Teen activists wade in on Brac protest

(CNS): As work continues on the controversial private airbase on Cayman Brac, posing a threat to rock iguana habitat, teenagers from Protect Our Future are also now urging a halt to the project. The young activists were on the Brac recently lending support to the campaign there in the face of the environmental threats posed not just by the development but future operations.

“The clear lack of cultural appreciation by the parties involved is nothing short of appalling,” Thomas Dickens from Grand Cayman said after the trip, where POF members met the with young people on Cayman Brac who are fighting against the plan proposed by Daggaro, an aviation and aerospace services company.

The POF activists said the concerns about this development on the Brac are the same as those the teenagers have encountered on Grand Cayman, where inappropriate developments are being “fuelled by ignorance and greed”, they said in a release.

“The ignorance factor is one where the public itself is kept ignorant about many of the proposed development projects. Developers can plead ignorance when they fill or clear historical or cultural grounds, the community can plead ignorance that they do not know what is going on. In turn, slowly, we inherit a future that we never wanted,” the activists said, noting that in this case all of the above applied.

Asking who was profiting and how many Caymanian jobs will really result from it, the teenagers expressed doubts about claims by the developers that this is just going to be a base for search and rescue operations and medivacs.

The teenagers said that no one wants Cayman Brac to be a drone and military base for non-Caymanians, concerns fuelled by the content on Daggaro’s own website.

“We have many questions,” said POF member Nicholas Corin. “Do the developers even know if the land is suitable for this type of project, even though they are already filling it with rock. From what we’ve observed on the Brac and heard from local youth advocates, the project seems to be harmful to tourism, the environment and neighboring properties. The noise pollution alone is a huge drawback.”

The youngsters are once again urging the adults who are old enough to vote to help them protect their future.

“We stood up against the proposed port project, the same project that would have cost us millions, the same project that the government happily sold to our future with no reservations at all,” the young activists told CNS.

The teenagers, who have been involved in a number of environmental campaigns over the last two years, said government and local developers continue to sell their future without reflection.

“Now we have the Brac, one of the world’s last true paradises, and without proper diligence and community engagement, the Daggaro project continues the cycle of greed and ignorance,” they stated. “Because of COVID-19, we hoped that our government and developers would start rethinking Cayman’s future. We proposed a true blue-green economy, one where we valued our land, our sea, our communities, one where educating our youth was prioritised above keeping them ignorant.”

Disappointed by what is happening to their own island, the new Brac recruits, Jordan Grant and Daniella Christian, said, “With the credibility of the Brac at stake, we will continue to take a stand against ignorance. It is never easy to face uncertainty. It takes true bravery to face ignorance and greed.”

Sticking with their image-driven social media campaigns, the youngsters took a number of pictures at the site where the project is underway.

As well as being an area of historic cultural significance, it is one of just a few remaining habitats for the endangered Sister Islands rock iguana.