Still no conservation law as minister signs pledge
(CNS): Although Minister for the Environment Mark Scotland signed the Chamber’s Environmental Pledge to commemorate Earth Day, there is still no sign of the National Conservation bill. Since coming to office the minster has said he will address the outstanding law. However, CNS understand that despite being in consultation throughout most of the last administration, Scotland has again circulated the bill in order to make changes. While the environmental pledge is a Chamber of Commerce initiative intended to encourage the commercial and public community to better sustain resources and protect the environment, the conservation bill is the only thing that can legally protect the environment.
As the right to environmental protection is now enshrined in the Constitution as part of the Bill of Rights the government must have a conservation bill on the statute books before November 2012 when the bill will be enforced.
Meanwhile, as the country waits on government to take legal action to save its precious natural resources hundreds of people were voluntarily doing what they could to help on Saturday morning with hands-on action at the Earth Day clean-up. Despite the rain, people were out bright and early to take part in the annual Chamber of Commerce Earth Day Roadside Clean-Up on Saturday.
Collecting strewn garbage and debris from around roadsides and beaches, the teams did their bit to make Cayman a cleaner and safer place for all of us, including our wildlife. After the work was done, a hot breakfast awaited everyone at Public Beach thanks to LIME and Rotary volunteers, who helped serve it to some very wet participants. Thanks to the RPCU and DEH staff, the collected garbage was collected in a timely and efficient manner.
“Today was a great success” said Wil Pineau, Chamber CEO. “It’s a wonderful thing to see so many members of our business community, church groups, and schools coming out in their clean-up teams and making such a difference to our Islands. Even in the rain we have had a great time. Having garbage lining our roads and beaches is a terrible message to visitors and investors to our Islands. We live in one of the most beautiful places in the world – let’s respect that fact and take good care of it.”
Category: Science and Nature
We need urgent action, the DoE is working hard to survey the island, mapping out areas of key concern, counting endemic species etc – it’s GREAT WORK but it’s the equivalent to a librarian working busily away, cataloging books without a proper check-out procedure in place…and the books are rapidly disappearing off the shelves.
We need ACTION NOW, soon there will be nothing left. Cayman has a unique eco-tourism product combined with a wonderful culture & rich history. If marketed right we can actually make money whilst protecting places of environmental and historical significance. BUT WE NEED TO HURRY!!
They’ve been there over a year, when is he going to sign something to bring work and commerce into Bodden Town?
They seem to forget that they are elected to represent their districts and not jump on every port barrel project suggested by the party leader.
"What’s causing it isn’t exactly clear".
“There are several possible contributing factors" : then goes on to list a number of possible factors…."
There is no doubt that there is a problem but it seems we are in the "blaming" stage of a solution to this problem…
and as usually it really easy make a villian out of some thing by saying it "might" be responsible.
All our development is not perfect but…but I’ve yet to hear an alternative that says..this is how it will be fixed..just the knee-jerk response.. the crying of "wolf"..as we all continue enjoying the benefits..granted reducing benefits of the development of our Islands.
Really …What does this Wolf ..even looks like ?
Don’t answer…. It’s me ! (and you too.)
We have harvested the fruit,we have dined….all that is left is it’s rotting core.
Until we take a clear look at our inability to say "no" to anybody who wants to do anything they want to our environment, we will never pass a conservation law with teeth. A law that will be enforced, and not just a piece of show legislation. This particular piece of legislation has now been around for ten years. TEN years, folks, and still our gutless politicians and their developer cronies continue to stymie what the rest of the planet has been working on for decades. A means to protect our vulnerable Earth.
I agree we need revised and improved legislation that has teeth and a no nonsense attitude about it. I am also glad that the ball is beginning to roll on this issue and Min. Scotland has taken the initiative to do something, and I also thank him for what he is doing so far. But more must be done.
We have to discontinue with documenting our environment’s demise and put all our resources to good use and clean it up, and prevent it from further contamination.
Yes, the North Sound according to some of our elders you could see the bottom many moons ago, and it is not only stink, it is contaminated.
Reporting that this is not an easy task to clean up is just not good enough. We have to start somewhere, why not now.
I will never give up advocating for a clean island, as this is the only place I can call home and I refuse to let the children of our future generations pay for the mess we created and ignored for years.
Give us a law with teeth moving forward and put the agencies to work, to ensure that the environment is protected from any further contamination etc.
I was also made aware recently of areas off the shore of South Church Street are showing signs of algae growing on the coral and can be seen when snorkelling.
The timeis now to put all our talk to action.
Kerry Horek
‘Keep my Island Clean & Green’
what an effective example!
I -a born caymanian- agree that it was notable in the media clips that nary a 1 Cayman was speaking in regards to what they did during the clean up HOWEVER those 5-15 second media bytes don’t reflect the many Caymanians who DID participate!
And for the record, I hope the North Sound can regain its splendor, and avoid being Cayman’s Toilet Bowl too! Yuck!
Please Mr. Mark, do not sign that old piece of proposed legislation form DOE. Please rework it to a real quality environmental protection law.
One would have thought that the ‘Protection of the Environment’ is such an important issue here, that it would be heavily entrenched in our people from the Education system, through to HEAVY Fines and Law Enforcement ….. why is this not the case?
This is where and how ‘Protecting the Environment’ begins.
What I find MOST disturbing, is that I see LOTS of Expats performing ‘clean-up’ on Earth Day, but relatively FEW ‘Born Caymanians’.
This is not Caymanian-bashing, but rather, an observation made by a Caymanian.
We have come to take for granted that which we have been blessed with, and we fail to realize that IF we don’t take care of it, we WILL loose it, and the benefits that we gain from it as well.
The North Sound is in trouble, because we have failed to address the looming issue of ‘Mount Trashmore’ and the Dump.
Our laid-back ‘someone else will do it’ attitude has reached a critical juncture in our history.
Ask yourself, ‘Would you eat out of your Toilet-bowl’?
That is effectively what we have done to the North Sound, turned it into a Toilet-bowl.
In the 1970’s, I used to go to Jamaica and swim in Kingston Harbor, in 2007 it was named one of the most polluted Harbors in the world.
Is that what we want for our Cayman Islands?