Caribbean is world’s worst region for diversity loss
(CNS): The Caribbean and Latin America Region has seen a decline in animal and fish populations of 94% over the last 50 years, according to an analysis of bio-diversity by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) published Thursday in the Living Planet Report 2022. The world has seen a devastating drop of over 69% but this region has fared the worst. Key drivers of biodiversity decline include habitat loss and invasive species (both significant problems for the Cayman Islands), as well as over-exploitation of species, pollution, climate change and diseases.
A million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction, according to the report. Half of the world’s corals have already been lost, and forest areas the size of 27 football fields are lost every minute.
Here in Cayman, most people are aware of the decline of the marine environment and the loss of critical mangrove habitat, but the issue of forest clearance is also a major problem. While the rate of loss here is nothing compared to the Amazon rainforests, the pace is significant and concerning because there is very little left to lose.
Every month Cayman sees planning applications that result in the loss of primary forest and the constant removal of trees and mangroves. As quickly as the National Conservation Council moves to place important habitats under protection, the continuing runaway development undermines those efforts and unprotected land across all three islands steadily disappears, increasingly in previously untouched habitats.
Though it is clear that there is an increasing desire among residents to protect more land, the commercial sector’s appetite for development is also growing.
According to this month’s edition of Flicker, the DoE Terrestrial Resources Unit’s magazine, the latest call by the NCC for a new round of nominations for protecting land solicited some 89 nominations from members of the public, nonprofit organisations, landowners and even realtors. But at this point, less than 12% of the Cayman Islands has any formal protection, either under the National Conservation Act or by the National Trust.
The current position internationally, which is about to be formalised at the upcoming, 15th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, is a goal of 30% of land coming under protection by 2030 as a means of protecting the habitat that species need to survive.
The WWF said that deforestation not only causes carbon emissions, increases droughts, and leads to warmer, drier local climates, it also puts food security at risk. The report calls on policymakers to transform economies so that natural resources are properly valued.
The global and well-established non-profit said that biodiversity loss and climate change share many of the same underlying causes and that actions which transform food production and consumption, rapidly cut emissions, and invest in conservation can mitigate the twin crises.
“The world is waking up to the fact that our future depends on reversing the loss of nature just as much as it depends on addressing climate change. And you can’t solve one without solving the other,” said Carter Roberts, president and CEO of WWF-US, in a press release announcing the startling report.
Rebecca Shaw, global chief scientist of WWF, said the plunge in wildlife populations could have dire consequences for our health and economies.
“When wildlife populations decline to this degree, it means dramatic changes are impacting their habitats and the food and water they rely on. We should care deeply about the unravelling of natural systems because these same resources sustain human life,” she noted.
The Living Planet Index, provided by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), is an early warning indicator of the health of nature. This year’s edition analyses almost 32,000 species populations with more than 838 new species and just over 11,000 new populations added since the 2020 edition.
It provides a comprehensive measure of how wildlife is responding to environmental pressures driven by biodiversity loss and climate change, while also allowing us to better understand the impact of people on biodiversity.
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Category: development, Land Habitat, Local News, Science & Nature
Overdevelopment, as a result of an influx of people wanting to “live in paradise”. That’s why the region is always under pressure.
Wasn’t this Wayne Pantons campaign in a nut shell? No one is gonna say anything here? The country literally voted for some who said they would fix this. Made him Premier non the less.
The diversity here is amazing. When I walk the dog, I see litter from BK, KFC, plain old Styrofoam containers, Wendy’s, and bottles and cans from all kinds of brands.
How much do you pick up? On my road (Ohio) when I leave my garbage cans on the curb, they are typically filled with random walkers who pick up the garbage and put it into our trash cans. This is great, and I will support this.
On my walks I take a shopping bag. when it is full then I put it in a garbage can.
So the chickens and feral cats can redistribute it.
Boo hoo. The sky is falling. The sky is falling. Boo hoo.
This comment is either from a denier or developer.
Surely not a realist either any interest or love for Cayman and our children.
Yet we have a dummy for a minister who simply is so ignorant and doesn’t care for such things just Him and his entourages of big gut greedy minions who wanted to be rich .Cayman is hopelessly in a downward spiral and will never return .
CNS’s summary is excellent. We have to push, push, push to save every little bit we can save. Realtors never want the country to protect land against their endless buy/sell’buy’sell churning.
It is very easy… Caymanians need to STOP selling out their country. For decades, they have had the ability, but not the fortitude to THINK about what they were selling………..THEIR GRANDCHILDREN’S FUTURE! Stop blaming everyone else and look in the mirror and admit what Generational Caymanians did to themselves.
Please stop dissing the realtors … they are selling property that the OWNER has decided to sell. Why not complain about the people who own land and are trying to sell it to the highest bidder – whatever the environmental cost.
13/10/2022 at 5:55 pm says “overdevelopment”.
But how did overdevelopment come about?
Business people with an eye for opportunity took into consideration the natural beauty and charm of the islands.
As a Johnny Come Lately (JCL) who washed up in ’71, the main attractions were the warm Caymanian people, the year-round climate, the scuba diving, the incredible beach and the fledgling banking industry.
It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t far off.
The rest they say, is history.
Money flowed, laws changed and “opportunity” flourished.
What bothers me most of all is that fellow expats had the gall to set up shop here and then denigrate the very culture that welcomed them.
The excellent news is that there is still a remnant Caymanian enclave who remember these days and by God, they will have them again.
14 @ 5:34 am – JCL thanks for loving Cayman enough to stick around since 1971. Yes, you arrived when Cayman was a little paradise. Some of us remember that but is it enough to make a difference and try to return to some semblance of that paradise? I dunno!
