"Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection and, when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary approach.
a. Take action to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible environmental harm even when scientific knowledge is incomplete or inconclusive.
b. Place the burden of proof on those who argue that a proposed activity will not cause significant harm, and make the responsible parties liable for environmental harm.
c. Ensure that decision making addresses the cumulative, long-term, indirect, long distance, and global consequences of human activities.
d. Prevent pollution of any part of the environment and allow no build-up of radioactive, toxic, or other hazardous substances." (source: Earth Charter see http://earthcharterinaction.org/about_charter.html)
Urgent words from the Earth Charter in the interest of communities all over the world and which words for many years have been embraced by the Dutch Government, which is aware of the world wide degradation of our natural resources. The key word here is sustainable development which we can find back in numerous policies and legislation of the Dutch Government complete with a policy to fight the consequences of climate change.
What does this mean for the other parts of the Kingdom and especially the densely populated St. Maarten? A territory of only 34 square kms with an average population density of 1.537 residents per square km? But perhaps even more. We are talking three times the density of the Netherlands, which is already considered crowded.
What do we have to celebrate on Earth Day in St. Maarten, where the environment should have been a major concern to the community and where environment has been the (main) responsibility for the Island Government for many years?
Did we prevent harm as best as we could? Did we take action to avoid serious environmental harm? Did we ensure that decision making addresses the long-term consequences of human activities? Did we make the responsible parties liable for environmental harm? Let us see what we have done so far:
• Do we have proper zoning? Although Federal Legislation was implemented in 1976 to push for a balanced development this legislation has been persistently and intentionally ignored. Only after pressure during the negotiations for separate status zoning became an issue (but "over" development continues to be a big burden to the island.)
• Do we have basic environmental standards to protect the air, the soil and the water? On June 11, 2007 a final report on environmental standards was presented by VOMIL (Curaçao) and also proposed for St. Maarten. We are still awaiting these most basic standards. In the meantime we have 24/7 pollution of our ponds, lagoon and ocean, where some of the precious reefs are already dying.
• Do we have at least proper legislation to protect our water, soil and air? We don't. We have some legislation to protect the water, but the ponds are excluded. And what we have is seriously outdated. On top of that there is no legislation to control the dredging activities that is spreading the existing pollution.
• Do we have a proper waste disposal? No. Instead, we have an illegal dump (without any permit) in the vicinity of town and bordering on densely populated areas, with very hazardous fires on a fairly regular basis and contributing to global warming. Only because the dump has reached its maximum capacity, Government has no other option but to look for a solution, however, due to lack of transparency we are concerned that the quality of a disposal facility can be compromised. Moreover, local environmental organizations have been left out of the decision making process.
• Do we have a proper environmental legislation for businesses (such as the ‘Wet Milieu Beheer')? No. We have an outdated Hindrance Ordinance system to regulate businesses that could harm the environment with their activities. However, there is insufficient knowledge and not enough staff to deal with proper permits and enforcement. Many businesses do not have a permit at all. For the Marinas we have to rely on the Blue Flag certification, which is a voluntary system.
• Do we have proper governmental enforcement? Even high ranking officials admit that the Government is not capable of enforcing the outdated legislation. The Inspection Department is part of the most political governed departments, where politicians have an enormous impact on who is controlled, but especially who is not controlled.
• Do we have a proper building permit system? Not at all. Imagine, Commissioners (earning approximately 7.000 Antillean Guilders) dealing directly with rich (foreign) developers while there is no proper zoning, environmental policy's and a code of conduct.
• Do the police enforce environmental legislation? Hardly or not at all. Regular crime takes most of their time, the police force is seriously understaffed and environmental issues are not popular enough with police management.
• Does the prosecutor's office play a role in the enforcement? Although this office does play a role it is only based on the environmental interest of individuals and not on a structural approach. The Federal Government has shown to have no interest to implement environmental enforcement as has been the case in the Netherlands for the past twenty or more years. Enforcement plans and guidelines are seriously lacking.
