On 5 June 2022, Grenadians will join over 165 other countries in recognising the importance of nature and the environment to economic and social development under World Environment Day.
This year’s World Environment Day theme is “Only One Earth” and focuses on “Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature”. This builds on the vision set by the Convention on Biodiversity and is well aligned with the UN General Assembly’s declaration that 2020-2030 is the decade of “Ecosystem Restoration”.
Globally, there has been a growing recognition that living resources are an asset of tremendous value to economic development and social development for present and future generations. As Grenadians emerging from 2 years of Covid pandemic conditions, we realise more than ever that we are interlinked on this planet and that our future is closely linked and dependent on nature and on healthy ecosystems!
Nature is the powerhouse driving our industries like tourism, fisheries and agriculture. Nature also plays a huge role in the lives of individual Grenadians on a day-to-day basis. We may become so accustomed to this that we can take it for granted. We may drink spice tea and coconut water and eat mangoes and bananas in the morning (all from nature), we may hear black birds and see the variety of croton and bougainvillea flowers being pollinated without any effort from us (pollinators in nature working to produce fruit). The clean air we breathe, water we drink, bathe and wash and cook with is cycled through the work of nature.
Besides its financial values and ecosystem services, our ecosystems are part of this island’s identity e.g., the wild beauty of Bathway beach, or tranquility of Paradise beach sets us apart from other island destinations. The Grenada nutmeg is synonymous with the “Isle of Spice.” Grenada is also internationally renowned for the quality and taste of its unique “types” of cocoa and our national dish of “oil down” with breadfruit, provision and salted meats and seafood is uniquely Grenadian.
Nature continues to be unsustainably used and altered. The main drivers of loss of nature in Grenada include loss of ecosystems and habitat, climate change impacts, littering and land-based pollution, overharvesting of hunted species of fish and wildlife and spread of invasive species (affecting economically important crops as well as other species).
These threats not only affect nature’s goods and services but also threaten our food security, our health, our livelihoods, especially for tourism, fisheries and agriculture. The choices of the past generations are affecting us now – so the environmental choices we make today will affect the prospects of future generations.
The Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Climate Resilience and the Environment believes our local ecosystems and natural environments are of great value (economic, cultural and intrinsic). Grenada is party to numerous multilateral agreements aspiring to achieve various environmental targets. Achieving these targets is only possible with the support and participation of the public. So, we urge Grenadians and visitors to do their part to help achieve the environmental goals set for this decade, not only conserving but also restoring and replanting so we have healthy ecosystems and nature.
This year, a number of virtual events will take place on World Environment Day, there will be a number of invited articles on the Environment Division’s Facebook page and communities will be cleaning up beaches and others will be planting trees. At a personal level we invite you to take a personal pledge to care for the environment in some way: plant a fruit tree in your yard and water and care for it or buy a reusable water bottle and use it for the year for work and relaxation or put a garbage bag in your car/bus to collect the trash and avoid littering. Then take a selfie and share it on Environment Division’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ClimateEnvGD during the month of June as “#your pledge for nature”. We have “Only One Earth” let’s take care of it so it can take care of us!
GIS
Presumably this is from the Ministry of Tourism etc. It doesn’t say. Fine words and timely. Let’s encourage cleaning up our litter and planting trees and educating the kids about the importance of nature. But not so we then allow foreign companies to come and pour concrete over our beaches and coastal lands to build multi-storey hotels on ecologically sensitive sites. How about government clamping down on plans for the most destructive tourism developments instead of approving them on the nod and encouraging them through the Citizenship by Investment scheme? How about a real ecologically and environmentally sustainable tourism development strategy including zoning constraints? How about taking ‘Pure Grenada’ seriously?
Here’s the latest scandal: http://www.coralcovegrenada.org