From the air, the peninsula of Palmetto Point – fried with aquamarine water and pink-hood sand – looks like a developer’s dream.
For locals, it’s a childhood memory and a funny afternoon scene spent picking up strips of the sea and lingering between the sand’s un-throats – a horrible sight that could soon lose them forever.
Three years after the devastation by Barbuda Hurricane Irma, the small Caribbean island is the scene of a bitter controversy that has pitted islanders against foreign developers who plan to build a US $ 2bn luxury resort project.
A group of investors, including billionaire businessman John Paul Dijoria, behind Paul Mitchell Hair Products, has been given a 99-year lease to build hundreds of deluxe private homes and a golf course for a scheme called Peace, Love and Happiness (PLH). .
Proponents see the development as an important economic stimulus that has already created dozens of jobs for the island, which is still recovering from the September 2017 hurricane. Critics say it will encroach on the national park, damaging the magnificent frigate bird and endangered wildlife, one of the world’s largest infrastructure sites.
The developers say they came up with the idea in 2016 following a public vote from the community. Opponents say a detailed masterplan was drawn up shortly after Irama, exactly when Barbuda’s 1,600 population was forcibly relocated. Antigua – The claim is denied by both the central government and the PLH.
Work is already underway on the site, where mangroves and other native plants have been removed to relocate. Of the 395 homes announced on the firm’s website, 40 have already been sold, and construction has begun on an international runway to facilitate private jets.
Pointing to the mangroves and palms that islanders have traditionally used to make fish vessels and trench roofs, local marine biologist John Musington said the area’s wetlands are protected by a global treaty.
“Everything you see here is intricate wetland and natural beach vegetation protected by the Ramsar Convention,” he said.
“West Indian city ducks – which are seriously endangered – rely on areas like this for breeding. Five thousand magnificent frigate birds come to our lagoon each season. And for the local Barbuda warbler, this location is important for its survival. These wetlands are crucial to our coral reef health and our marine resources. “
On Wednesday, the Global Legal Action Network (GLN) called for an international investigation into the destruction of Ramsar-listed housing. The GLA said it had sent evidence, including expert scientific reports, to the Ramsar Secretariat with a demand for immediate intervention.
GLAN spokesperson D To. “We believe that an international advisory mission is needed to immediately assess the changes already underway and to avoid further deterioration,” Tomaso Ferrando told the Guardian.
The project is unfolding against the backdrop of a bitter row between Barbuda and older sister Antigua over the central government’s centuries-old system of communal land ownership.
.Historically, all the land on Barbuda belonged to the community, and parcels of land could not be bought or sold. The system was recognized in law in 2007. The new law in 2017 introduced a free-of-charge sale of land but is the subject of a court battle. In September, the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeals granted the preachers the right to take the case to the Privy Council in London, the country’s last asylum court.
Many Barbudans are still angry at what they see as the theft of their birthright and the row has even started calling for secession from Antigua.
“The government is trying to brainwash us by saying that they are helping us; “All they want is our land,” said Manzi Frank, a resident and campaigner.
Prime Minister Gaston Brownie’s government has spoken out against the repercussions, pointing out that the central government pays most of Barbudans’ wages (many are employed by the civil service), repeatedly comparing the small island to a “welfare state” and its 1,200 inhabitants. Unclear ”.
Earlier this year, the Barbuda Council, which manages the island’s internal affairs, tried to stop construction, citing damage to protected flora and fauna habitats, among other things.
“The developing area is very sensitive. We have reached out to the PLH in the past and asked them to stop all work and they have refused, ”said Council Chairman Kelsey Bizer-Joseph. “We had hoped to negotiate with them but now they have done so much damage that we are no longer interested.”
Council member Jackie Frank said no financial gain could offset the “environmental catastrophe”.
“The area was ancient and beautiful when I picked the grapes there,” Frank said, adding that removing the dunes would put the islanders at risk. “My fear is that they will tear up too much and there will be no way back.”
The face of the island is already changing, said fisherman Devon Warner.
“Development will have a significant impact on our traditions and cultures that will last as long as I can remember. We will change the way we use our land, with freedom we have always enjoyed because parts of Barbuda will be far beyond our limits. ‘
Around the island, deer, wild boar and donkeys still roam free. Small-scale farming and tourism help some to earn a living but meaningful employment opportunities can be elusive.
“I had kids in my class when I was in grade one. “I was left alone until I reached the fifth form,” said Abishur Thomas, development supervisor.
Thomas, who has been with PLH since 2017, said the company pays more than anywhere else on the island, and also has access to its 70-plus local-employed free training courses. “There are some who want to make Barbuda a huge nature reserve. What this project provides us with is real empowerment. “
Dale or Reggia did not respond to a request for comment, but a PLH spokesman said the company was replacing thousands of native plants that would cover about half of the project’s land.
Photograph: Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority
He said the site was chosen because of its “natural beauty”, but over the decades it had deteriorated, more sand had been mined, and Irma’s waste had been dumped on it.
The spokesman said the “low density” project aims to attract high-net worth, part-time residents, who will boost the economy of Barbuda, which has taken extra bets from the Covid-1p epidemic.
“Our environmental impact study was conducted by an established, internationally recognized scientist. We have not yet seen reliable science that contradicts what it has shown. “
That’s to give Musington a little reassurance. “For Barbudon, this is our life; “Our connection is with our land,” he says, looking at the bushy, windy landscape.
“They can talk about economic opportunities, but those opportunities don’t come to us. I have 62 square miles of land – and everyone can say the same thing. We’re being told to trade it all for a job that will belong to someone else, ”he says:“ Every day feels like a fight for our survival. “
