The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Contractors Association has launched the Climate and Environment Committee to help country meet climate change obligations.

Deborah Deal, trustee for the BCA, in a letter to the media, outlined some of the failings of The Bahamas in meeting its obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and subsequent National Determined Contribution.

She said: “In the past year or so, reports have come in with surprising information. First of all, the global statistics for Green House Gas (GHG) emissions shows that the construction industry contributes 38 percent of that. Here in The Bahamas, with the fact that, we do not manufacture anything and must ship all goods in, those GHGs most likely increase our percentage, not to mention LULUCF which is Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry which creates 70 percent of our overall GHGs. I am sure one would assume the major contributions would be through our energy production and our vehicles but this is not true. “

She added: “We have laws in place to protect our environment, land, forests, etc. But they are not abided by. The Forestry Act of 2010, the Forestry Regulations Amendment 2014 and the Subdivision Act of 2010 all speak to how we are to, and not to, clear property, excavate land, cut down hills and deforest our land.

“Who clears land, excavates, cuts down hills and bulldozes trees? The Construction Industry. The Prime Minister has committed our country to keep the temperature raise at a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), he has been fighting for SIDS Small Island Developing States around the world and in particular in this and the Caribbean region with the intent to have the larger contributors of GHGs help to financially support our necessary and immediate need to move our infrastructure, repair our reefs (our first defense for storms), to improve, change and adapt our building code to support what our future looks like at this particular moment. The Prime Minister has recently announced that we will be selling our blue carbon credits as a new form of income but we must not destroy the areas where our 'carbon sinks' are otherwise his efforts are futile.”

She added: “The construction industry must be a part of this change and we must adjust our building practices to enhance the work that the country is doing in the fight of climate change and the efforts of this administration. We, as a country cannot go internationally looking for funding to assist us with the much needed infrastructure changes that are necessary to save us as a country ( and or course we are many islands not just one) and continue in the same fashion as we always have done things.

“The BCA is committed to work toward engaging with our own community as well as architects, engineers, subcontractors and suppliers of building materials to adapt our trade to assist the Prime Minister in his mission. The construction industry over the years has supported many persons in this country and given us great opportunities should we chose to take them; it is time we give back!

“The BCA has initiated The Climate and Environment Committee, which will commit to educating, training, building relationships and improving our trade so that we too, can be a part of the change, we must be stakeholders and sit at the table to offer suggestions and receive guidance as to how we must not be the statistics that are shown and our mission is to ensure that all persons in the industry are aware of where we are, what our situation is and exactly how we will make the needed difference…for the country, for the Prime Minister and for the Bahamian people. Our goal, by finishing the last part of the Contractors Act of 2016 and having the Board put place, is to empower the Bahamian construction industry as a whole.”