Friday, April 4, 2014

WASCO’s Woes

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3 comments:

Doug Hickman, Nova Scotia, Canada said...

Twenty years ago I led the development of what has become the solid waste management system in St. Lucia (and other OECS countries). These investments were justified on the basis of the need for the cruise industry to dispose of its solid waste in an environmentally secure manner - the needs for local communiities in this regard were perceived as secondary. Now, it seems, the need for environmental infrastructure (in this case, wastewater treatment) is once again being justified in terms of the needs of the cruise industry.

While I do not doubt the needs of the cruise industry, surely Lucians should put themselves first and demand proper environmental management facilities for themselves - faciltiies that others (e.g. cruise industry) can also be required to use (and pay for). As it is, it seems that environmental management facilities continue to be perceived as something external to local community needs and therefore requiring justification in terms of external interests (e.g. cruise ships). Clean water is a pre-requisite to public health and to the tourism industry generally and is therefore in the direct self-interest of the country. The fact that the cruise industry needs a place to treat its wastewater should be viewed as a detail within the wider need for improved wastewater treatment generally.

As it is, the tail of the donkey would seem to be driving the head....something we also experience with distressing regularity in Canada. But whether St. Lucia or Canada, when the brains are located in the nether-regions, it is not at all clear that the animal knows which way to travel.

April 7, 2014 at 5:07 PM
Anonymous said...

As usual it takes someone outside to say what needs to be said.

April 13, 2014 at 4:21 AM
Anonymous said...

The Voice seems to be embarking on self-censorship here. Saint Lucians do not see the either the ethical or moral downsides of the tourism industry.

When any PM or Minister of Tourism goes on the public stage and boasts just numbers of arrivals, either s/he is ignorant of the environmental impacts, or cares not, about sustainability.

This also shows scant respect for the rights of those coming after his/her myopic decision making, to inherit a sustainable environment wilting under severe degradation, with costly repairs caused by near irreversible damage.

Milking this cash-cow without restraint and a suitable education has its costs.

Antigua's boast of 365 beaches and Barbados' Carlisle Bay took severe hits with poor infrastructure related to the comments made above. The carrying capacity did not match the environmental support system.

Both countries had algae floating in the sea water hugging the shores of their beaches. Arrivals and long-stays together with resident populations were destroying the industry that all depended on for a livelihood. They were destroying the goose that was laying the golden eggs.

Barbados went on to invest in a very costly and disruptive exercise of building a national sewage system. The word-of-mouth NEGATIVE advertising regarding the algae did not make for a sustainable tourism industry.

By placing, just as the tendency in law enforcement, a higher priority on foreigners, but with a disgusting disrespect for locals, we may have to wait for the situation to blow up in our faces to do something realistic about it.

An educated Minister of Tourism, knowledgeable about the economics of tourism looks at more than just arrival figures. And this bears repetition.

April 14, 2014 at 10:00 AM

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