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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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CSI papers 1
Destroying the Goose that Lays the Golden Egg
Orris Proctor, Physical Planning Unit,
Roland Hodge, Department of Fisheries & Marine Rescues,
Anguilla
Abstract
The unprecedented increase in economic development in Anguilla in the last decade has been due to an expanding tourism industry. However, this industry may be destroying the resources upon which its economic sustainability depends. Land clearing with the resultant increased sedimentation on the reefs, the replacement of natural vegetation with exotics requiring considerable doses of fertilizers, indiscriminate sand mining, the alteration and destruction of dunes and the lack of adequate development setbacks are all threatening the natural coastal resources of Anguilla upon which the tourism industry is based. The situation has not yet reached crisis point in Anguilla for the island still has many pristine beaches and coastal areas, nevertheless this does not provide grounds for complacency since increasing development pressure could change the situation in a short space of time.
