Welcome to BEST

From the 23rd to the 27th of June 2008, the Fourth Biennial Caribbean Forum (CEF-4) was held in Grenada. BEST Chair Stuart Hayward attended on behalf of BEST and produced the following report on the Conference:

CEF-4 Report

The gathering consisted of three integrated conferences:

• The 4^th Biennial Caribbean Environmental Forum (CEF-4) which was titled: Climate Change, Water and Sanitation: a Shared Responsibility
• The 13^th Annual Wider Caribbean Waste Management Conference, and
• The 1^st Caribbean Sustainable Energy Forum

Among the opening Plenary Keynote speakers were the Prime Minister and the Environment Minister of Grenada. Also attending and presenting were the German and Austrian Ambassadors to the region.

All presentations and the proceedings of the conference will eventually be posted on the website of the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI), the primary host organisation for the conference.

My own paper on Tourism and the Changing Climate (attached), focused on water supply and demand, and our cultural water conservation, then and now. There was much interest in details of our collection and storage.

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BEST has facilitated the formation of the Bermuda Association of Eco-Clubs (BASE) with the following Mission Statement and Objectives:

Mission Statement:
To mould a generation of future environmental leaders through support, co-ordination and monitoring of active eco-clubs throughout Bermuda.

1. Engage all schools and youth organisations across Bermuda;
2. Encourage the development of the elements of leadership and best practices;
3. Create a network forum for discussion;
4. Share information and resources between the clubs;
5. Encourage individual club projects as well as BASE projects;
6. Seek to extend the environmental agenda from students to teachers and parents.

The BASE Steering Committee is comprised of representatives from Eco-Clubs. At their first meeting, the SC chose Caitlin O’Doherty as Chair. Caitlin was the winner of the Bermuda National Trust’s “Young Environmentalist of the Year” Award for 2008.

If you know of or belong to a school or youth organisation that might want to link up with BASE, please send an email to BASE Chair Caitlin O’Doherty at ecodudette@hotmail.com.

Although BEST has been relatively quiet, the Steering Committee has been meeting regularly to discuss where we have been, where we are, and how we want to evolve in the future. We have had a fantastic year and our newsletter reflects our commitment to environmental accountability/sustainability. We also have many projects and activities that will be coming up. Please check out our upcoming events section in the newsletter. We continue to keep a watchful eye on planning applications. If you hear of anything that you think should get BEST’s attention, please send an e-mail to info@best.org.bm. Thanks!

Click here to download the BEST Newsletter

The Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) are concerned more about what is omitted by the just-published SDO for Southlands than be what is contained.

The most serious omission is that of the impact of this development when added to next door Atlantic Ltd. Development. The people depend on the government to consider the combined effects of neighbouring developments. It is totally unacceptable for the government to treat these adjacent developments as though there is no interaction, no combined impacts: environmental, visual, on traffic, on power supply and prices, on housing availability and prices, and on the cultural integrity of the neighbourhood.

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On July 26, Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield headlined a twenty-minute television and radio broadcast that explained Special Development Orders (SDOs) and attempted to justify the issuance of an SDO for the proposed hotel at Southlands. The Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) believes the Minister and her Cabinet colleagues failed in this attempt. In our view, the approval of this project denigrates the planning system and reduces sustainable development concerns to irrelevance. It discounts public opinion in favour of political ends. It negatively impacts the environment, coastline and, most importantly, generations to come. It creates significant precedence for use of public lands by private developers.

Minister Butterfield described SDOs as an important tool used for responding to strategic, national issues and the development needs of the day. The Government has not shown that this particular hotel is strategic or of national importance. Bermuda’s economy is booming, prices for housing are rising out of reach of the average Bermudian, inflation is chipping into everyone’s income. Further rapid expansion of the economy will worsen cost of living issues for middle and lower income Bermudians.

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Response to Government’s announcement of the approval of an SDO for the Southlands development

Members of the Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) are outraged at the approval of a Special Development Order (SDO) for the Southlands development project. In March of 2007, Minister of the Environment Neletha Butterfield, made public a draft of the SDO and invited consultation – an action for which she deserved and received credit. The draft SDO was soundly discredited by planning, architectural and environmental experts. In addition, in the short period of time that was allowed for objection, thousands of island residents signed a petition against the SDO and hundreds marched in protest and sent letters of objection to both Minister Butterfield and Premier Brown.

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Despite the short notice and the early morning rain there were 200 people who came to line the road along South Shore at the Southlands Property this morning to warn their Government and fellow Bermudians that a resort at Southlands such as the one that is planned would be a crime. This crime would not just be an environmental disaster but it would be a crime against Bermudians and set a precedent for the entire island to be completely converted into a concrete jungle where few tourists are likely to visit.Thanks to everyone who came to sound the warning. Our voices were heard despite Nelson Hunt, one of the developers, trying to silence us by revving his motorcycle engine while one of us was being interviewed by VSB news.

Stay tuned for the next event.

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