Concerned Bahamians call on PM to be brave in confronting climate crises

 Dear Editor,

The Stop Disney: Last Chance for Lighthouse Point campaign is issuing this sobering public statement in anticipation of the Prime Minister’s travel to Glasgow next week to join with other world leaders at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26).

We expect that Prime Minister Davis will again call climate change “a clear and present danger” to The Bahamas. He may say again that The Bahamas cannot survive the “new normal” of climate-charged hurricanes like Dorian. He may issue the same warning he did at UN General Assembly on September 25th: We are here to say that big and radical change is the only response that can save our country. We are out of time.

These are powerful words, but they may be rendered meaningless by the actions of the government. The Davis government appears to be continuing the last government’s rush to grant environmental approvals for the highly-controversial Disney cruise ship port at Lighthouse Point on Eleuthera. The new Minister of the Environment Vaughn Miller has not yet responded to our September 27 letter asking for a re-evaluation of the project’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) which, among its many serious flaws, ignored and downplayed the climate risks and impacts.

The Bahamas is considered to be one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to sea-level rise. Yet Disney’s EIA does not include any analyses of the potential impacts of the resulting more severe flooding driven by more powerful hurricanes.

A key tool to make the oceans more resilient to climate change are marine protected areas (MPA). The last government declared the 18,000 acres of the biologically rich seas around Lighthouse Point an MPA this summer. The Davis government should now determine if in fact, the proposed construction of a cruise port and facilities which could draw up to one million visitors a year is compatible with the designation as a supposedly protected area. The Davis government must also insist that Disney accounts for all of its carbon emissions and to consider alternatives that could reduce emissions while providing more jobs and economic opportunities for Bahamians.

Our September 27th letter recalls the strong criticisms of the Disney deal by PM Brave Davis, Minister Glenys Hanna Martin, and Minister Chester Cooper. Other Davis government ministers, including Obie Wilchcombe and Alfred Sears, raised concerns about the Disney project when they were in opposition. The fundamental questions they raised about whether this is a good deal for The Bahamas have not been answered. They must insist that these questions be answered and the secrecy around Disney’s plans they decried while in opposition is no more.

The press has reported that the Davis government would be undertaking a review of pending investment projects, but there has been no information from the government about the process to be followed nor the results of such reviews to date. We ask that the government involve all concerned stakeholders, including our campaign partners, in this review process.

Assuming the government was pausing approvals of such projects, we were disappointed and indeed shocked, to see the October 15th public notice from the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) of the availability of Disney’s environmental management plan for the proposed construction of its half-mile long cruise ship pier and on-shore facilities. The public was given just 14 days to file comments on this highly technical 400 plus page document.

This is business-as-usual, not the “ big radical change” the prime minister said was needed. PM Davis can choose not to ram through approval of the cruise port project. He can pause the DEPP review and declare instead that his government will carefully consider the climate risks and other major concerns about the proposed project that have been brought forward by the campaign on behalf of some 450,000 Bahamians and the people worldwide.

It is not too late for Prime Minister Davis to change course at Lighthouse Point and announce a full re-evaluation of the Disney deal with meaningful engagement of the public. Prime Minister Davis then can go to Glasgow with one signal that The Bahamas is taking action to deal with the “new normal” of climate change and a worthy recipient for international finance and support. PM Davis, be brave and be the true leader we and the world need to deal with the climate crisis.

– Stop Disney: Last Chance for Lighthouse Point 

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