You will have witnessed the political changes which began in 1976 and have taken us downhill ever since. You will have seen how Government worked before that time. You would have witnessed the transition from politicians with integrity and ethical principles to the types we have today – ignorant greed-mongers!
I thank you for staying among us – hope you can VOTE by now!
I agreed with your comments up to your comments about the expats (a truly typical and sad Caymanian opinion). It is Caymanians who sold out and are continuing to kill their land! Expats could only do what they were allowed to do. If the ‘remnant Caymanian enclave’ would have stood up and NOT sold out their land their children and grandchildren will not be in the position they are now. It’s so easy to blame expats, for what Caymanians had complete ability to prevent.
In my community, we protect ourselves from those who simply want to exploit the system. Caymanians did NONE of this. Exploiters are world-wide (not exclusive to Cayman – welcome to humanity!). It is OUR responsibility to protect our land, life-style, and future. Cayman has failed itself and no amount of expat blaming can relieve this guilt.
Yes, Caymanians have for decades failed future Caymanians.
You reap what you sow, and Cayman has NOT sown much for their children. A bad future??? Go figure!
Caymanians care little for their country or their heritage – quick money dictates all, even when it sinks into the sand with the tide.
Perfectly said.
Caymanian Take Back Movement (CTBM) has begun, we have few action choices, but we have begun.
The expats will cry out as they wish, but your days of feeding peanuts to the monkeys to control them is fast coming to an end.
CTBM
Sorry, as OP I thought I had successfully implied that the blame lies entirely at the feet of the Caymanian political class.
They changed the rules to profit from foreign investment without providing for the people that voted them in.
Sorry for any confusion.
“The excellent news is that there is still a remnant Caymanian enclave who remember these days and by God, they will have them again.”
No they won’t. Those days are dead. Over. Brown Bread. Toast.
Caymanians are an extinct species soon enough. This island is the playground of the rich western golf playing human.
It’s over. Stop pretending. Speak to any Caymanian other than the rich ones and they are all praying for a storm of such force it sets this place back to the stone age.
Problem is, the land is already sold, so it won’t change anything.
Don’t worry the new Jamanians will still be here enjoying what should be ours.
Concrete Islands!
It didn’t help when Fin Cayman dumped its building waste on the marine park and then concreted over the ironshore. You can still sign the petition.
https://www.change.org/p/dale-crighton-protect-cayman-s-reefs-from-construction-development-damage
When muppets with no knowledge or experience think they know better than the experts, rule over everybody and are in bed with developers then this is what happens…
But we will have 20 Consultant Reports stashed in a dark closet that told them this repeatedly.
Um Wayne ?! – oh never mind
The thousands of vacant subdivision lots approved over primary habitat, and even actual farmland, are just dead men walking.
CPA needs to implement mandatory adherence to NCC advice to retain native plant boundary buffers. The total clearance and filling of these lots has to stop.
Overdevelopment!
Wow! But seeing what is happening in Cayman it’s no surprise.
I haven’t been to TCI, for example, in years but on my last visit Grace Bay was SMB in the 80s. I imagine it’s had runaway development too, by now. At least they had foresight to set deeper setbacks.
Imagine that scope of development, in various forms, throughout the Caribbean..All in the name of ” the tourism product”.
We sold out to it!
Grace Bay has huge condo developments. Bigger than in Cayman. The difference is that Grace Bay has a lot more land between the beach and the swampy side. So the developments are more in scale with the land they are built on. And they have also been able to require that buildings be sited behind the natural beach dune. So the beach is preserved. The WB strip is too narrow to allow that. So our developers stuff it to the max and the buildings are now simply too big for the space. Cayman lost the plot when the buildings went above 3 floors.
I lived in Cayman while the building code permitted only three stories. When speaking with friends and family at that time, I would cite this as a key differentiator as to how its beaches remained uncrowded and streets relatively non congested with traffic. The warm and welcoming Caymanians was the second distinct difference.
Cayman has lost the first competitive advantage and that impacts the experience for visitors and the residents.
Are Caymanians as welcoming?- I’m not qualified to judge this today.
Restraint from unbridled growth is easy to say but a difficult reality. I hang on to the romantic notion of what was and accept what is today.
No surprise there!
The Caribbean gets hammered from all sides… Lots of developing countries with lots of hungry mouths to feed. There is no fixing this, it will only get worse.
Education. Education. Education.
Birth control?
Birth Control, Birth Control, Birth Control!
To many people shagging for fun with no foresight.
Work permit control!!
The little local population is now overrun by no conscience developers and rampant consumers of every little reef fish and black crab.
Deportation, deportation, deportation. Drastic measures are needed.
what about the Bible, Bible, Bible….the biggest educational tool we all have. it has taught all we need. amen.
And it taught killing and slaughtering for gain.
There is a lot more going on that meets the eye.
It is easy to make a general statement like that and then hang your hat on that peg of perception.
The only thing that needs to be removed is evil.
I am happy that Israel was preserved as a nation, because it gave us Jesus Christ.
Can you cite an example please?
I am a believer in God through Jesus Christ.
Could you just give an example or two of how the Bible addresses the issues here rather than just generalizing.
I am sure that some people may be genuinely interested.
Sadly you can’t eat an education.
No, but it prepares you for employment. I guess you slept through that lecture… Better education would have helped Cayman in many ways.
You can’t eat ethics either.
Especially when deserving workers are not hired or passed over.
All in favor of CHEAP FOREIGN LABOR.
India, Philippines, Jamaica, Honduras etc.
these are all humans, but the $4.50:hr Minimum Wage is a CRIME that has destroyed the Middle Class in one decade!