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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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World Wetlands Day 2000
By Peter Espeut, Executive Director of the
Caribbean Coastal Area Management (CCAM) Foundation,
writing in the Jamaica Gleaner, 2 February 2000
TODAY IS World Wetlands Day. It is the anniversary of
the signing of the United Nations Convention on Wetlands in 1971 in Ramsar,
Iran, (on the shores of the Caspian Sea) and is celebrated all around the world.
Jamaica is a signatory to the Ramsar Convention, and under the convention, the
Black River Morass has been designated a 'Wetland of International Importance'.
We have other important wetlands which need to become Ramsar sites: like the
Negril Great Morass (which I visited again last week), and the Morant Point
Great Morass, and the mangroves and salt marshes of Portland Bight.
But wetlands are not very important in the minds of many Jamaicans. Indeed most
of us grew up calling them 'swamps', and feeling that they should be filled
in because they breed mosquitoes and we believe they harbour diseases.
And that is what we have done to almost all of our wetlands on the north coast.
In the name of 'tourism development' and 'housing development', thousands of
acres of mangrove trees have been cut down and tons of rock and soil have been
dumped and bulldozed into perfectly good, healthy, productive, useful wetlands.
In this age where 'bad' means 'good', destruction goes by the name of 'development'.
The destruction of north coast wetlands at Dover (St. Mary) and Falmouth (Trelawny)
for fish ponds is scandalous. We need the foreign exchange which can come from
aquaculture, but surely not at the cost of the populations of native marine
fish which need mangroves at the young end of their life cycle.
World Wetlands Day exists to remind us of the value of our mangroves and other
wetlands. Mangroves perform many useful functions, and Jamaica has suffered
because we have destroyed them wantonly. Mangroves have tentacle-like roots
which hang in the water and trap silt and sediments passing by, thereby increasing
the amount of land.
Mangroves stabilise both the seafloor and the seashore, preventing
erosion. Mangroves protect the shoreline from the direct impact of hurricanes
and storms; they get damaged in the process, but the coast is not. Mangroves
purify sea water by removing nutrient pollution (sewage and fertiliser). Mangroves
provide habitat for birds and crabs and oysters, and young fish grow in the
shelter of their roots.
Those areas where mangroves have been removed suffer most during storms, and
the insurance companies pay dearly (so all our premiums go up), and the Public
Works Department has to rebuild the roads, etc., (and so we pay for it in our
taxes). Without the cleansing presence of mangrove trees (especially red mangroves)
even small amounts of sewage released into coastal waters will do serious damage.
Indeed, tertiary sewage treatment the most effective involves the creation
of artificial wetlands, where we try to do artificially what nature has been
doing for many millennia. Without mangroves, fish populations will decrease,
and fisher folk will catch and earn less, and our fish import bill will rise,
costing us scarce foreign exchange.
Every time mangroves are destroyed, we all suffer, whether we realise it or
not. After destroying the mangroves on the north, there are backward business
interests seeking permission to destroy thousands of acres of mangroves on the
south coast. To name a few, plans for a solar salt operation call for destruction
of 1,400 acres of mangroves; plans for a coal-fired power plant call for the
destruction of 800 acres; plans for a shrimp farm will require the destruction
of about 400 acres; plans for a caustic soda plant and a lime kiln will require
the destruction of smaller but still valuable acreages.
Here are several cases where private business interests (and JAMPRO) show clear
lack of care and concern for the environment. We need economic growth, but not
at any cost.
What is needed is a greater awareness right across Jamaica of the tremendous
economic and ecological value of mangrove wetlands, so that the private sector
will not propose wetland-damaging projects, the citizenry will protest in their
outrage, and the Government would not dare to approve them. I fear we are a
long way from that in Jamaica, land of wood, wetlands and water, all of which
are fast disappearing.
We need to protect the few mangrove stands we have left; our quality of life
and our future depend upon it! I would like to encourage all those who love
this country to become activists for the protection of our natural environment,
and especially our wetlands. Only if our natural environment is conserved can
we hope to achieve human development. Only false prophets preach economic growth
at the expense of nature.
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and executive director of an environment and
development NGO.
For more information, please contact:
Peter A. Espeut,
Executive Director,
Caribbean Coastal Area Management (CCAM) Foundation,
7 Lloyds Close,
Kingston 8
JAMAICA, W.I.
Fax: (876) 978-7641
