Another Earth Day passes with no climate policy
(CNS): With global carbon emissions still climbing on Earth Day 2023, few governments around the world are taking the climate crisis as seriously as they need to, while here in the Cayman Islands, another Earth Day passed with no climate change policy in place.
The PACT Government has still failed to make any changes to the development plan, implement a ban on single-use plastics or introduce any meaningful policies to reduce and reuse, and has taken no tangible action to rapidly increase solar energy production.
Despite Premier Wayne Panton’s personal desire for the Cayman Islands to adapt to a warming world and protect itself from looming problems, his Cabinet colleagues are evidently far less inclined to make the necessary changes. As a result, the PACT government is dragging its feet on implementing a core sustainability policy.
In his Earth Day message at the weekend, the premier listed some of the things that have been achieved but admitted there is still a great deal of work to be done.
“Unsustainable development and climate change are risks, not just to our physical environment, but to our unique Caymanian culture and to the lives and livelihoods of current and future generations,” Panton said.
“Achieving a balance between our environment, economy and society is essential to ensuring we can maximise the benefits of sustainable development to benefit our people both now and in the future. That is what sustainability means to me. It’s more than an abstract concept – it’s a contract between our generation and the children of tomorrow.”
He maintained that the PACT Government is committed to taking a sustainable approach to the social, environmental and economic development of the Cayman Islands, ensuring a peaceful, prosperous future for the generations of Caymanians to come.
But two years into this administration, PACT has not made any meaningful change to prepare Cayman for sea level rise, more flooding from storm surges or greater risks of drought as rainfall patterns change. Nor has the government addressed critical issues such as the ongoing decline in bio-diversity and further loss of mangrove wetlands.
The premier pointed out that since coming into office, PACT has facilitated the purchase and protection of natural habitat, including parcels in the Salinas Reserve, Sand Cay, Western Mangroves Area and Central Mangrove Wetlands in Grand Cayman, Tarpon Lake and the East Interior of Little Cayman, and Hemmington Forest in Cayman Brac, almost doubling the amount of land under some form of conservation.
However, that still only equates to around 11% of Cayman’s land mass and is well short of the UN minimum goal of protecting 30% of the Earth’s natural habitat. For every acre the government buys to protect, many more are lost to development.
Likewise, over 600 trees have been planted over the last ten months as part of the National Tree Planting Programme, but during the same period bulldozers have destroyed many times that number of older and ecologically important trees.
While import duty on some energy-efficient devices and building materials has been waived, plans to move the development of solar production forward to meet the national energy appear to have stalled. Just over 3% of local energy comes from renewable sources, despite a goal to reach 70% in less than 14 years.
The Cayman Islands Government has received grants from the EU’s Resilience, Sustainable Energy and Marine Biodiversity Programme (RESEMBID) to improve energy efficiency in public sector buildings and government-built affordable homes, to train unemployed and underemployed Caymanians in sustainable career paths and install a solar array at the University College of the Cayman Islands.
But these efforts, while helpful, fall far short of the investment needed to prepare the country for the future.
The Climate Change Risk Assessment, which was designed to inform the national Climate Change Policy, has outlined future threats the Cayman Islands must deal with. However, the policy has still not been implemented. The government has also failed to make any planning law changes that could curb unsustainable and over-development, which continues at pace.
This year’s Earth Day theme was a repeat of last year’s theme, “Invest In Our Planet”, to mobilize policymakers, investors and society at large to fight the climate crisis. Despite the progress that has been made in some areas, the problem is so vast that the planet is still way off track in meeting vital targets.
While the Cayman Islands cannot make a significant change in the global fight to reduce emissions or the many other problems fuelling the climate crisis, residents here are on the front line of its impact. Cayman therefore desperately needs to invest in protection and mitigation.
But so far, there is no sign of critical mitigating action, such as changing oceanfront setbacks to stop development on the beach, introducing a moratorium on the removal of mangroves, re-wilding lost habitat, and addressing our dependence on fossil fuels and imported food.
See Panton’s message below on CIGTV:
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: Climate Change, Science & Nature
Recent, rapid ocean warming ahead of El Niño alarms scientists https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65339934
🟢Protect our environment
🟠Halt overexpansion
🔴Stop duplicity
my only question to PACT and Wayne Panton is : “What exactly would you say you do here?”
How come the Earth clean up weekend, is always the weekend after all the twat$ have camped on our beaches and left all their $hite behind? For that very reason, I will never join in on a beach clean up on Earth weekend.
Lol. Does Wayne still have that big boat? And big cars? Yes, there’s still a lot to be done
Sort out the midden.
Fix the damn dump you mean.
It’s all smoke and mirrors. Money talks in the Cayman Islands.
Cayman needs a climate policy about as much as we need a nuclear strike policy. There is absolutely nothing Cayman can do to affect the Climate. How about we start small with an environment policy, you know, like dealing with the damn dump..
11.09 you are absolutely 100% spot on right.
