by Larry Smith
The billions of dollars in development projects slated for the Bahamas could devastate our natural environment if we are not careful, experts say.
Tourism is the world’s biggest industry, and we are just off the coast of a huge, affluent market. Our relative safety, low population density and outstanding physical amenities make the Bahamas a prized destination.
As one Internet message board posting put it, “Winding Bay (on Abaco) is sold out. Emerald Bay (in Exuma) is sold out. Everybody wants to be in the Islands of the Bahamas. All the Sunday travel sections are regaling these developments. The Bahamas is HOT, HOT, HOT.”
Multi-million-dollar projects like these represent our only national development strategy. In fact, the policy of siting “anchor” developments on major islands dates back to the Pindling era, (when the Family Island Master Plan was drafted) and was hotly pursued by the Ingraham administration.
Like a major tenant that helps carry a retail property, the idea is for investors to build residential/resort complexes that will provide infrastructure for local communities and spur economic growth. These projects are thought to make the most profitable use of our limited resources.
Meanwhile, the North American demand for vacation homes in convenient and safe waterfront areas is rising dramatically, and most Bahamian islands are still underdeveloped. Abaco is a leading example – already, more visitors to that island stay in second homes than in hotels.
Dave Ralph of the Abaconian newspaper in Marsh Harbour, says the secondary benefits of residential tourism are just as lucrative as traditional hotel tourism. Boat and golf cart rentals, restaurants, shops and other local businesses rely on servicing second homers.
“Abaco's native population of 13,000 is served by five commercial banks in Marsh Harbour,” he points out. “(That population) cannot support five banks. It is our substantial base of second home owners that support these banks. Rental houses have allowed small settlements to participate in the tourism boom without the benefit of a hotel.”
Like hotel guests, most second homers prefer the coast - the most fragile part of the environment in an island nation like ours. In fact, scientists view the entire Bahamas as a coastal zone, with familiar features like coral reefs, mangrove wetlands, beaches, and sea grass beds that are important for local fisheries as well as foreign tourism.
But it is becoming increasingly clear to policymakers around the world that national development goals cannot be met without good environmental protection. The world’s natural resources are under severe pressure from poorly planned, uncontrolled, and in some cases, difficult-to-sustain development.
In the Caribbean,for example, tourism expansion has led to deforestation, beach loss, lagoon pollution and reef damage from dredging, boat anchoring and improper waste disposal by hotels, cruise ships and yachts. But these are the very assets that attract tourists in the first place. So experts are calling for greener, lower-density tourism styles.
In the Bahamas, decisions on land development are made in a vacuum. And the government often has no real understanding of the carrying capacity of either the infrastructure or the environment. Outdated land administration procedures are inefficiently split between a variety of government agencies.
And since the government controls 70 per cent of our real estate and must vet all investment projects – this is an important issue. In fact, some $5 million has recently been allocated to come up with an integrated land use policy to help the Bahamas tackle these problems.
According to the Inter-American Development Bank (which is providing most of the cash), such a policy “will ensure a pattern of growth and use of land that supports development while addressing sustainability issues and environmental concerns.”
That’s because the existing framework was not designed to cope with the level of development pressure the country now faces. And the pressure derives from a strategy that has been pursued by all Bahamian governments.
Chief among the planning deficiencies is the lack of zoning outside of New Providence and Grand Bahama. Planning regulations in Nassau are hardly enforced anyway, and Family Island communities have little say in the decision-making process.
In addition to the IDB’s land administration upgrade project, studies are underway on how to protect coastal zones from careless – and often unnecessary - destruction. One of these is a five-year project on coastal ecology in the Bahamas supported by the Earthwatch Institute, which began in 2002.
Earthwatch (http://www.earthwatch.org/) engages volunteers in field research and education around the world “to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment.” Currently, it supports more than 140 expeditions in 48 countries.
The Bahamian research is looking at the effects of coastline development by comparing satellite data to on-the-ground information. The goal is to measure development impacts and find ways to protect and restore important ecosystems.
The Earthwatch team has already surveyed coasts on Andros, Eleuthera and Exuma, and is now working on Abaco. The project is led by marine biologist Dr Kathleen Sullivan Sealey, who recently became Dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences at the College of the Bahamas, on secondment from the University of Miami.
