From the President, Andrew Dobson – Conference Success!

It was a pleasure to welcome about 125 delegates to the Society’s conference in Old San Juan, in the delightful surroundings of the Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe.

In a post-conference press release, the meeting was summarized as follows: “The 5-day conference focused on the impact of global climate change on Caribbean birds and its people, and the increasingly politically charged threat of hotel development to native biodiversity, among other issues.  In response, leading organizations represented described the state of affairs as a crisis. The meeting was stunned by reports of what appears to be an unprecedented move by some Caribbean governments to change the legal status of previously protected remnant conservation sites in order to facilitate development.  Chief among these examples were two cases both involving the high-end luxury hotel chain - Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Group.  In Grenada, the government is in an advanced state of plans to sell that nation’s Mount Hartman National Park to the Group.  The Mount Hartman National Park, established in 1996, was created to safeguard that island’s critically endangered national bird, the Grenada Dove.  Studies have shown that approximately a quarter of the pre-hurricane Ivan estimate of just 180 remaining individuals of this species are restricted to the small coastal Mount Hartman property, making the conservation of this area vital for the species’ survival. 

In Puerto Rico, the Northern Ecological Corridor, documented habitat for globally threatened species such as the Caribbean endemic West Indian Whistling-Duck, the migratory Piping Plover, and an important nesting site in the Caribbean for Leatherback Turtles is likewise proposed for development by the Four Seasons Group. The Northern Ecological Corridor of Puerto Rico is a remnant natural area within the now degraded El Yunque National Forest Reserve. Protected since 1876, El Yunque became one of the earliest forest reserves known to exist in the Western Hemisphere. The forest is the main habitat for the Puerto Rican Parrot (Amazona vittata), a critically endangered species, and is proposed as an Important Bird Area (IBA) for Puerto Rico. 

Similarly, in the Dominican Republic, a new law that changes limits and categories of some protected areas has been created to develop hotels in ecologically significant places like Bahia de las Aguilas coastal area.  This site, within the Jaragua National Park, is part of the Jaragua-Bahoruco-Enriquillo Biosphere Reserve that also includes two other parks that together form one of that nation’s richest areas for biodiversity.  Again, the strategy has been to undermine the legal protected area status to facilitate site development. Local NGOs have pursued the case in the Supreme Court to object the constitutionality of the new law, but their case has been overruled.

Andrew Dobson, President of the SCSCB, remarked that the situation is a massive leap backwards at a time when the conservation of both forest and coastal areas, especially mangroves, is critical to mitigate climate change impacts.  He noted that the trend would only undermine the Caribbean’s reputation as an environmentally friendly destination, and set the region up for an intensive battle with global conservation advocates.  Dobson notes further that “Caribbean forests will suffer significantly more from climate change if catalyzed by short-sighted development, and the biodiversity they house will be among the greatest casualties because over 85% of Caribbean’s natural forests have already been destroyed by human action.”  Dobson points out that in the latest and most decisive report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released this summer, the Caribbean islands are at great risk from both the short and medium term projected impacts of global climate change.

In a plenary address, ecologist Dr. Lisa Sorenson described the projected impacts of global warming in the Caribbean region. These include warmer ocean temperatures, more intense storms and hurricanes, sea level rise, and increased summer drought. Sorenson noted that the Caribbean’s coral reefs, coastal mangroves and forests provide the region with goods and services valued at billions of dollars from fisheries, dive tourism, erosion control, carbon storage, and shoreline protection services, to name but a few. “Widespread, poorly informed development for tourism and the early stages of global warming have already diminished these important resources” said Sorenson.

The meeting, attended by participants from twenty-two countries, included scientists, university professors, eco-tour operators, environmental educators, foresters, NGOs, government agencies, and the US Department of the Interior, was hosted by the Puerto Rican Ornithological Society (SOPI).  Major sponsors of this year’s meeting were the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, Instituto de Cultural Puertorriqueña, Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, BirdLife International, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and RARE Species Conservation Foundation.