• The same applies to the Court of First Instance. Everything depends on the voluntary help from individual judges. So far we have been lucky.
• Do we have proper sewage (beerput afvalwater) disposal? Not at all. In many areas sewage and other waste water is running in the streets and into the ponds and eventually in the ocean. The Caribbean Sea is becoming one of the more polluted seas in the world.
• Do we have an energy policy? No, just very recently it seems government is working on an energy policy, the backbone of any economy. In a time when everybody was looking at alternative energy the utility company St. Maarten invested in diesel generators. The cost of these diesel generators could put the economy of St. Maarten in a serious financial problem when the international oil prices will rise again. It's doubtful that there will be much room for alternative sources because of this considerable investment.
• Do we have alternative energy? Hardly, the monopoly of electricity (and water) provider GEBE does not promote innovation. Despite the tremendous amount of sunshine Government does not stimulate solar and wind energy at all. Local banks offer interest rates of 8% and more (and not even for a fixed period), tax holidays seem to be for foreign companies only, while the utility company claims safety issues as a reason to keep alternative energy at bay. So far, serious debates to really look into a green diversification have only been held by private environmental organizations.
• Does the Dutch government promote sustainable construction via its funding to lower the maintenance costs, energy and water consumptions of the buildings? According to USONA this is simply not an issue in St. Maarten.
• Do we inspect our imported food to protect the community? There are no control facilities and no government promotion at all of local agriculture.
• Do we save water and energy? Hardly. Utility Company GEBE has issued a commercial, but there is no serious structural approach to do something with this issue. There is no incentive at all to promote the use of less water and of less energy consuming products. There is no incentive to use energy friendly products. We never heard of energy star programs.
• Do we have hurricane norms? No, in a hurricane prone area one would suspect that we have serious norms, in particular with bigger buildings. And what can you expect from a building ordinance that dates back to the 1930s? Everything depends on what the developer wants. Ironically, the Dutch tax payer contributes to the disaster relief after a hurricane has hit the island. Local people need to pay enormous premiums to insure their properties.
• Do we protect our coast line? We have a beach policy but almost all developments have been built in violation with this policy.
• Do we protect the hills? We have a hillside policy, but even though there are serious warnings for flooding, developers are often getting their way.
• Do we have a Historical and Nature park? Yes. Emilio Wilson Park. However, private organizations have to fight to save this valuable park for the public benefit. It is still unclear if it can be fully saved.
• Do we have a proper transport policy? No, even with the enormous loss of production due to constant traffic jams. However, it seems that government is finally working on such a policy, but it is doubtful that this policy will be used in the decision making process for the intended construction of a bridge over the lagoon and a road around the Great Salt Pond. There is not much consideration for alternatives and other smart solutions.
• Do we protect our monuments? We have legislation but the execution took so long that many buildings have already been demolished.
• Do we have a Marine Park Ordinance? Only a concept. The St. Maarten Nature Foundation has been kept waiting for many years for the approval of the Ordinance by the Island Government.
• Do we have a tree ordinance? No, only via the monument ordinance, valuable (and existing) old trees are now protected.
• Do we have environmental policies or a policy for a sustainable approach? No. We had an excellent initiative from one individual at VROM to start a project to promote sustainability with assistance of the Dutch TU. However, funding for this project is still lacking.
• Did St. Maarten approach the Dutch government for assistance to research the adaptation to climate change? If it did, the general public is not aware of it.
The above-mentioned list is not even complete, but it makes awkwardly clear the lack of involvement of our political leaders in our community where it is very common to trade personal favors for votes. This total lack of good governance is aggravated by the ignorance of both the Federal Government and the Dutch Government for many years.
With this letter our foundation hopes to achieve that at least the Dutch Parliament will take her responsibility and will consider imposing supervision or at least postponing the separate status in order to have (finally!) appropriate measures taken, to ensure a sustainable future of this vulnerable island. And then perhaps, we will also have reason to celebrate Earth Day in St. Maarten.
Caribbean Foundation for Sustainability