“Tropical islands present a particular challenge in balancing development needs and environmental protection,” Dr Sullivan Sealey says. “We are working on a ranking system for human impacts on Bahamian coastlines that will guide development planning and national park placement.”
A lot of the Abaco fieldwork is being conducted at Great Guana Cay, where a 585-acre development called Baker’s Bay Golf & Ocean Club has aroused much controversy lately.
As a biology professor at the University of Miami, Dr Sullivan Sealey produced the 140-page environmental impact assessment of the project for the BEST Commission recently (http://www.saveguanacay.com/index.php).
Although the EIA costs were underwritten by the developer – in this case, the Discovery Land Company of San Francisco – the report was researched and written under an arm’s length grant to the university. Researchers are also monitoring the development to see that environmental guidelines are followed.
The research team will observe the development progress and submit regular reports to the government that will compare field research to pre-development data and offer solutions to any problems that may arise.
According to Dr Livingstone Marshall, the prime minister’s former science advisor who was recently put in charge of environmental and community affairs at Baker’s Bay, the project's environmental team is” the largest single in-house gathering of experts ever assembled on a long-term basis for any development project in the Bahamas.”
In a recent talk, he said the project would “preserve the island’s natural vistas, retain a shoreline buffer in its natural state, restore damaged coastal areas, prohibit private docks and maintain public beach access.
In addition to development spending, the Baker’s Bay project is expected to turn over a billion dollars in real estate sales during the next several years. Bahamian realtors will earn commissions on these transactions and the government will tax them. And the wealthy second homers who come to buy are expected to pump huge amounts of cash into the Abaco economy.
But we should not overlook the fact that Guana Cay – like other islands in the Bahamas - has been undergoing an unplanned transformation for years. The Baker’s Bay property was acquired from Ludwig Meister – a naturalised Bahamian who also operates the Treasure Cay Club. Meister was responsible for the cruise ship channel and shore facility built by Premier Cruise Lines in 1989 under license from Disney.
When the 90-acre shore facility closed in 1993, it was simply abandoned – leaving derelict buildings, dump sites, and hazardous materials. Nearby reefs were degraded by dredging and debris from the dock and dolphin pen. And invasive plants were introduced that out-compete the native vegetation.
So the Baker’s Bay developers have launched a milion-dollar remediation programme. Contaminated soil and arsenic-treated lumber, storage tanks and electrical transformers are being removed, along with invasive plants and trees. The nearshore environment will be cleaned up and corals are being transplanted on artificial patch reefs to replace those that were smothered by the cruise ship dredging.
And we must also accept that there are other developments on the island that follow no particular environmental guidelines, have no central waste disposal facilities, are unconcerned about invasive plants, allow multiple docks along the shore, and don’t observe proper coastal setbacks.
The Guana Cay controversy highlights the key development issues for small island states like the Bahamas. How do you decide what level of development is appropriate? And how do you control and minimise the negative impact on the environment while maximising the economic benefits?
The government has been edging towards answering these questions ever since the Bahamas Environment, Science & Technology Commission was created in 1994. A national environmental policy has been put forward for public discussion. And the BEST Commission will soon be upgraded into a full-fledged Department of the Environment.
A raft of facilitating legislation has been circulated recently (http://www.best.bs/environ_law.htm) – including EIA regulations, pollution controls, and rules to make private, non-governmental organisations more accountable.
But however you look at it, change is inevitable. And pressure from environmentalists and concerned citizens has led to significant improvements in the way we handle such proposals.
This is a good thing. And our goal must be to manage development intelligently. That requires a national consensus on up-front policies that make all such projects fully accountable.
Please can you repley me the email adress of Mr. Sewabarath Misser, working for the IDB in the Bahamas. Thank you, Mr. Mangnoesing
Posted by: Mangnoesing, Carlo | March 01, 2006 at 09:25 AM
Need help to to implement Search and Rescue protocol in the Bahamas.
The recent loss of life in East GB was preventable.
any ideas?
This is not the first loss of life due to lack of command
Posted by: Gary Simmons | October 02, 2006 at 08:53 PM