Dear Editor,
I am writing to highlight a significant issue in the world of Development, Foreign Investment and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) in the Bahamas. As our favorite political parties take turns in office, it seems they throw the baby developments, Heads of Agreement, and EIAs out with the bathwater each time. One government reviews and permits and sometimes publicly supports a particular land use policy, development or foreign investor. When they leave office, those developments, EIAs and all previous decisions seem to be disregarded or history seems to reset.
Though there are other other examples, a few stand out to me.
The Town Planning (Finley Cay) Zoning Order, 2001 commenced on January 24th, 2001, and states that “No person shall build any buildings upon the area of land described in the Schedule hereto, except buildings relating to the enhancement and the preservation of the Cay in its natural state.”
However, the EIA presented, on behalf of Justin Etzin c/o Hubert Ingraham Chambers, in 2020, four proposed residences and significant pathways through the sensitive bird sanctuary.
The Abaco National Park was established in May 1994 and placed under the purview of the Bahamas National Trust to protect the Bahama Parrot and native forests. On July 20th, 2021, among others, the Cross Harbour Marine Protected Area was expanded to include 231,000 acres of ecologically important marine habitat in South Abaco.
On February 13th, 2020, the government signed a $300 million heads of agreement with the Tyrsoz family for a development in south Abaco.
On December 16th, 2022, the government signed an $800 million heads of agreement with the Kakona resort group for their high-impact tourism proposal in south Abaco. The proposal includes a major marina in the marine protected area and a golf course snuggled against the boundary of “The Parrot Forest.”
In the Exuma Cays, the Turtlegrass Resort was proposed on Big Sampson Cay in October 2022 and gained permits and approvals as a low-impact eco-resort. In 2024, we saw an EIA for a high-density development on Little Sampson Cay. The two islands are actually tied together with a large wetland in between.
The Bahamas has one environment. We all share the ocean, whatever fish swim in it, and whatever trash we throw into it. The Abaco Parrots are still recovering from logging 60 years ago. Decisions to protect the environment are made on multigenerational scales.
We need consecutive governments to uphold these environmental protections. We also need to be honest and realistic with investors. It’s as if the government wants to sell both sides of a quarter to two different buyers for fifty cents while telling the Bahamian people and environmentalists it is safely in the bank. Some of these impact assessments should have never made it to public consultation.
I feel like I am seeing double with some of these EIAs.
Written by: Dr. Ancilleno Davis
@SciPerspective
@SciPerspective
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