by Curlan Campbell
- Current legislative framework ignores heritage protection in land use policies in English-speaking Caribbean
- New book explores need for revamped domestic heritage laws in Lesser Antilles
- Doctoral research titled Heritage, Landscape and Spatial Justice: New Legal Perspectives on Heritage Protection in the Lesser Antilles
Grenadian Dr Amanda Byer’s new book dissects and explores the need for domestic heritage laws in 8 islands in the Lesser Antilles to reflect the connection between landscapes and their relationship to the formation of heritage.
The information in the book formed part of her doctoral research titled “Heritage, Landscape and Spatial Justice: New Legal Perspectives on Heritage Protection in the Lesser Antilles,” which was published in 2022. Her research findings examined the current legal framework of heritage laws within these aforementioned territories and concluded that they are inadequate compared to international law which has pivoted to classifying landscape as an integral part of a nation’s cultural identity, “placing community relationships with the landscape at the heart of heritage protection strategies,” rather than seeing heritage as mere “objects, sites and buildings with fixed aesthetic value.”
The book has also shed light on the entire issue of landscape protection and its inclusion in the current legislative framework. In addition, her research identified the need for procedural environmental rights such as access to environmental information and public participation in environmental decision-making as critical components that will assist communities to contest the appropriation of land by the state for development where the community’s heritage is at risk of being eroded.
Dr Byer is an environmental attorney advocating for the decolonisation of the current legislative framework that ignores heritage protection in land use policies in the English-speaking Caribbean.
As part of her PhD dissertation at Leiden University in the Netherlands, which received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Dr Byer through a legal subproject investigated the nature of Heritage in the Caribbean and pursue the idea of heritage reform. This included the review of heritage laws to determine whether they were fit for the purpose of supporting a modern multicultural society.
“Originally they ask me to look at museum legislation and trust legislation, which is what we have, and I thought that wasn’t good enough because in these small island states, our heritage is intertwined. It’s not just objects and buildings, but the environment itself so people value places and because we have this overlapping aspect of heritage, I thought I will broaden it out to look at not just the museum legislation but look at national parks and look at the main law that really affects heritage, which is planning,” she said.
Through socio-legal analysis, Dr Byer was able to determine that despite the language of the laws on paper can be deemed adequate, the application of the law reality says otherwise.
“I used a method called socio-legal analysis to critique the law and examine its effectiveness on society,” she explained. “When conducting socio-legal analysis, people utilize various theoretical tools to analyze the law. For example, they may use historical data to examine how the law has evolved over time, or they may use economics to understand how the law impacts the market. However, I use geography to understand how the law affects spaces that we value, such as museums, beaches, and public parks. By examining the relationship between the law and space, I can better understand how the law affects the places where we live.”
“I used geographical analysis to examine the law and determine if it considers the concept of space. I discovered a significant gap between the law and space. None of the museum laws, trust laws or planning laws relate to space. The law aims to be impartial and objective, so it doesn’t address reality. Instead, it focuses on legal concepts that are decided in court in terms of justice. As an environmental lawyer, I believe that this approach is no longer effective when dealing with issues like climate change,” she continued.
Dr Byer also mentioned the importance of the existence of the Escazú Agreement adopted on 4 March 2018 at the 9th Meeting Of The Negotiating Committee of the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“It (Escazú Agreement) doesn’t give landscape rights. It doesn’t even mention the word landscape, but what it does say is that people need to be able to have information about the place and the spaces where they live. That information should reflect the cultural, geographic, social elements of where they live, which are aspects of landscapes. People should be able to partake in decision-making, and the government should not make decisions that influence someone’s neighbourhood or space without community involvement. Importantly, people should be able to challenge the government in court.”
At present, she stated that someone’s ability to commence legal proceedings is hinged upon proving that their property has been affected, but if a person has no legal claim to the property, then they cannot challenge the government in court. However, she added that the Escazú Agreement has granted leeway since it does not give landscape rights, empowering communities to challenge the government and defend the landscape, ultimately leading to landscape protection.
Dr Byer holds LLM in Environmental Law from University College London. She was subsequently awarded a postdoctoral fellowship in environmental law at New York University School of Law in 2019 and is now a research fellow at the School of Law, University College Dublin, lecturing in environmental law. Dr Byer has worked extensively as an environmental legal consultant throughout the Caribbean region with intergovernmental agencies such as the UN, OAS and USAID.
To discuss the impact and relevance of her research into Heritage Landscape and spatial justice, Dr Byer invited professionals from varying backgrounds on Wednesday, 11 January 2023, to engage in a roundtable discussion at the Grenada National Museum. Professionals on the panel included Bryan Bullen of the Caribbean Office of Co-operative Architecture (COCOA), Marine Biologist Christine Finney, Environmental law and Policy Attorney Rosana John Mitchell, Save Camerhogne Park Committee President Jude Bernard and retired OECS Judge Rita Joseph-Olivetti. During their discussions, these professionals interacted and answered questions posed by the audience.
