once-in-a-decade deluge, hundreds, if not thousands of houses, built near the ground in low-lying areas, found themselves fighting water inside, sill-high. The common knowledge that during one of the two annual rainy seasons there would be flooding is no longer so common.

Bahamas Energy Policy and Man Piaba

by Larry Smith

The recent budget proposals relating to the Bahamas Electricity Corporation are clear evidence of the government's failure so far to create a new energy model for the country.

The path to that model has been outlined over the past two administrations. It calls for changes to the Electricity Act (which dates to the 1950s), a modern Renewable Energy Act to provide a framework for alternative energy production, and a new management regime (including a waste-to-energy plant) at the environmental disaster we know as the Harrold Road landfill.

Last summer, Environment Minister Ken Dorsett made a grandiose statement to parliament confirming that the government was "working assiduously" to achieve these goals. But only recently, State Investments Minister Khaalis Rolle admitted the entire situation was "still under review".

Reform of the regulatory framework for energy was a key recommendation made by Fichtner, the German consultants to the previous administration paid by the InterAmerican Development Bank. However, the Christie administration asked for these issues to be re-studied by the Malaysian multinational, Genting Group. They completed their review late last year, arriving at similar conclusions.

After the Deluge: Flooding on New Providence

by Larry Smith

Several years ago I sat in on a meeting where a government planner displayed some startling maps. They showed the areas of New Providence that would be severely affected by storm surge from a direct hit by a major hurricane.

A category three storm would heavily impact the airport and Lake Killarney area, the entire south coast (except for Clifton) and major over-the-hill housing areas. 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.

"These maps show the potential risk areas from a major hurricane strike," the planner explained. "But they also demonstrate that we don't have good high land to build on, and the land that is available now is not desirable."

According to the 2004 Water Resources Assessment of the Bahamas produced by the US Army Corps of Engineers, flooding has always been a major concern during our summer rainy season. But such conditions are becoming more frequent and severe due to the stronger storms and sea level rise produced by climate change.

Lighthouse Point and the History of South Eleuthera

by Larry Smith

ROCK SOUND, Eleuthera -- Other than sun, sand and sea, South Eleuthera's attractions are modest - a landlocked ocean hole where you can feed the snappers, an 87-year-old fig tree spreading along the highway, and an historic Methodist manse.

The Methodist Mission House dates back two centuries, and has been meticulously restored as a museum and community centre. A foundation, led by Chandra Sands (daughter of the late Rock Sound entrepeneur Albert Sands), raised over half a million dollars to support the project.

The Mission has seen a lot of history in its time. Among the items featured in its museum are obsolete medical equipment. That's because in 1942 the building became a community clinic, courtesy of American industrialist Arthur Vining Davis.

According to Albert Sands, in a 2002 speech, Eleuthera survived on small-scale farming and fishing before 1939 "when Arthur Vining Davis stepped onto the scene, introduced to the island by Sir Harold Christie. He bought all the land there was, and our forefathers went to work for him."

Belize Court Voids Oil Concessions Protested by Environmentalists

by Larry Smith

BELMOPAN, Belize -- In a historic ruling here Wednesday (April 16), the Supreme Court nullified offshore oil exploration licenses issued by the government in 2004 and 2007, and extended in 2009.

The concessions were awarded secretly by this CARICOM nation of 356,000 people - sandwiched between Guatemala and Mexico. They included rights to drill for oil on land and in offshore waters, including sensitive protected areas of Belize's famed barrier reef - a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

After a whistleblower brought the concessions to public attention in 2010, scores of civil society groups banded together to form the Belize Coalition to Save our Natural Heritage. The Coalition launched a vigorous campaign against offshore drilling, which was supported by the international marine conservation society, Oceana.

Christie’s Oil Slick

by Simon

Referring to their twin island-nation’s oil wealth, some Trinidadians and Tobagonians liked to brag, “Oil don’t spoil.”  It may not spoil in the ground.  But the potential to spoil rotten, some politicians, public officials and others is legend.

Speaking ahead of the gambling referendum In January, Bahamas Faith Ministries International President Dr. Myles Munroe sounded this dire warning:

“Any government pressured by a small lobby group such as the gaming bosses will inevitably produce corruption.  And if this referendum goes through we will never have a pure government again.” 

