Environmental laws woefully lacking, says expert

Senior fisheries and marine specialist Professor Robin Mahon is calling on Government to introduce environmental protection and management legislation, as he raised concern that Barbados was falling short on the protection of some of its natural wetlands.

The Professor Emeritus of the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES), was reacting to a recent proposal for a major marine development planned for the St Lawrence Gap area.

“I think we are falling short,” Mahon told Barbados TODAY, as he questioned how Barbados could be about addressing climate change when such a development on the popular south coast area was being considered.

“The Prime Minister has certainly done a lot of talking about climate change and saying really good things on the world stage, yet still, here we are not walking the walk. We are still willing to consider digging out, and all be it, a very small swamp, but it has climate change implications,” he indicated.

The respected marine biologist argued that the planned development could lead to “the destruction of a wetland where reeds, sedges and other vegetation are sequestering carbon”.

“Yes, it is small, but everything here in Barbados is small, and we need to get serious about ensuring that the many small bits of wetland, woodland, dune land and other habitats are kept and managed for the social and economic benefits of all,” said Mahon.

Officials of the planned St Lawrence Harbour Village development, which has drawn the ire of residents in the area, have given the assurance that the mangroves and other environmental features would be maintained.

According to reports, the new development would include the restoration of the natural watercourse, the construction of floating islands and retail spaces for local businesses and the general beautification of the area.

There is to be a dredged safe water harbour and a swing bridge for boats entering and leaving the waterway.

However, Professor Mahon expressed reservation about the preservation of the swamp in the area, saying he believed it would disappear.

“The plan basically is to dig it out and turn it into a boat lagoon. So it would be gone to put floating islands and all,” he said.

Pointing to the nearby Graeme Hall swamp and the closed Nature Sanctuary, he said these and other areas seemed to have an uncertain future, as officials seemed unkeen to protect them “although they would play a part in climate change resilience”.

Recalling that environmental legislation has been proposed and drafted more than two decades ago, Mahon said “It has sat there ever since. One can only speculate on why.”

“Such legislation to me would have statements including habitats that are considered to be valuable and that need protection. So in my view, a wetland like this would be either in an annex or covered in that legislation. Nobody, knowing that legislation exists, would even propose that you dig out a wetland,” he said.

“We are outstanding in our lack of environmental legislation . . . Not only that, we don’t have any protected areas. Not one,” he said.

He also raised questions about the effectiveness of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) resulting in the development of the area being called off.

“It is easy to say that all this will be addressed in the Environmental Impact Assessment. But we all know that by the time an EIA is done there is seldom any turning back and the EIA ends up being used for mitigation. Often this mitigation comes a day late and a dollar short,” he said.

“Once a project is that far advanced we may also see the conclusions of a negative EIA being overruled by the relevant minister. If we had environmental legislation, which has been in draft for over 30 years, Chapman Swamp would not even be considered for the type of development proposed. Make no mistake, dredging this swamp, even if the surrounding trees are retained, will destroy its ecosystem functionality.”

(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)