Section 06 - UKOTCF

Helping Hand”), and endorsing 2008 as the “Year
of the Coral Reef”, have not been backed up by
conservation actions. Rather than giving Mother
Nature a Helping Hand, she was given the back of
the hand instead.
The Turks and Caicos saw perhaps its greatest
period of the destruction of the environment under
the leadership at that time. Nearly all the islands
were affected.
We are a very bright and very talented people in
the Caribbean. We face many common problems
and I truly believe that, if we combine our resources
and intelligence, we can overcome our many
environmental challenges collectively. I have often
said that we operate as if we are not connected in
the territories, when in fact we are connected in
many ways. If we work together through a collaborative
effort, we will combat common problems
and we will overcome. I am not a scientist
and have no background in any sort or formal
education when it comes to the environment. I am
just a simple person who cares very deeply about
environmental preservation for my people and the
future generations. I have been considered somewhat
of an activist. I have, in my quest to establish
an environmental protection agency, contacted
our Caribbean neighbours to see if I could utilize
a template from them, only to discover that there
were virtually no environmental protection agencies
in the Caribbean, the nearest being in Puerto
Rico. I contacted all our neighbours, and found
that most rely for environmental protection on bodies
that work hand-in-glove with the governments
and not as independent agencies. I would like
to send out a challenge to the conference participants
to seek to develop protection agencies in our
respective countries which act independently and
only in the best interest of the environment.
3.
4.
problems. In the Caribbean and in the Territories,
we face many common threats and challenges;
working together we can address them
collectively.
Planning processes should be open to public
debate and comment by international experts.
Where the Planning Board, EIAs and the
public interest are in agreement with not allowing
a proposed project, a Minister should not
have the power to overturn their decisions at
the stroke if a pen. That right should be taken
away.
Have we already gone too far?
Is it too late to curtail what has been done?
What, if anything, can be done?
It is very important that the answer to these questions
is to affirm that something can and must be
done.
We have the opportunity to do this now, and we
must seize it.
A large number of people in the Turks and Caicos
Islands are now aware of the terrible plight of the
environment (and the country). They realise that
our natural areas are our capital and our legacy.
The vital tourism trade depends on leaving enough
natural areas to protect our natural and historical
environment.
To recap:
1.
2.
We must have the protected areas transferred to
the National Trust to ensure their protection.
We must work together and be open to help
from international experts in combating our
Making the Right Connections: a conference on conservation in UK Overseas Territories, Crown Dependencies and other small island communities, page 199