Land Habitat
New law tightens protection for local flora
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government has successfully steered the Plant Protection Act, 2023 through parliament in order to tighten the rules around importing plants that may harbour pests and threaten the local flora. Cayman’s native plants and trees are at risk from a range of new plant pests, such as the ever-present mealybug to the […]
Cats going back to the wild after snip by NGO
(CNS): Alley Cat Allies, the international charity that founded Global Cat Day, marked on 16 October spent the day in Grand Cayman providing spay and neuter surgery for up to 100 cats and distributing hundreds of pounds of cat food to help local caregivers in a counter campaign to government’s control programme. But officials with the […]
Trust buys 14.4 acres of Sesuvium marsh on LC
(CNS): The Little Cayman District Committee of the National Trust for the Cayman Islands (NTCI) has purchased a 14.4-acre parcel of land in the Snipe Point area at the east end of the island. The parcel contains part of the Sesuvium marsh habitat, one of ten distinct habitats found on the island first listed by […]
Controversial cabana torn down after court decision
(CNS): The cabana on Boggy Sand Beach, which is behind the long-running courtroom battle between the National Conservation Council and the Central Planning Authority, was taken down this weekend. Following Friday’s decision by the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal, when the CPA’s appeal against a judicial review was dismissed, workmen began dismantling the failing structure. […]
NCC prevails in legal battle with CPA
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Court of Appeal has dismissed the Central Planning Authority’s appeal challenging a direction from the National Conservation Council that it should not grant planning permission for the redevelopment of a beachfront cabana on Boggy Sand Beach. The high court confirmed on Friday that the National Conservation Act provides the NCC with […]
NCC members express deep concern over quarries
(CNS): A quarrying operation on Cayman Brac that has expanded its footprint without planning permission and a separate application for an additional quarry in Bodden Town on Grand Cayman fuelled a list of concerns for the National Conservation Council when it met for the first time this year on Wednesday with its new line-up. The […]
MRCU cranks up efforts in the face of August rain
(CNS): After two very hot dry months, August has been particularly wet so far, leading to an increase in mosquitoes, and the Mosquito Research and Control Unit (MRCU) has been doubling efforts in response. MRCU Director Dr Alan Wheeler noted that it has rained almost every day this month and mosquito numbers are now high, […]
New members join NCC while CPA reappointed
(CNS): The two groups of people with the power to shape the protection of the Cayman Islands’ natural resources over the remainder of this current administration were appointed by Cabinet last week. Ian Pairaudeau has been reappointed as chairperson of the Central Planning Authority (CPA) and Stuart Mailer, the former environmental programmes manager at the […]
NRA clears mangroves without approval
(CNS): The National Roads Authority has said the removal of mangroves without prior approval, just days after Cayman marked World Mangrove Day, was a “misunderstanding”. The NRA said it was cleaning culverts, not clearing mangroves, at a site in West Bay, but it appears that some were removed. Now local activists are angry that, despite […]
Local bullfinch gets ‘Cayman status’
(CNS): The Grand Cayman bullfinch has been reclassified as a separate species, Melopyrrha taylori, having previously been considered a subspecies of a monotypic West Indian genus. As of this month, the American Ornithological Society now recognises the Cayman bullfinch and the Cuban bullfinch (Melopyrrha nigra) as two endemic species. The decision was a belated response […]
Mangrove conservation more critical than ever
(CNS): Month after month, wetlands are being lost across Grand Cayman paving the way for more and more development, despite the obvious and pressing need to stop removing them and, where possible, to start to replenish what has been lost. Though they were often seen in the past simply as a mosquito-breeding swamp, there is […]
