Green Antilles

Minister of Communications and Work, Mr. Mark Vanterpool, has declared that renewable energy is the government’s top priority for the British Virgin Islands:

Minister of Communications and Works Mark Vanterpool said renewable energy is the number one priority for his government and has called on the BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC) to support this agenda.

Vanterpool made those remarks when he met with BVIEC board members yesterday to extend his support and to provide guidance on critical electricity issues facing the Territory, according to a Government Information Service (GIS) press release.

Vanterpool was especially interested in alternate forms of energy and how energy savings can be transferred to consumers, the GIS release states.

“Renewable energy has to be the number one priority of not just the Government, but also the Territory in order to keep pace with the rest of the world that is now actively pursuing these alternative forms of energy,” Minister Vanterpool said, adding, “The corporation and ministry must be in sync on renewable energy issues in order to move forward in the same direction.”

Read more in the full article from the Caribbean Information Platform on Renewable Energy. See also: this report from the Caribbean Journal, and this previous Green Antilles post: British Virgin Islanders campaign for renewable energy.

The British Virgin Islands National Parks Trust was established 50 years ago. The Trust’s golden anniversary and prospects for the future were subjects of a recent editorial in the BVI Beacon:

The National Parks Trust’s 50th anniversary is an opportune time to recognise the organisation’s many accomplishments while recommitting to expanding and improving upon them.

The NPT has done much good work for the territory since it was established in 1961. That year, Joseph Reynold O’Neal worked with United States philanthropist Laurance Rockefeller to set aside Virgin Islands land for conservation purposes. With Mr. O’Neal as founding chairman, the trust soon began planning a system of protected areas.

Fifty years later, the NPT has come a long way. Today, it manages 21 national parks and helps protect and restore populations of native species, among other responsibilities.

This work is exceedingly important, especially considering the territory’s rapid development in the past three decades. Residents’ quality of life is greatly enhanced by access to unspoiled natural areas. The tourism industry benefits, too: National parks like The Baths, Sage Mountain and others have proved extremely popular attractions for visitors.

However, these protected areas must not be taken for granted. As environmental pressures mount, the territory should jealously guard its protection mechanisms.

The dangers of carelessness in this regard were highlighted by the recent appeals court ruling invalidating the Hans Creek, Beef Island, fisheries protected area. We are glad that amended rules appear to remedy this problem, and hope that the VI will learn a lesson from the hiccup.

Moving forward, one important yardstick is the 10-year Protected Area System Plan tabled in the House of Assembly in March 2008. That document — which covers efforts by the NPT, Conservation and Fisheries, and Town and Country Planning — is a comprehensive and well-considered strategy designed to protect the territory’s natural resources for a sustainable future.

To that end, the document includes many sound recommendations:

• creating new protected areas in locations such as Smugglers Cove;
• assessing the carrying capacity of the most heavily used protected areas to better plan for the future; and
• providing adequate funding to allow the NPT and other agencies to properly manage protected areas, to name a few.

Such recommendations should be carefully considered, and incorporated into the territory’s policy-making process at all levels — particularly as the new government starts work on the tourism plan it has promised.

These efforts will be key to ensuring that the NPT’s next 50 years are as fruitful as its first.

See the original article at the Beacon website.

See also: the website of the British Virgin Islands National Parks Trust.

And in the last item of renewable energy news for the day, residents of the British Virgin Islands are petitioning for an end to legislation that discourages the use of alternative energy:

The BVI is blessed with abundant sunshine and trade winds. We want to use these to produce our own clean energy so that we are less dependent on imported, expensive, and polluting fossil fuels. In 2010, we used over 11 million gallons of imported fuel, costing approximately $20 million, to supply our energy needs. We want to stabilise the cost of electricity and reduce the number of power outages experienced.

Peter Island can produce up to 70% if it’s own power using two wind turbines. Cooper Island produces 70% of it’s power using solar panels.

Current legislation prevents the implementation of alternative energy sources from contributing to the main power supply in areas served by BVIEC. Furthermore import duties and a lack of tax incentives make alternative energy technologies expensive..

We urge Government to amend existing legislation and promote clean, sustainable energy and energy conservation in the BVI.

Read more at the petition webpage. See also the Green VI website.

The British Virgin Islands branch of the Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN) continues to work to raise environmental awareness in the Islands:

[On June 14] the Caribbean Youth Environment Network, BVI Chapter (CYEN-BVI) [participated] in the annual Conservation and Fisheries Department’s Parade for the Planet under the theme Forests: Nature at Your Service.
…
Throughout May, CYEN-BVI was engaged in a number of activities to enhance the environment and
educate the public.

Early on 22 May, 2011 members of CYEN – BVI could be seen in Sea Cow’s Bay maintaining the Ixora flower garden planted by the group in their celebration of Climate Change Global Work Party in October 2010.

Sea Cow’s Bay is one of three locations where flower gardens were planted, the others being along the West End Basketball Court and at the entrance to Parham Town. CYEN regularly maintains all the flower gardens and plans to further enhance these and other areas throughout the Territory.
…
The following week, 23-27 May, 2011 CYEN presented their public exhibit on Forest Biodiversity at the East Atrium of the Central Administration Complex in partnership with the Conservation and Fisheries Department and National Parks Trust. The exhibit was in celebration of the International Day of Biodiversity and sought to educate the public about the diversity of forest types in The Virgin Islands and the impressive collection of plants and animals that can be found there.

Through colourful posters, the exhibit highlighted the Territory’s National Parks, mangrove forests and the less visible seagrass beds.

