The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A former environment minister is urging the Government not to “throw the baby out with the bath water” in reforming an Act that has been accused of bringing scientific and environmental research in The Bahamas to a near-standstill.

Romauld Ferreira, who brought the now-controversial Biological Resources and Traditional Knowledge Act to Parliament and oversaw its passage into law on April 1 last year, told Tribune Business that the permitting halt could be addressed by simply “carving out” non-profit, conservation and student research groups from the enhanced due diligence regime that applies to commercial, for-profit expeditions seeking to exploit The Bahamas’ natural resources.

Arguing that it was “never the intent” to subject the former groups to such rigorous inspection, Mr Ferreira blamed the Act’s hijacking by civil servants - and their inflexible application of its rules and procedures - for ensuring the Act’s implementation did not match the Minnis administration’s intent.

He spoke amid further complaints from non-profits that the permitting hold-up is costing them hundreds of thousands of dollars in research grants. One, the Reef Rescue Network, which was created by the Perry Institute for Marine Science, and has partnered with resorts, dive operators and environmentalists in The Bahamas and elsewhere on coral reef restoration, said it had been hit especially hard despite having had government approval to operate for the past five years.

A letter sent to Tribune Business by one scuba diver/conservationist,who requested not to be named, said all its activities - including a programme that had trained some 70 instructors in reef replanting - had come “to a grinding halt” due to the new Act’s passage and halt in the granting of permits.

“Tourists and members of the community, including students, could obtain a specialty dive certification from local operators, creating revenue for dive companies and getting more people involved in coral replanting. A win-win for all involved,” the letter said.

“Every year since it started, Reef Rescue Network (RRN) has attracted more than $100,000 in outside investment to the country. Just before its permits stopped being issued, it was set to expand through a huge grant of $400,000 from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). This money was for direct injection into Bahamian businesses.

“Up to $450,000 more has been committed by the UN Global Fund for Coral Reefs, making the project worth over $1m in terms of direct investment into The Bahamian economy, with more investment on the horizon. According to the IDB, the project was expected to grow dive shop employment by 15 percent and sales revenue by 10 percent,” it continued.

“Now, sadly, everything has come to a grinding halt. If something doesn’t change soon, all of the projected investment, all of the revenue for dive operators and other local businesses working with RRN, will disappear. The investors will take their funds to a friendlier jurisdiction.

“I applaud the attorney general for committing to review and update the misguided law, passed by the former FNM administration, that led to this mess in the first place. I just hope his team can get it done in time to save the RRN and other crucial programmes before they are forced to shut down permanently.”

Senator Ryan Pinder, the attorney general, on Friday blasted the deficiencies in the Biological Resources and Traditional Knowledge Act and other legislation passed by the Minnis administration as “a poor excuse for legislative governance”.

However, Mr Ferreira, while voicing sympathy for the research and environmental community’s concerns, and saying he agreed with many of them, hit back at the attorney general’s remarks by describing them as “extremely short-sighted” in not recognising that the Act being challenged was part of a 12-strong package of laws passed by the Minnis administration.

He added that these, such as the Environmental Planning and Protection Act and Ministry of the Environment Act, had given The Bahamas a comprehensive environmental regulatory regime for the first time in its history. Branding this as “a landmark achievement”, Mr Ferreira said: “All this was part of the rubric. For him to say that shows he’s incredibly short-sighted and doesn’t understand what’s at stake.......

“We know that commercial ventures are coming in here and stealing our knowledge. We know this. We know that they have taken our traditional products and made money, and taken our biological blueprint and made money, and The Bahamas did not benefit. What this Act did was to make sure we do. If he’s [Mr Pinder] saying that’s short-sighted and not in the interests of The Bahamas, he’s wrong.”

Mr Ferreira, though, admitted that the Act was not intended to halt, delay or frustrate scientific research and exploration by Bahamians, students, conservationists and non-profits. “That was never the intent of the Act,” he asserted. “It was focused on commercial applications.

“What Dr Nick Higgs [of Cape Eleuthera Institute] is saying has some merit and should be taken into consideration. I understand the frustration, and have very strong feelings about the way it’s being administered versus the intent. On the face of it, I agree with their position. We had started discussions on how to carve out educational groups” before the Minnis administration left office.

“We know there are educational groups in The Bahamas, and legitimate Bahamian scientists and foreign scientists, and we need those synergies and transfer of knowledge,” Mr Ferreira added. “I’d never have stopped that knowingly. That’s not the purpose. Instead of throwing the baby out with the bath water, a simple amendment is required along the lines suggested by Dr Higgs.”

This, the ex-minister said, would remove enhanced scrutiny of permit applications from non-profits and students, instead imposing this solely on commercial ones. This, he added, would ensure the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) is not overwhelmed with permit applications as he warned Mr Pinder and the Davis administration against a complete overhaul of the Act.

“Unfortunately we had some civil servants take it over, and the rigid application of rules and procedures led to some challenges, but it can easily be overcome,” Mr Ferreira said.