Tourism & Ecology: A Caribbean Catastrophe

For travelers, especially those from North America and Europe, the Caribbean islands offer a blessed refuge from the stagnant routine and cold, hardscrabble winters in the Northern Hemisphere. Because the tropics have always been candy; the tourist trade persists as the most explosive fuel for West Indian economies. The reciprocal blessings are well documented. Unfortunately, over the years, the trade has burdened the balance of these soft ecosystems and strained infrastructural resources. People can be toxic!

According to D. King, D. LeBlanc, and C.R. Van Lowe, authors of “The Impact of Tourism in the Caribbean,” the flow of tourist trade in Jamaica and Barbados, for example, soared by 52.2 % between 1978 and 1988. Whether visitors stay in hotels and resorts or advance to these shores by cruise ships, the impact is the same—tourism has shattered the environmental health of the Caribbean.

With the proliferation of soil erosion, wildlife extinction, and pollution—just to name a few—as major hazards, the delicate ecology of these pristine islands has been punished, callously. And the damage may irreparable.

Since the marine-driven nature of the Caribbean creates its own enthusiasts, runaway tourism has strained the available ocean recreation resources and reduced the fish population to alarming numbers. Through the over-pumping of freshwater by hotels and resorts to accommodate the relentless commerce, many islands are facing a debacle. In some instances, the practice encumbers resources to the point where saltwater is released into the freshwater table and contaminates drinkable water.

For decades, the hospitality industry consumed levels of water and electrical resources which dwarfed local resident usage, and still does. Further, over-fishing to satisfy the excess demand has placed the future existence of certain species in grave doubt.

In the seminal work by Mary B. Uebersax, “Indecent Proposal: Cruise Ship Pollution in the Caribbean,” it is shown that cruise ship companies have been hit with lawsuits based upon alleged polluting practices. Regularly, cruise ships use the oceans and waterways as convenient waste dumping grounds which attract predators and threaten the safety and beauty of beaches, shoreline, and marine life. Cruise ship tourism has led to oil slick residue on marine waters and toxic leaks which spawn conditions for the spread of cancer, birth defects, and infectious diseases within the region. Noise and polluted air from motor yachts, speedboats, jet skis, buses, and cars have spiked both the decibel bounds and carbon emissions to unmanageable levels.

Deforestation and soil erosion, the result of unchecked architectural and commercial growth ambitions, have jolted the complex sustainability of the fragile food-chain balance. As a result, the inherent beauty of many tropical islands is compromised; local housing interests are undermined and citizens are at the mercy of exploitive, development schemes.

Mass erosion of the collective Caribbean shoreline and the loss of soil vegetation from the human onslaught on the dwindling, usable land have left the islands vulnerable, when combined with the always ravaging storms and hurricanes. Whatever hope remains for a vital, agricultural industry in the tropics may be ruined forever.

The impending environmental holocaust in the West Indies was perpetrated by some teachable events.

Sadly, a lack of sufficient land use planning has bred an almost pandemic-like ecology depression in the Caribbean sphere. Infrastructure is not addressing the insidious tests that face the environmental platform. When combined with the global climate challenges, the depletion of elemental resources is a real possibility.

Indeed, the Caribbean relies upon and craves the vigorous tourist traffic to attract capital to these economically distressed islands. But the devastation wrought by this industry may be irreversible unless measures are employed to protect the ecosystems —now!

Once the issues are assessed in a short-term and long-range framework, effective solutions can be crafted.

Until then, the Caribbean will careen on a collision course with destiny as the tropical wasteland of planet Earth.

(Bille Anthony Sinclair is a contributor to Island Vibes Magazine. For comments, please feel free to contact him at bille@islandvibesmag.com.)