OT director says CI needs environmental protection

(CNS): The UK’s new overseas territories director has pointed to the environment as a crucial Caymanian asset that needs to be protected. Speaking during a brief press conference during a short visit to the Cayman Islands on Thursday, Dr Peter Hayes said that the protection of the environment in the territories is a major part of the new Whitepaper outlining the future relationship between Britain and its former colonies. He said that there would be help available to the OTs in this regard and he wanted to see the legislature also take action to protect the islands’ natural resources. He indicated that the UKsaw the natural environment as the driving force in the success of the tourism product, so it had to be protected in order to protect the countries' revenue. 

Asked what he believed Cayman should be doing to improve its financial situation, the environment was the first thing the senior FCO technocrat pointed to.

Hayes, who has had a long career in the FCO, took up the new post just a few weeks ago and was on a flying visit to Cayman, he said, to get a brief first impression of the place, the people and the key issues. He said that he was getting to know the issues and challenges faced by Cayman in the face of the global economic crisis.

Although the new UK boss was in Cayman for just one day, he said it was clear that it was a beautiful place and protecting the natural environment was essential. He said that any development could not be to the detriment to what was obviously a key selling point. Hayes indicated that there is support available from the UK for environmental protection and that the territories are able to bid for financial support in this area.

Hayes said he was unaware, however, of the history of Cayman’s national conservation law but stated that it was clear, given that the environment was a hugely important asset to the local economy, it needed attention from the local Legislative Assembly as well as the UK.

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UK drilling down to environment in territories