Bahamaislandsinfo.com further reported: “He [Dr. Munroe] also stated that the motivation of the referendum of the governing authority seems to be the surrender to the powers with money.  In other words he said that the government cannot rightly govern because they will owe allegiance to the few and not to the citizenry or the people of The Bahamas.”

The pastor’s warning is noteworthy.  The nature and role of leadership have been central themes of Dr. Munroe’s ministry.  The quality of leadership at various levels of society will be pivotal in the debate on oil exploration.  

Freedom of Information and Environmental Protection in the Bahamas and Caribbean

by Larry Smith

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- As prospectors are about to drill for oil in Bahamian waters, it's worth taking a look at the recent experience of petroleum licensing in a fellow CARICOM state - Belize.

Over the past several years, the government of that little Central American nation - sandwiched between Guatemala and Mexico - secretly handed out licenses to a slew of shell companies to drill for oil throughout the country and its offshore waters, including in protected areas. 

This sparked the formation of the Belize Coalition to Save our Natural Heritage, which has been fighting a running battle with the government over oil licenses. The coalition includes scores of civil society groups and is supported by Oceana, an international marine conservation society.

A "people's referendum" was organised just before the last general election (in March 2012), which resulted in an overwhelming no vote against offshore oil drilling by more than 29,000 people. The coalition also took the government to court, with a decision expected next month.

At a regional conference here last week - organised by the Jamaica Environment Trust, the World Resources Institute, the University of the West Indies and others - Belize was cited as a prime example of why freedom of information is vital for good governance and environmental protection.

Christie & PLP Cannot be Trusted on Oil

by Simon

Imagine this two-part scenario, the very implausibility of which makes it even that more instructive.

During a British general election, it is revealed that the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the opposition party served in some combination as legal advisor and/or consultant for a company exploring for oil.

Not only is the matter of exploration highly controversial.  The politicians mentioned, were they to assume office as prime minister and deputy prime minister, would be key figures in deciding a range of issues for their recent clients. 

Pressed to detail the nature of their duties and relationship with the company, including remuneration, the potential numbers one and two in a new administration issue vague comments.  Despite a lack of transparency, the leaders claim that there is no conflict of interest.  

Conservationists Gear Up to Save Conch in Bahamas

by Larry Smith

Bahamian conch populations are in danger of collapsing - as they already have elsewhere in the region - and this was a point of discussion at the Bahamas National Natural History Conference held recently at the College of the Bahamas. The headline takeaway was that a major campaign is being prepared to avert what experts say would be a cultural as well as an ecological catastrophe. 

The key point to understand is that conchs don't reproduce at all if their numbers fall below a certain level within a specified location. That’s because – like groupers - they gather in large spawning aggregations to breed. And scientists have observed no mating at all at a density of less than about 50 adults per hectare. 

So having conch in our future diet is based entirely on our ability to maintain sufficient numbers today in enough locations. Unfortunately, this picture is made worse by the fact that conch mature slowly. It takes five years before they reproduce (and they can live up to 40 years), but they are now being harvested well before they have a chance to breed.

At the natural history conference, scientists, fishermen, students and others listened to the latest research and engaged in a roundtable discussion of ways to protect this critically important fishery resource. It was a timely moment, because last year a petition was filed in the United States to list the queen conch under the Endangered Species Act. 

That would eliminate all trade between the Caribbean and the US, which currently imports more than 70 per cent of the remaining regional conch harvest - including 600,000 pounds a year from the Bahamas (other countries that still export conch are Belize, Honduras and the Turks & Caicos Islands). A full-scale status review of the species is now underway by the Americans. 

Fishermen Confront Defence Force Over Poaching in Bahamian Waters

by Larry Smith

A Bahamian delegation returns to the Dominican Republic next week for more talks on a bilateral agreement to address illegal fishing. And the government is about to approve a $200 million investment in new patrol boats and port facilities for the Defence Force.

These were the two big take-aways from a meeting with fishermen held at the Coral Harbour Defence Force base last Friday.

Besides fishermen, wholesalers and marines, the attendees included National Security Minister Bernard Nottage, Marine Resources Director Michael Braynan, and Chet Neymour of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ministers Fred Mitchell and Alfred Gray failed to show up.

The meeting was the result of a growing fear among fishermen that poaching is out of control, with Bahamians risking violent confrontation with Dominican fishermen whenever they go to sea.