Responsible and Sustainable Development

Okay, I have a feeling this one’s going to be controversial. However, one thing about science is that it’s just about the facts; it’s how we use it that matters.

The issue about the Palisadoes highway has kicked up a bit of a storm, but it’s caused me to think about some development issues and trends we’ve been seeing lately. I think one of the good things about Jamaica, whether we like it or not, or believe it or not, we’re a pretty regulated country when it comes to the environment. I’ve met with developers and environmental professionals in different parts of the world, and they wonder/complain that Jamaica’s over-regulated environmental regime prevents it from attracting Dubai-style investments etc.

I don’t think that’s a bad thing! We cannot let people come in a change our world to suit their economic demands, and leave us with whatever mess if it ever tanks. The global economy isn’t totally out of the Great Recession now, and we see those mothballed skyscrapers in Dubai and Las Vegas as reminders of the hubris of development at any cost. And we shouldn’t sell our souls just for some short-term bucks.

Now I fully support sustainable development, and am opposed to rabid, obstructionist environmental activism. And sustainable development is facilitated by good, hard science. The fact of the matter is that unless environmental obstructionists realize that part of the solution to the problems associated with wild and uncontrolled development lies in the human side of the equation – controlling population growth and our insatiable appetites for the good things in life at the expense of the environment – we’re fighting a losing battle. And that’s not a license for developers to prey on our need for jobs and economic growth. We need to balance all this out with science.

Science here is a proper environmental assessment, not emotions or unquantifiable sentiment. Science is a systems approach that appreciates that understands that upstream/upslope places are connected to downstream/downslope places, as well as places to the sides as well. That nature and the land are connected. And don’t disconnect the people from the place either.

There’s another issue brewing that I’m compelled to bring to the fore, which illustrates the type of complexity we need to consider properly. Font Hill in St Elizabeth is tapped for development for mass tourism, and there is considerable, and not unreasonable concern, with this. Without getting into any specific detail (check out the Friends of the Font Hill Nature Reserve to learn more about specific concerns), my issue is with a one-size-fits-all approach to tourism and economic development. Let’s start with the issue of scale and place; the south coast isn’t the same as the north coast, and the south coast is more than Font Hill, no more than the north coast is more than Ocho Rios (think about how different Portland is). No where is better than another, but admittedly, some areas have greater aesthetic appeal than others. But this doesn’t mean that you have to pave over that area just to be on top of the pretty place! What’s worse is when you chop down the natural vegetation to replace it with landscaped vegetation to give the appearance of still being in a tropical paradise!

My other concern is that which affects pretty much any coastal development in this day and age, but moreso in the Black River area. And no one can deny this one: climate change and sea level rise! Black River, like Savanna-la-Mar, Portland Cottage, and a good number of southern coastal communities, stands to lose a fair amount of of land area to sea level rise by 2100, certainly more than Montego Bay or Ocho Rios. So the economic feasibility studies better take that fact into consideration. These types of investments aren’t short-term, certainly not when we’re talking about the type of money involved, but also the environmental costs. So let’s get all the facts and not go rushing in!

I believe that proper environmental engineering, informed by science, can bridge the gulf between hard-nosed developers and environmental opposition, both with sound and just ideas, just not on the same wavelength! Then let common sense take over, based on proper knowledge.