{"id":150410,"date":"2022-04-25T08:18:30","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T12:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=150410"},"modified":"2022-04-25T08:18:30","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T12:18:30","slug":"in-barbuda-locals-fight-to-protect-a-wetland-and-a-centuries-old-way-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/in-barbuda-locals-fight-to-protect-a-wetland-and-a-centuries-old-way-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"In Barbuda, locals fight to protect a wetland and a centuries-old way of life"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By\u00a0Kim Feldmann<\/a><\/p>

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Palmetto Point, a wetland site on the island of Barbuda, comprises mangroves, seagrass beds, tidal flats and coral reefs. It is home to endangered species such as the hawksbill and leatherback turtles, as well as the Western Hemisphere\u2019s largest colony of frigate birds. Soon, they will get a new neighbour \u2013 a luxury resort with a 150-room hotel, 450 residential units, a beach club, a marina and a golf course.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe marine resources of Barbuda that support livelihoods, food security and ecotourism will be negatively impacted [by the development],\u201d says John Mussington, a marine biologist and school principal based in Barbuda. \u201cAnd the island and its people, already quite vulnerable to climate change, will lose what is needed for adaptive strategies.\u201d<\/p>

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Barbuda wetland sites like Palmetto Point are essential to the lives of locals, both as a means of subsistence and as a natural defence against coastal erosion, and\u00a0UN experts have warned the project could pose as a threat to Barbudans\u2019 human rights<\/a>.<\/p>

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A part of the sovereign Commonwealth nation of Antigua and Barbuda located in the Caribbean Lesser Antilles island chain, Barbuda\u2019s unspoiled natural beauty is the product of a collective tenure system that has been in place since the abolition of slavery in 1834. Codified in the\u00a02007 Barbuda Land Act<\/a>, the legislation not only gives the roughly 1,800 inhabitants of the 160-square-kilometre, palm-fringed island equal rights to the land, but also allows them to democratically choose which developments come in via the democratically elected Barbuda Council, the local authority in charge of managing internal affairs.<\/p>\n

However, since Hurricane Irma struck in 2017, destroying 90% of the island\u2019s structures and forcing a mass evacuation to Antigua, both Barbuda\u2019s communal system and socio-ecological resilience have been under threat. To get the island back on its feet, Gaston Browne, Antigua and Barbuda\u2019s prime minister, has pushed for private ownership in the form of foreign investments. The ocean club under construction at the Palmetto Point wetland is one such venture.<\/p>

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Legislative changes to a communal system<\/h3>\n

The project is led by Peace, Love and Happiness (PLH), a US company run by Patr\u00f3n Tequila co-founder John Paul DeJoria; and Discovery Land Company, a real estate developer owned by the American tycoon Mike Meldman. The Barbuda Ocean Club will sprawl over 800 acres, 700 of those inside the island\u2019s only national park,\u00a0which has been declared a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention<\/a>, an international treaty for the conservation of wetlands. Under the 99-year lease, PLH has agreed to pay US$150,000 to the Antigua and Barbuda government annually to develop the resort.<\/p>\n

With only one seat in the House of Representatives held by the Barbuda People\u2019s Movement (BPM) against 15 by Prime Minister Brown\u2019s Antigua Labour Party (ABLP), there was little Barbudans could do to fend off\u00a0the 2016 and 2017 amendments to the Barbuda Land Act<\/a>. The legislative changes not only overrode their communal system but also legitimised PLH the project.<\/p>

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This hasn\u2019t stopped activists and surfers from raising awareness of\u00a0what has been considered both a land grab and disaster capitalism<\/a>.<\/p>

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\u201cI had a message from someone saying a wave in the Caribbean was under threat,\u201d says British surf photographer Al Mackinnon, referring to a surf spot at Palmetto Point. He first visited the island in 2012, both to photograph surfing and to witness first-hand the pristine nature his parents had spoken highly of over the years. But it was neither the waves nor the wildlife that prompted him to get involved with efforts to save the Palmetto Point wetland from his base in the UK. \u201cAs surfers, we can speak about the [damage to the] waves,\u201d he tells\u00a0Equal Times<\/i>. \u201cBut there was also a need to amplify the message behind the locals\u2019 campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, coastal wetlands sequester carbon up to 55 times faster than tropical rainforests. And yet roughly 35% of global wetlands have vanished since 1970. This has happened at a rate three times faster than forests, making wetlands the world\u2019s most threatened ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Mussington laments the environmental consequences of the PLH project. But he is also worried about the lack of transparency in the decision-making. Among his main concerns is an environmental impact assessment conducted in 2017, which remains concealed from local residents. \u201cThis plan was developed and presented for approval to the DCA [Development Control Authority] at a time when Barbudans remained evacuated from the island and were not allowed to return, except a couple of hours per day in limited numbers to salvage personal belongings from their homes and return to Antigua,\u201d says Mussington.<\/p>\n

