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Posted: Saturday 6 June, 2009 at 8:58 PM
Logon to vibesbvi.com... British Virgin Islands News 
BVI Press Release

    Friday, June 5, 2009

     

    Good day Listening Audience.  I am Omar Wallace Hodge, your Minister for Natural Resources and Labour and I bring you greetings on this very special day.

     

    Your Planet Needs You: UNite to Combat Climate Change.  This is the theme for this year’s World Environment Day.   World Environment Day is commemorated each year on 5 June.  It is designed to stimulate worldwide awareness of the environment and prompt political attention and action.

     

    Climate change is an issue that has emerged as one of the greatest challenges to our global environment and it can best be overcome through unity.

     

    World Environment Day serves, among other things to give a face to environmental issues and empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development.

     

    On World Environment Day, Heads of State and Ministers of the Environment deliver statements and commit themselves to care for the Earth, pledge to establish permanent governmental structures dealing with environmental management and sign or ratify international environmental conventions.

     

    Climate change has the potential to affect every part of our lives, from our families and homes, our health and safety, our industries and commerce, our environment and development, and our plans for the future.  Even national emergencies like storm flooding, drought and hurricanes are greatly influenced by climate change which brings increasing air and sea surface temperatures.
     
    This year, World Environment Day looks at the urgent need for nations to create a new agreement for reducing carbon emissions at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen later this year, and how that issue is connected to the need for overcoming poverty and improving management of forests.  Therefore, it should be an event linked with "a lot of action and commitment".

     

    Mexico, this year’s host country, is the centre of attention because politically, physically and practically, it is at the crossroads of the Green Economy.  Mexico is set to be one of the big economies of the 21st century, along with nations like China and India.  Its influence on neighbouring nations – both north and south of its borders – to green their economies will be significant. 

     

    Mexico is sprinting ahead as a leader among developing countries in the region by:
    • seizing the opportunities of the carbon markets
    • rivalling Brazil in terms of wind, solar, biogas and other Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in the region; and
    • preserving forests and other natural assets to serve as ‘carbon sinks’

     

    Mexico is sending a clear message to countries in the region and the world that it intends to be part of the solution, even though it accounts for only around 1.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

     

    And so I ask you, what is stopping us from being just as proactive right here in our own Virgin Islands? 

     

    The Virgin Islands Environment is under threat and its future is unsecure.  It is a sobering message I bring to you on this World Environment Day 2009, but not one without hope. 

     

    As with most Small Island Developing States in the Caribbean region, our natural resources are finite; yet they support a growing and developing population that is continually putting greater demand on these resources in a largely unsustainable manner.  
     
    The Virgin Islands once had a completely healthy vegetative cover consisting of moist and dry forest, woodlands, shrub lands and scrub.  Over time, this cover has been diminished and degraded.  Now, our native and endemic plant species are being eclipsed by clearing for development and farming activities as well as by unchecked growth of imported invasive plant and animal species.

     

    The wildlife of the Virgin Islands is diverse; especially its reptilian, bird, and marine life.  Our islands are home to several endemic, rare, and endangered species, namely:
    • the Rock Iguana and Virgin Islands Tree Boa, both endemic to the island of Anegada.
    • the Gorda Peak Gecko, the world’s smallest gecko is endemic to Gorda Peak, Virgin Gorda, and
    • the Coqui Frog, endemic to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

     

    These special creatures cannot be found anywhere else in the world.  But their habitats are all under threat from immediate man-made activities, as well as from longer-term changes in our sub-tropical climate.

     

    Salt ponds exist behind almost every major recreational beach in the Virgin Islands, and at the bottom of most single and/or converging ghuts.  They are a critically essential component of the entire watershed system, protecting near-shore habitats from sediment and run-off from the hills.  Salt ponds nurture many wetland flora and fauna species, including numerous migratory birds.  In some cases, they even serve as a nursery to some marine species that support the commercial fishery and entire marine ecosystem.

     

    Mangroves are among the most important coastal defence systems we have, making them key for national security in times of natural disasters.  Mangroves are quite capable of providing shoreline stability, storm protection, floodwater control, groundwater replenishment, sediment and nutrient retention and water purification.  Already we have lost over 80% of mangrove cover from Tortola’s south coast and significant losses from Jost Van Dyke’s eastern side due to development pressures. 

