A local ecologist is advising that a monetary investment must be made into the lands of the Graeme Hall, not just to keep the sanctuary opened for education, but also to support the scientific research needed to monitor the balance of the ecological capacity of the facility. Additionally she recommends that the monetary investment would assist in putting feed back mechanisms in place to ensure that we conserve the ecological sere and not attempt in our zeal to preserve the habitat at all cost.
These are the words of Diane Clarke a Barbadian ecologist as she commented from an environmental standpoint about the controversy surrounding this island’s most significant eco-tourism attraction, Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary.
Clarke who has commented on other local environmental issues, explained that the legislation change taken in 2008. She states “From an ecological perspective the 2008 legislation which frames the re-zoning of the 240-acre green space of Graeme Hall towards commercial and residential development, and away from the original mandate of low pact recreational use and ectone edge environmental buffers is detrimental to the biodiversity.”
In late October 2009, it was made public that the Canadian owners of the ecological tourism facility filed a complaint against the Government of Barbados alleging that the Government had violated its international obligations by refusing to enforce its environmental laws, thereby allowing increased pollution and land development to damage the Sanctuary. Notice of the dispute was given to Barbados in accordance with the Agreement For The Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between Canada and Barbados.
The complaint made by the Canadian owner alleges that Barbados has consistently refused to enforce its domestic environmental laws and to abide by its international obligations under the Convention on Wetlands and Convention on Biological Diversity. Such inaction has led to a radical escalation of polluted runoff into the Graeme Hall wetland that serves as a Caribbean flyway stop for migratory birds
Clarke who has been in the profession for a number of years noted that the detriment is not only of the wetland in particular, but by extension the areas which feed into, and from this biodiversity hotspot for Barbados, and in the context of the West Indies the Central American biodiversity hotspot. It will bring this ecosystem to a threshold.
If that issue was not important enough Clarke further highlights an equally important concern. She raises a very important issue that should be taken into consideration by all those involved in the saga that is Graeme Hall. She says, “Where it can no longer be argued that the area is required in respect of development for needed infrastructure, and to raise the human development index of Barbados, we must face the fact that development patterns are pushing Barbados’ last bastions of ecological frontiers to a threshold limit. Indeed the dumping of raw sewage changes the species variation seen, as the mangrove ecosystem builds it’s own nutrients through it’s life-cycle.”
More importantly Clarke who has been a major commentator on climate change argued, “Perhaps a more aggressive educational approach can be recommended to arrest the apathy displayed by the majority of Barbadians, who by birth or naturalization have been given the mandate of guarding a most precious resource.
She argues that changing the ecosystem irrevocably means you are changing your foundation. Destabilizing a foundation puts all subsequent building blocks in danger of collapse.