He also challenges the validity of a clause in the 2017 lease agreement signed by the then Barbuda council chair stating that the government had obtained all necessary consents of the people of Barbuda. \u201cThe Barbuda Land Act requires the consent of the people of Barbuda, not of the Council alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

A doubtful agreement for securing local jobs<\/h3>\n

The PLH has pledged to ensure that at least 75% of all its employees are citizens of Antigua and Barbuda, and it must submit a recruitment report to the Labour Commissioner annually. Even though the company claims that more than a thousand local jobs will be created, it\u2019s unclear whether these jobs will promote sustainable development, according to Mussington. A clause in the lease moreover states that failing to meet the quota \u201cwill not constitute a breach of the agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe long-term deterioration of the environment, the consequent impact on food security, and resilience to climate change have costs associated [with them], and these costs will exceed any short-term monetary gains\u201d from the PLH project, argues Mussington. \u201cThe project is basically a speculative, luxury real estate sales venture, and the kinds of local jobs this supports are mainly low-paying and menial. The few high-paying jobs go to individuals which the company brings in,\u201d he said, citing a recent construction project in the Bahamas as an example.<\/p>\n

Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)<\/a>, a human rights NGO providing legal assistance to the Barbuda Council, takes a similar view. For Dr Tomaso Ferrando, a Belgium-based lawyer and member of GLAN, the 75% employment clause is not foolproof.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople in Barbuda need money for adaptation and support for local projects run by themselves,\u201d says Ferrando. \u201cNot to be employees of billionaires.\u201d<\/p>\n

GLAN is currently overseeing two court cases challenging local construction projects. The first was filed in 2018 and argued that\u00a0the concession of Robert De Niro\u2019s 2014 Paradise Found project<\/a>, also on Barbuda, went against the constitution. The second, brought by John Mussington and a former Barbuda council chair, called for a halt in the construction of a new international airport due to the lack of an environmental impact assessment. Both cases were rejected by a local court for lack of standing. They have been brought to the Privy Council, the highest court of appeal for sovereign nations of the United Kingdom, and are expected to be heard this spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decisions of the Privy Council are key,\u201d Ferrando says. \u201cIf the Paradise Found Act is against the constitution, the same should be [true] for the subsequent reforms to the Land Act that have been voted by the government (and not the Barbudan people) to facilitate investments, causing systemic repercussions on the legality of all the investments currently going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

A way of life<\/h3>\n

Land grabs are common practice across the world<\/a>. Governments and corporations often set their sights on community-owned land for natural resource extraction, or industry and tourism development. And those who hold communal lands \u2013 roughly 2.5 billion people, according to\u00a0a 2016 report<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 seldom have legal rights to it, which in turn puts their own rights at risk.<\/p>\n

In Barbuda, communal land ownership isn\u2019t just a sociopolitical framework \u2013 it is a way of life locals are keen to protect even though the system\u2019s fate currently rests in the hands of a faraway court. \u201cIn 2018, there was a Barbuda Council election in which Barbudans voted overwhelmingly for the party which supports the communal land system [and] which is opposed to the PLH plan,\u201d says Mussington. But that doesn\u2019t change the fact that their right to vote on\u00a0who<\/i>\u00a0leases their land has already been undermined by the Land Act amendments, as well as a central government which, according to Mussington, \u201cis unilaterally pushing the PLH model of development on Barbuda.\u201d So much so that\u00a0those opposed to the policy have been branded as \u201ceconomic terrorists\u201d by the prime minister.<\/p>\n

A visit by a Ramsar wetland committee to check on the state of the wetlands is expected between April and May of this year, and the hope is that an official mission will follow, which, together with international pressure, might persuade the government to reassess the PLH project.<\/p>\n

While hope appears to be what keeps Barbudans fighting, a clear-sighted mindset is what helps them navigate the situation. \u201cBarbudans, as Indigenous and tribal people by virtue of their special connectedness to the land and its resources, will cease to exist without their land system,\u201d explains Mussington. \u201cThe PLH plan and Barbudans as a People cannot coexist. The success of one hinges on the elimination of the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

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By\u00a0Kim Feldmann Palmetto Point, a wetland site on the island of Barbuda, comprises mangroves, seagrass beds, tidal flats and coral reefs. It is home to endangered species such as the hawksbill and leatherback turtles, as well as the Western Hemisphere\u2019s largest colony of frigate birds. Soon, they will get a new neighbour \u2013 a luxury […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":143417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Barbuda, locals fight to protect a wetland and a centuries-old way of life - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/in-barbuda-locals-fight-to-protect-a-wetland-and-a-centuries-old-way-of-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Barbuda, locals fight to protect a wetland and a centuries-old way of life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By\u00a0Kim Feldmann Palmetto Point, a wetland site on the island of Barbuda, comprises mangroves, seagrass beds, tidal flats and coral reefs. 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