It appears the UPM government is determined to undermine the National Conservation Act (NCA), Cayman’s most important piece of environmental legislation. What’s more, the government intends to gut the NCA with no mandate to do so by the people of these islands, and in fact, without any public consultation whatsoever.
The NCA was not a piece of rushed legislation. It was talked about for more than a decade – by no less than three government administrations – before it was eventually passed in 2013. Throughout the process, members of the public were given the opportunity to hear about what was being proposed and to voice any concerns they might have. In the leadup to its passage in what was then called the Legislative Assembly in December 2013, the government hosted 17 public meetings about the proposed law across all three Cayman Islands. Then in the Committee stage of the legislative process, more than 30 amendments were made to address the concerns of various members of the Legislative Assembly. Many compromises were made and, in the end, all 15 members present in that Chamber at the time the vote was called voted in a favour of passing what became known as the National Conservation Law. This achievement was not only a victory for the government of the day, but a victory for the people of the Cayman Islands and our way of life.
But that victory didn’t sit well with some of the developers and government officials in Cayman, who saw the need to protect and conserve Cayman’s environment as a hindrance to making money.
In 2017, the then Premier Alden McLaughlin, once a proclaimed strong supporter of the NCA, announced plans to gut it. He put together a committee of more than 20 people – lawyers, developers and even me. This effort came to an un-ceremonial end when the initiative was abandoned without a single amendment being brought forward because there was NO evidence that the NCA (nor its administrating body, the National Conservation Council) was harming development. In fact, the evidence was – and still is – to the contrary; development had taken off and it continues, virtually unabated, today.
In 2021, Premier McLaughlin acknowledged that it was clear development was going strong. In his main address to the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce, he lauded the success of the construction sector here, saying that nearly 750 development projects were approved in 2019, with a combined total value of more than $890 million.
If anything, there is a strong feeling in the country that we are doing too much development, that we are changing too fast and our people find it overwhelming. Even CUC, our electricity provider, is now telling us it can’t keep up with development and increasing temperatures, so we may have to endure rolling blackouts. This is Cayman, not Cuba, and reliable electricity is essential to our quality of life but obviously also to our economy. For example, it is vital to attract and retain our vital financial services industry.
How is it that we have so desperately failed to plan? Even the Chair of Offreg, in laying blame at the feet of CUC, observed that “there has been an ongoing construction boom since [2017], with larger than ever developments coming online at a faster rate than was seen between 2008 and 2011.”
In other words, in the period following the passage and implementation of the NCA, there has been more development than ever, not less as is being alleged. Were it not for the effective work of the NCC under the framework of the NCA we might have far worse consequences from ill-advised and uncontrolled development than the mess we currently have to endure.
As bad as it is now, it will likely get worse with increasing impacts of climate change, which is something that the UPM administration has not prioritised. Despite all of the evidence as to why it is essential, they are either incapable or unwilling to adopt the critically important National Climate Change Policy. Will that and the Minister be the latest victims of special interests?
So, I ask again: What is the need to amend – let alone gut – the NCA? What is the rush to do it and why would the government not consult the public on what was, leading up to its initial passage, the Bill that probably had the most public consultation in the history of the Cayman Islands?