Plant and animals species that can only be found in The Virgin Islands (endemics) were also showcased, such as the Virgin Islands Bo-peep (a frog) and the Poke Me Boy (a tree species only found on Anegada).

The Forest Biodiversity exhibit was supported by a series of presentations by CYEN members to 4 primary schools on forest biodiversity.
…
With a current membership of twenty plus, CYEN-BVI looks forward to protecting the Territory’s environment for this generation and those to come.

For more, read the full article at CaribFlyer.

The work of the BVI chapter of CYEN has been previously featured on Green Antilles in these posts: Youth raising environmental awareness in the British Virgin Islands and BVI branch of the Caribbean Youth Environment Network seeks new members.

The Island Resources Foundation (IRF) has secured funding, through the United Kingdom’s Overseas Territories Environment Programme, to prepare environmental profiles of the islands of Virgin Gorda and Anegada. The BVI Beacon reports:

First, Jost Van Dyke got one.

Now, Virgin Gorda and Anegada will get one, too.

The Governor’s Office announced last week that the Island Resources Foundation secured funding to produce environmental profiles for the two sister islands.

Funded by the United Kingdom’s Overseas Territories Environment Programme, the profiles will be designed to help guide policy-making to ensure sustainability, according to a press release from the Governor’s Office.

“There is currently too little scientifically based data available which address the major environmental issues and conflicts that threaten the sustainable development of the BVI,” the statement said, adding that the profile will help fill “gaps in available environmental data” and propose options for change.

Environmental profiles have been prepared elsewhere in the Caribbean, but none had been produced for the Virgin Islands until the 2009 JVD profile, which was part of another OTEP-funded project with the JVD Preservation Society.

Find out more in this post on the IRF blog:

The BVI Environmental Profile Programme will provide an expanded information base to guide the choices of public and private sector stakeholders and decision- makers.

The programme will take a retrospective look at environmental change, assess priority environmental issues, and place these within a forward-looking context that supports sustainable growth.

As a result, BVIslanders and their government will better understand the need to balance how they want to grow with what they want to protect.

[Photo: Daniel Lobo]

An editorial from the British Virgin Islands Beacon declares that it’s time for the islands to get serious about green energy:

It is high time for the Virgin Islands to start switching to alternative energy. Already, the territory is being left behind by many of its Caribbean neighbours.

The VI is ripe for green options like solar and wind energy, as many leaders seem to recognise: They have repeatedly paid lip service to such ideas. Premier Ralph O’Neal has gone so far as to suggest that the territory should consider becoming entirely “carbon neutral.”

But besides the work of a few resorts and private developers, very little meaningful action has been taken toward such goals.

Currently, the VI has no plan in place to move to green energy in the future, and it offers no significant incentives to encourage change.

Unfortunately, the government didn’t keep its promise in its 2008 Speech from the Throne to lay “sustainable energy legislation” on the table of the House of Assembly. Instead, the promise was dropped the next year, and it hasn’t reappeared since.

Currently, existing legislation actually discourages the use of alternative energy here. Likely as a result, a major supermarket reported recently that it was unable to obtain permission from the government to install an extensive solar power system. In this day and age, this is nothing short of shocking.

Granted, there are technical challenges associated with switching to alternative energy. But they clearly are not insurmountable, as other countries and territories around the Caribbean are making the change.

Indeed, this territory’s inaction puts it in stark contrast with many of its regional neighbours. The United States Virgin Islands, for example, has pledged to reduce its fossil fuel consumption by 60 percent by the year 2025, and it has implemented various programmes to promote solar energy. Dominica, Barbados, Guadeloupe, Jamaica and others have made substantial investments in wind farms. Many countries in the region also have passed tax incentives designed to promote energy alternatives.

All of these options are worth considering here.

Read the complete editorial at the Beacon website.

[Photo: nix6658]

A consultant from the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre recently visited the British Virgin Islands to assess the Territory’s coral reef monitoring programme:

The Territory recently concluded a two-day assessment of the Coral Reef Monitoring in the Virgin Islands as part of its local commitment to the Enhancing Capacity for Adaptation to Climate Change (ECACC) Project in the United Kingdom (UK) Overseas Territories.

A press release from the Government Information Service (GIS) stated that the Virgin Islands is the first UK Overseas Territory to conduct the assessment facilitated by Marcia Creary, a consultant with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC).

…

Ms. Creary met with representatives from the Conservation and Fisheries Department, the National Parks Trust and the Association of Reef Keepers to assess local coral reef monitoring activities. She checked the compatibility of local methods and networks used for collecting and analysing data with those used under the Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Climate Change (CPACC) project.

The Consultant reported that she was pleased with the high level of interest shown among the various groups and the fact that collaborative work is underway to formulate key questions that need to be answered on reef monitoring to meet the Territory’s specific needs.

From her initial findings, she is “hoping to move to a system that will provide assistance with data analysis as people see the value in the analysis of data as evidenced through outputs,” the Consultant said.

Local findings revealed that several data collection sources exist but attention to data analysis is needed. She was also impressed with the Habitat Map created by the Conservation and Fisheries Department and the National Parks Trust for the Territory, which outlines local geographical features of the Virgin Islands including, beaches, mangroves, sea grass beds and reefs for the Virgin Islands.

Similar assessments are planned for other British Oversease Territories in the Caribbean, i.e. the Turks and Caicos Islands, Anguilla, Montserrat and the Cayman Islands. Read the full article from Virgin Islands News Online for more information.

See also: this outline of the ECACC project from the UK Department for International Development.

[Photo: Dan Derrett]