Consultation shows surge in public support for conservation
(CNS): The recent nomination process for protected areas represented “a whole new level of public interest” in the conservation of Cayman’s natural habitat, according to Fred Burton, manager of the Department of Environment (DoE) Terrestrial Resources Unit. He said that there were 89 nominations to protect dozens of locations on all three islands, which is far more than in any previous consultations. “We have never had anything close to it,” Burton told members of the National Conservation Council this week.
Presenting the report on the process at the NCC’s quarterly general meeting, Burton said many of the nominations were completely new proposals, but the areas getting the most calls for protection were the Eastern Lighthouse area on Cayman Brac, the Central Mangrove Wetlands and the Ironwood Forest on Grand Cayman, as well as proposals for making Barkers into an actual national park.
Burton said that in general, there was evidently a greater interest in the process and a growing appetite within the community for the establishment of protected national parks by pulling together larger collective areas of land.
But the NCC has to acquire and then protect land with a limited budget, so it would have to make a pitch to Cabinet to consider this type of nomination differently because protecting the whole of Barkers, for example, would require a much larger investment than the funds currently available for conservation.
He said there was clear public support for protecting some of Cayman’s more iconic landscapes, such as Barkers or the whole of Little Cayman. “This year’s nominations really reaffirm the strong public interest in large national parks,” he said.
However, with so many nominations this time around and dealing with the current spending limits, the Terrestrial Resources Unit team had scored them all. Only 18 of the nominations were for land already owned by the crown; the rest would need to be purchased or become part of a management agreement. No landowners have been approached yet, Burton said, explaining that the report reflects the results of the formal scoring system, where the top-ranked nominations were the ones offering the best conservation returns for expense and management effort.
The results in the report show the nominations in context with the relevant metrics. The highest scores were given to Hemington Lighthouse on Cayman Brac and areas of dry forest in the southeast interior of Grand Cayman, closely followed by a number of crown land areas on Little Cayman. Burton said that after getting the support of the NCC, the team could begin the process of going down the list and approaching the government and the other landowners about the possibility of making these locations officially protected areas.
Despite the efforts over the last five years to protect more land, just 11.3% of the Cayman Islands is protected either by the National Trust or through the National Conservation Act. “It’s a long way short of the 30% goal that is being debated right now at the bio-diversity conference by parties in Montreal,” said Burton, who also noted the imbalance across the three islands.
He explained that 22% of Little Cayman is under protection and over 10% of Grand Cayman, but only 5.9% of Cayman Brac is protected. He said that imbalance was why the nominations for protecting the dry forest around the eastern end of the Brac would get priority next year if landowners are willing to work with the NCC.
Burton said some of this year’s budget had been spent on the areas that were nominated and are now going through the process of getting formal legal protection from the last round of nominations in 2018. He estimated that there could be as much as $5 million left to spend on land next year.
See the report in the CNS Library.
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Category: Land Habitat, Science & Nature
I noticed a lot of comments concerning Michael Ryan. An overview of some of his career highlights may help to put them in context.
Canadan and Costa Rica (both failed)
UPI
https://www.upi.com/Archives/2002/06/11/Funny-Business-Putting-on-the-Ritz/5591023768000/
1998 – 2012 Ritz Carlton Cayman (failed)
Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/article/ritz-cayman/cayman-islands-ritz-carlton-placed-in-receivership-idUKL2E8EG69V20120316
2012 Christian Foundation lost all of its investment in the Ritz ($240 million)
Huffingon Post
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/schwan-foundation_n_4718607
Fin Cayman’s damage to the environment
Cayman petition with photos (988 signatures)
https://www.change.org/p/dale-crighton-protect-cayman-s-reefs-from-construction-development-damage
“Before I was six years old, my grandparents and my mother had taught me that if all the green things that grow were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all the four-legged creatures were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all the winged creatures were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all our relatives who crawl and swim and live within the earth were taken away, there could be no life. But if all the human beings were taken away, life on earth would flourish. That is how insignificant we are.”
Russell Means, Oglala Lakota Nation (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012).
How about protecting the shoreline? How did Michael Ryan get permission to build Fin on the soft ironshore beach?
How does Michael Ryan do anything?
A spare condo from Michael Ryan normally does the trick. McKeeva Bush comes to mind.
Ironshore is not beach.
According to Michael Ryan the ironshore is a beach. Fin Cayman has dumped sand on the ironshore and called it a ‘private beach’.
It’s his private sandy yard. Not a real beach.
It is not unreasonable to expect the sea facing wall to gradualy sink into the soft ironshore. The owners will struggle to sell their condos if Fin is exhibiting structural damage. In common with all of Ryan’s other projects he will just walk away and call it a success.
What rights do the Fin condo owners have if the wall sinks into the soft hardshore? In New York the condo owners’ contracts are with the state.
If the company used for Fin goes bust (business as usual for Michael Ryan) the condo owners have no recourse.
The owners can’t do anything about that. A more relevant question is how much the condos are worth if there are structural issues with the building?
Most donations of funding and donations of land parcels come from expats, it would be nice to see Caymanians join in as its their country.
Can’t imagine the voting public’s preferences are surging, if anything, the government’s willingness to hear us…finally. That’s a good thing, if sincere.
The minister of planning is anti preservation and so are his buffoons he has appointed to the various boards and committees.This public surge needs to remove this destructive political Riff Raff we now have elected along with their mentor Boss Hogg who will never get it or care for these little islands Environmental situation.
Anyone heard anything about a sewage pipe at the dump being damaged? Not only a swamp full of shit, but I hear the geniuses pumped a bunch into the North Sound
Yes I did. WA sewage pipe was severed by the Decco team digging a trench. Repair cost will be $$$.
Fake news.
where is the ENVIRONMENTAL FUND gone???????
Was there an EIA request for the Ironwood Forest? You has that been ignored?
The public supports conservation – the developers buy the politicians and other senior public servants – who do you think wins?
Must we continue to pretend there isn’t already an Environmental Protection Fund sourced from a percentage of every airline ticket sold since the 1990’s? Where is that money? Why can’t it be used to protect the environment?!? Did the PPM spend it all?
Actually it has been spent along the way by all governments for the past 20+ years – no small part on the ministerial perks and junkets that had nothing to do with the environment.
There is also a tax on liquor, should those funds be spent on opening more bars..?
Yes as it keeps the people numb. Numb people are easily controlled and don’t get upset when the environment around them is ruined.
It wasn’t PPM who spent the most money. Remember who was in office when the UK cut down our spending. Caymanians have short memories.
Oh it most definitely was the PPM!
89 nominations from how many individuals?
Of the 80,000 who live here.
The Sustainable Cayman #2022NCCNominations FB group has 341 members and the report mentions that there were individual nominations as well as those from The Cayman Islands National Trust and the Mangrove Rangers to name a few.
Also in a 2021 environmental survey conducted by AmplifyCayman with 1400 respondents- 99% found that the legal protection of mangrove wetlands as the heart of our ecosystems was very important.
https://www.amplifycayman.com/_files/ugd/76de65_3881b0bdbd704dc988eca957f8535add.pdf
Of those 341, how many of them live in Cayman? Of those, how many are Caymanian?
The information you are asking for is on page 4 of the document linked. The very least you can do while asking these disingenuous questions is to read the material that you are provided.
What happened to the environmental fund? Why not demand those funds air marked for conservation and purchase of land? Let me guess, don’t want to rock the boat and retire early? Do the right thing so you and the next generation have something before it’s all developed.
EARmarked.
The Ironwood Forest? 🤣🤣🤣. PACT is busy cutting major road right through the middle of it as we speak.