The Green Page - February 7, 2001

Publication: Daily Nation
Paper Section And Page: 15A
Paper Date: Wed, Feb 7, 2001
Byline: Compiled by Terry Ally

Page sponsored by The Tourism Development Corporation 

  
   

Caves of adventure

THERE IS a proposal on the drawing board to develop other caves in Barbados and expand attractions at Harrison's Cave.

Managing director of Caves of Barbados Limited, Susan Mahon, said that Harrison's Cave remained the island's No. 1 tourism attraction and following on that success, they will be adding attractions to the St. Thomas facility such as an interpretative centre with interactive exhibits. However, the actual show cavern will not be expanded.

She said that instead of putting more of that type of attraction on the market, they would diversify the produce and introduce spelunking or wild caving.

"There is a whole network of caves all around Barbados, especially in St. Thomas, and there would be the possibility for adventure caving within that network rather than extending the present show cave," she said.

While not giving a specific timetable, Mahon said there would be "quite a difference within four years".

The  managing director, who brings a strong environmental background to the job which she took up last November 1, said one of the first priorities would be the implementation of an environmental management system to ensure that conservation methods were used in the office and operation and that the natural cave system was properly protected. Part of that system will be to pay attention to just how many visitors the cave could safely handle without environmental damage.

However, she did not envision that the present level of traffic was problematic. During the busy month, an average of 700 people passed through the cave daily, and during the slow period there are a "few hundred" people. There will be a townhall meeting at the Environmental Special Projects Units, St. Thomas, at 7:30 p.m. to discuss the proposed extended protective boundary of the cave.

Gullies the life source of Barbados

IN the very early days the Constitution River ran deeper and further than today. Ships were able to sail up the waterway as far as Harmony Hall, where the Globe Cinema is today, to collect cargoes of molasses.

The river was supplied with water from gullies which drained from St. Thomas. However, heavy rains brought down top soil from further inland and overtime silted up the river to a point where it has now turned into a stream.

The more than 300 gullies played an important part in the economic life of Barbados. When the land was cleared to plant sugar cane, the gullies were used to plant food crops. Suck wells, check dams, and retention ponds were also constructed in the gullies to reduce water flow to and flooding of the coast.

The gullies were the focus of a 20-minute video just produced by Carrington Photo Creations in association with PR Plus and SOJE/Lonsdale for the Ministry of the Environment which is conducting a comprehensive inventory of the waterways with a view to maximising their use for tourism, heritage, cultural, and economic purposes.

Hefty fine for reef damage

AN Australian court yesterday ordered the owners of a Malaysian container ship which ran aground on Australia's Great Barrier Reef last year to pay a record US$220 000 environmental damage fine, local radio reported. Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio said the fine imposed on the Malaysian International Shipping Corporation Berhad by the Cairns Magistrate Court was the highest ever handed out in a case brought by the Environmental Protection Agency. No one was immediately available at the Environment Ministry to confirm the report. The Bunga Teratai Satu ran aground on Sudbury Reef, 30 miles east of Cairns in Australia's tropical north, last November 2. The vessel was refloated on November 14. (Reuters)

Antarctic meltdown

SCIENTISTS have worried for decades that the Antarctic ice sheet was shrinking, threatening a global rise in sea level. Now, satellite studies show that about 7.5 cubic miles of ice have eroded from a key area in just eight years.

Melting of that much ice doesn't mean that it is time to get into boats, said one researcher, but the finding may be a "yellow warning flag" that confirms long-term changes are under way in the ice fields covering the South Polar region.

Based on satellite measurements, said Andrew Shepherd, a University College London geologist and first author of the study which was published in Science last Friday, it appears that since 1992 the ice sheet has lost ice principally through the speeded-up movement of the Pine Island Glacier, an ice stream that drains about a third of the ice sheet.

Melting of the entire sheet theoretically could cause a global sea level rise of 25 to 45 feet, but Shepherd said that at the present rate of change it would take centuries for the Pine Island Glacier, which is only about ten per cent of the ice sheet, to affect sea level seriously. (AP)