     

    We cannot afford to continue this trend when, in addition to all the aforementioned, benefits, mangroves support our salt pond, seagrass bed and coral reef ecosystems that are so critical to our fishery resources and tourism. 

     

    Our white sandy Beaches, so vital to our tourism industry, are just as important to sea turtles for nesting and a host of other coastal and marine animals.  Extreme attrition and slow-to-no recovery of major north-facing recreational beaches is evident due to a combination of impacts including extensive sand mining practiced in the last 20 years and a significant groundswell event in the Spring of 2008.  Climate change will further add to the complexity of these impacts through more intense hurricanes and sea level rise with the potential to reduce beach areas by up to 32% by the year 2100.

     

    The Virgin Islands’ Exclusive Economic Zone is rich in marine food products as some of the world’s largest groups of pelagic fish swim through it annually.   Our marine habitats include off-shore reefs, sea grass beds, sandy bottoms and the Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands shelf.  However, this is an area in which climate change will have serious impacts. 

     

    Fish species are likely to migrate north or to greater depths in search of cooler waters as sea temperatures rise.  Climate change now threatens to significantly increase the frequency of coral bleaching events as well as weaken the reef’s skeletal structure through ocean acidification.  Seagrass growth rates and overall health will also be impacted by warmer waters induced by climate change.

     

    But our environmental concerns go far beyond just habitats at risk.  The truth is that human activity, often so focused on development, impacts the environment.  We must develop and we must grow, but we must do it sensitively and sensibly. And we must be committed to apply best practice principles at all times. 

     

    The current major issues contributing to our islands’ degradation include:
    • Major developments, both local and foreign investment driven. 
    • Hillside deforestation through extensive and often inexpert clearing for roads, construction or agriculture can lead to soil instability and erosion.
    • Land Reclamations which attempts to create flat land. 
    • Dredging which tends to destroy seagrass beds critical to juvenile fish and marine species. 
    • The mining of sand from some of the Virgin Islands’ best recreational beaches.
    • Accidental oil pollution.    
    • Grey water or essentially the washing, cooking and bath water from households & laundries that is laden with chemicals and excess nutrients.
    • Improper sewage disposal from land-based developments and our yachting sector.
    • Overfishing, a simple term, but one influenced by many complex factors such as the demand for fish due to a growing population.

     

    Invasive species introduced primarily through importation that upset the balance of our ecological systems by destroying or out-competing native species for space and food. 

     

    I have said all of this to say that our country needs us and our Planet Needs Us: (Let’s) UNite to Combat our local environmental challenges that now includes Climate Change.  We have much work to do to protect the environment and there is much more to be done in our tiny country to prepare for, mitigate against and adapt to climate change.  It can all seem overwhelming, but it must be done. 

     

    Here are some examples of positive actions that are proven to work and would help us ‘green our routine’:
    • use solar-powered water heaters,
    • turn off lights in unoccupied rooms,
    • open windows and turn off air conditioning units,
    • unplug electrical devices and chargers,
    • purchase Energy Star appliances instead of conventional ones,
    • walk a block or two rather than drive your car around the corner, and
    • if you must drive a vehicle, do so at a consistent and moderate speed and keep your tires properly inflated for better fuel efficiency,
    • turn the tap off while brushing your teeth,
    • reuse paper and print on both sides whenever possible,
    • cook with pans that fit the size of your stove’s burners,
    • don’t fill the kettle to make just one cup of tea, and for the love of us all, plant a tree!

     

    Such actions might seem simple and small.  But when we all practice them consistently and purposefully in UNity, they make a huge difference.  And there’s no better day than TODAY to start.

     

    Throughout this World Environment Day, indeed throughout Environment Month, you will be receiving messages via print and broadcast media on your televisions, radios, cell phones and Internet from many voices.  Voices you know and can relate to: Voices from within your own community. Voices all echoing the message that we must UNite to Combat Climate Change: for Our Planet Needs Us.

     

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