Commentary
Preparing to deal with an impending rise in sea level
by Roddy Heyliger
Thursday, April 15, 2004
ST. MAARTEN, Netherlands Antilles: In
January, 45 small island government nations better known as Small Island
Developing States (SIDS), met in The Bahamas at a four-day United Nations
sponsored conference to discuss sustainable development.
One of the main challenges many countries in the Caribbean face relate mainly
to the environment. Global climate change and sea level rise are high on the
list because of its wide impact on coastal areas of our islands and the
warming of the seas that will affect our coral reefs. Corals are important for
the protection of the coastline. Due to the warmness of our seas, a process
called coral bleaching is killing the coral.
A report released by scientists says that the Australian Great Barrier Reef
will be largely destroyed by 2050 because of rising sea temperatures. Only
five per cent of reef coral will remain alive on the 2000 km long reef which
is currently home to 1500 types of fish.
Within 15-years already, tourism and the fishing industries that survive off
the natural environment of the Great Barrier Reef will lose millions of
dollars not only from global climate changes, but also due to over fishing and
water pollution.
Other SIDS issues are a reduction in the
land space of our islands due to urbanization and economic development;
decreased fresh water supplies and pollution linked to waste management.
With respect to our island-nation (St.
Maarten), we do have a land space problem as land for the development of
housing becomes scarce. New forms of affordable housing such as three and four
storey high rises will have to be taken into consideration and planned in
order to accommodate the housing needs of our nation.
We don’t depend on ground water for our fresh water supplies as we rely on
water desalination. The decrease in fresh water supplies in some Caribbean
islands is caused by salt water intrusion. Jamaica for example has lost over
100 rivers in the past couple of decades because of degradation of the water
shed. Efforts are underway by the governments
of both sides of the island (St. Martin-French & St. Maarten-Dutch) to have
one waste disposal and management system. Sewage water however remains a
problem. Another area of interest to SIDS is maintaining our indigenous nature
– protecting our own cultural and indigenous resources.
With respect to St. Maarten, global climate changes will no doubt impact our
low lying economic and residential areas and natural resources such as our
beaches. Therefore, it is in our interests to start studying what possible
impacts there would be on our coastal areas and what measures should be taken.
A committee should be established to prepare a plan of action.
This issue is a Kingdom issue. Holland is a
country where most of the land mass lies under sea level. The Dutch are aware
that dike raising will not be sufficient to deal with the challenges ahead and
therefore have drafted a paper, “Water Policy in the 21st Century,” a paper
outlining how they should deal with impending challenges.
The long-term protection of our natural, human and economic resources for
generations to come is in our interests and therefore it is imperative that we
must start preparing and planning from now.
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