Thompson calls for green fund
Publication: Daily Nation
Paper Section And Page: 26A
Paper Date: Wed, Dec 6, 2000
A CALL has been made for an environmental protection fund to be put in place
because of the high environmental risks involved in construction projects.
Former Minister of Health and current back-bencher Liz Thompson made this
call in reference to reports of destruction of live coral by a United States
company working on the Port St. Charles marina project in 1997.
She was contributing to debate yesterday on the Port St. Charles
(Validation) Bill which sought to validate actions taken four years ago by
private developers of the $400 million project.
She said Barbados currently had no regime in place for restitution or repair
in the event of major damage being done to its coastal or marine
environment; so investors/developers should be made to pay. Describing the
compensation of US$20 000 for the coral reef destruction as a "paltry,
five-figure amount", she said if Barbados was serious about its
environment, then it should make developers/investors pay up-front a
percentage based on the project's cost or risk. Such a percentage, she said,
could be somewhere between 0.5 and one per cent of the value of the project,
or could depend on the risk which would be determined during the project's
environmental assessment.
She said an environmental protection fund was necessary in light of future
projects involving beachfront construction, offshore mining and the like. In
the event of major damage, she queried who would be responsible for repair,
investigation and monitoring of that damage over time. Such responsibility,
she added, should fall to the investor or developer so that in the event of
an environmental emergency or mishap, funds would be immediately available.
She said this fund was especially crucial in instances where developers from
outside of Barbados were seeking to use local natural resources to make a
profit. Thompson added that if Barbadians saw their environment as being not
only for them but for generations yet unborn, then they would take the
necessary steps to protect it where large-scale developmental projects are
concerned.