So many other social ills to be dealt with, but they may be unpopular and lose votes, so let’s bang on about environment and sustainability, which require no action and won’t rock the boat.
meanwhile tourist shops have their doors wide open blasting their air conditioning
Great, I’ve got CUC shares.
Mr. Premier if we are under water, then there’s nothing left for future generations. Please get your act together Sir. We must get this one right. Have you heard the saying “greed choke puppy”.
70% of all carbon emissions are put out by just 100 corporations. How come the regular people are being asked to do our part and sacrifice even more when these companies do nothing?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change
What a silly comment. Those companies make products WE need.
China coal, Saudi Aramco and Gasprom are making products we need?
How do you think China builds all the cr*p you buy? What do you think goes in the boats that bring our food, planes and cars, not to mention powers CUC, that all make life possible here?
This the same man who put a glossy multi page leaflet in my mailbox about “sustainability”?
This whole climate change thing is a money grab and a way for otherwise less astute individuals to find their place in the financial world and inflate a person’s importance.
It’s driven by emotion, hyperbole and the science is being walked back over time.
Fossil fuel companies have been demonized for being the cause of “the greatest challenge of our lifetimes” but what is conveniently left out is the fact that said companies have contributed to advancements in, for example, farming and agriculture which has saved far more people from poverty and starvation than climate change will ever kill. The greater good for the greater number?
Climate change is happening, yes. But it’s been happening since there was a climate.
World leaders have spewed the rhetoric about being climate aware and saving people and what not. However, when considering the exorbitant amounts of money funneled to Ukraine for the war effort, as compared to the comparatively non existent contributions to saving the Amazon (the lungs of the earth) it becomes clear that these people are do as I say not as I do type “leaders”.
Re the impending Florida keys example, do yourself a favor. Fill a glass to the brim with water and ice. When the ice melts, tell me if the water has overflown.
Ah boy. Has nobody told Wayne that actions speak louder than words? That said, he’s just placed a convicted woman beater and gambler in the Public Accounts Committee.
You do realise that glaciers sit on land and are not in the water, right? And when they melt, the water goes into the sea, right? Please tell me you are just a troll trying to own the libs and not someone who would spout off about climate change being a hoax and not even me knowledgeable enough to know glaciers are on land.
I am not the original poster but I see these strawman arguments frequently. The post makes no mention of glaciers but only the principle of ice in water already causing displacement and therefore when in the liquid state will occupy that space.
Am I a conspiracy theorist – no
Do I believe in climate change – yes historically it is cyclical
Do I believe in the forecast catastrophe’s – no, politicians selectively choose ‘some’ of the science facts to support their agenda. Just go and read any academic paper on the polar ice core samples and the correlation of temperature and carbon emission. You won’t find a definitive answer but you will see how politicians can twist it in their favor.
Thank you. Critical thinking. Rare these days.
Re: Anonymous 4:10pm. The first sentence is pure climate change denial, which at this point in academic enlightenment require willful ignorance. The historical data on green house gasses make very clear what is happening. The last sentence is pure misdirection… the ice that is now melting at an even faster rate than previously predicted is not already floating in and thus currently affecting sea level (as in your misleading glass of ice water example). It is primarily on land, thus the physics is clear that it will radically raise sea level as it melts. Climate scientists aren’t ignoring physics (as you have done). No wonder you don’t put your name on your comments.
Does the Planning Director Haroon Pandohie and Chief Officer Eric Bush who should steer Planning directives understand the need and obligation for urgent action and engagement directed under the Auditor General’s report on findings where insufficient progress is being made on the part of agencies to meet best practice guidelines for sustainable development goals:
https://www.auditorgeneral.gov.ky/powerpanel/modules/reports/html/uploads/pdfs/Public-Interest-Reports-Environment-PIR-FINAL-REPORT—Mar23.pdf?mibextid=Zxz2cZ
It is a crime against our society that such ineffective progress is being made aided by the non-partisan approach of the civil service. Lack of policy implementation sits squarely with the administrative arm of government and they get a salary paid for by the public purse and should answer and perform on these concerns.
Failing to engage so you perform as little as possible means you are not protecting and serving the country.
3:39 stop trying to blame civil servants for everything under the sun. Even our world clsss civil service can’t make these ministers look good.
Let’s makes improving CIMA a priority.
We are at more risk with the hot air spouting from politicians mouths than carbon emmisions. Politicians speak for votes the average Caymanian could never afford solar panels and public transport is almost none existent like the bike lanes.
With nearly a billion in government revenues the government could afford to provide a proper public transport system and subsidise solar for all Caymanians if they wanted to. But why would they, when Caymanians keep electing the same troop of rogues and incompetents irrespective of what they do or say? The electorate is so small, and the votes spread across so many constituencies, that if you can secure a couple of hundred people to vote for you based on whatever promises you make or back hand deals, you are in. And no shortage of interested parties out there to fund your campaign either. Why do you think we end up with policy statements on controlling development, on controlling immigration, on protecting the environment, and no action?
