The Bahamas in general and the city of Nassau in particular may be nearing critical levels of sustainability with tourist related development, and the addition of more hotel rooms could lead to problems such as a disgruntled local population whose attitude towards tourists would become rude and uninviting, a leading Bahamian scientist believes.
This subject of carrying capacity was one he was gravely concerned about, said Sir Nicholas Nutall. “How many more tourists can we afford to take at any one time, or over the year in The Bahamas? How many tourists before the local population becomes disgruntled and rude,” he asked rhetorically.
Sir Nicholas, who is the founder of the Bahamas Reef Environmental Educational Fund (BREEF), conceded that the subject was not a very popular topic of discussion, but emphasised the importance of the public’s frank consideration and discourse, nonetheless. His remarks came during an interview with The Guardian at the recent Global Environment Outlook (GEO) Bahamas Workshop, which served as the first step in The Bahamas towards developing an Integrated Environmental Assessment (IEA).
Sir Nicholas’ concerns were amongst many brought forward by government agencies, private groups and other partners with a vested stake in the environment. Concern for tourism’s effect on the environment was a recurring theme.
The Guardian was the lone media participating in the workshop’s working-sessions. The Guardian’s representative highlighted the plight and vulnerability of the poor in environmental issues, amongst other concerns.
These issues were amongst many others discussed which will be researched to provide an overview of the IEA framework with regard to a state of the environment analysis, policy assessment and the analysis of policy options in the context of future analyses.
The concept of process planning was also introduced at the workshop in order to help participants practise the IEA process for application in The Bahamas. The workshop was hosted by the Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology Commission and facilitated by the United Nation’s Environment Programme.
By Raymond Kongwa,Guardian Staff Reporter