““Unsustainable development and climate are risks, not just to our physical environment, but to our unique Caymanian culture and to the lives and livelihoods of current and future generations”, Panton said.”’
Hon. Premier Panton was correct in identifying that the fundamental right to protection of the environment includes both the physical environment as well as the socio-economic environment of the Caymanian people and culture: see s.18(1) of or Bill of Rights (taken together in conjunction with ss.1(2)(a), 9, 11, 15, 16(4)(b), 17, 19(1) 24, BoR).
As provided for, under the heading “Protection of the environment”, pursuant to s.18(1) of our Constitution’s Bill of Rights, reads:
“Government shall, in all its decisions, have due regard to the need to foster and protect an environment that is not harmful to the health or well-being of present and further generations, while promoting justifiable economic and social development.”
Moreover, our Bill of Rights (enshrined in our Constitution, which is the supreme law of the Cayman Islands) “is a cornerstone of democracy in the Cayman Islands” (s.1(1), BoR), which, pursuant to s.1(2)(a) of our Bill of Rights:
“recognises the distinct history, culture, Christian values and socio-economic framework of the Cayman Islands and it affirms the rule of law and the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom”.
“All decisions and acts” (including failure to act: see (under s.28, BoR) definitions of “act” and “contravene”) “must be lawful, rational, proportionate and procedurally fair”: see s.19, Bill of Rights (this is “the right to lawful administrative action” that “is a fundamental right which demands, at the very least, a high level of protective oversight by the court”: Re Hutchinson-Green [2015] 2 CILR 75 at 87 per Hon. Chief Justice Smellie KC, now Sir Anthony).
The seas rising claim is as vacuous of the as Panton’s climate resiliency plan.
#idiot
And so will another and another and another. Premier Panton loves to give this topic lip service and the gullible will continue to believe him and be disappointed.
In the meantime he will spend all his time putting out internal fires that exist because of the government he created and will ignore other pressing items such as the landfill fiasco, the transportation mess, unchecked population growth and Cayman’s standing in the international financial sector.
Please be a Conservationist Premier, Mr. Wayne. We do not need to waste our resources and money in the name of Climate Change; we are too small to compete with the big countries.
We should clean up the groundwater where it is contaminated, clean up the sea and beach and land where it has been despoiled by people. We should preserve those natural resources such as the mangroves and native animals.
We should cease overbuilding, as we have already exceeded that which can be borne by our highways and roads. We need less people, and less high-rises and less construction.
We should require hotels and other businesses to stay a minimum of 150 meters from the water. This constant building and overbuilding is not sustainable, and threatens to widen the gulf between Caymanians and the rich folk who vye to occupy the boutique hotels which you not only allow to be built, but give concessions to foreign investors which allows them to unfairly compete with native businesses.
THAT is Conservation which is meaningful. IMO, the EU would like to control things, and they will control us via grants-with-strings if you let them.
I think you’re a good man, Mr. Wayne. I think you are pulled in directions which you don’t believe in. Be the firm force you once were and lead us into a place where we are cleaning up our act, and not paying out wasted monies to a ‘climate change’ plot.
Can we please make the real and benefical mitigation of the dump/WTE/recycling plan our primary goal? Please, the “clean up the dump” guy is going to blow a gasket and we would all miss him.
“We need less people” is correct, Beau Zode. Ensure the viability of the current Caymanian people, before considering next steps.
Respect, Mr. Orrie.
Good. No room on the dusty shelves for any more policies anyway.
It doesn’t really matter hat Cayman does, but if it makes you feel better, go for it.
As individuals one of the largest impacts we can have is to not be a litter bug. Always take every scrap of rubbish back to our home and properly dispose of it.
It is always terrible to see the litter on the road side, at the beach, in the water, etc.
Be proud of where we live. It is NOT someone else’s problem.
Don’t forget: hasn’t dealt with the landfill.
Not a landfill, it’s a damn dump.
Off on a tangent, but after participating in the beach cleanups over the weekend, I can honestly say we share this island with plenty of disgusting people. Cigarette butts, fast food packages, condom wrappers, diapers, plus all the regular crap…man, these people are sickening. If you see littering, say something to the scumbag doing it.
Condom wrappers are a good sign. It gives me hope for the future.
Premier Panton has proven he is a big fraud full of lots of words when discussing his passion projects but little action. Unfortunately, he has also demonstrated that he is a woeful leader unable to deliver on his promises and the mandates agreed by his pact
Pantone speeches are just aspirational- but his government is slave to the vested interests that some of his ministers protect. He can tell us that PACT is committed to environmental protection all he likes – their actions or rather inaction say otherwise. Nothing is going to change without a change in govt, and probably not even then.
Wayne is a joke at this point. McKeeva’s recent appointment tells us all we need to know about Wayne’s character…
Who thinks PAC matters?
Who thinks Wayne matters?
“All talk, no action” – the official mantra of the PACT government.
another huge failure for wayne and no-plan-pact.