From Sunday 10-10-10, the tropical islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (BES) will become part of the Netherlands in the form of special municipalities. On 10 June 2010, the Netherlands declared a Caribbean Exclusive Economic Zone. These political changes mean an enrichment of the Netherlands’ biodiversity. We will gain 15,000 new plant and animal species! Tropical ecosystems such as coral reefs, cloud forests, seagrass fields and mangrove forests will be added to dunes, forests and mudflats. The Netherlands will become the owner of the biggest coral atoll in the Caribbean region. This also means taking responsibility for the sustainable management and use of these natural riches and observing obligations under international treaties.
Efforts are needed to stop further deterioration of this enormously rich ecosystem. “In the BES islands, nature management is definitely not a luxury. After all, nature is the most important economic factor and so a sustainable – economic – development is both necessity and opportunity. Poor nature management will irrevocably and quite quickly translate itself into economic disadvantage”.
There is a great need for fundamental and applied research and nature management. These are unique islands with their own identity and a rich flora and fauna surrounded by a sea teeming with biodiversity. The islands depend on that nature, to a greater extent than the Netherlands. Every human intervention, from building activities to recreation and even flushing a toilet, has consequences – consequences with an impact on humans and the environment.
Hence the necessity for an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to environmental problems in situ. This demands applications and expertise – expertise which the Netherlands has and which can be utilised with relatively little effort in order to help turn these islands into global models of green, completely self-supporting islands. The elements required are present in abundance.
Applied, integrated and transdisciplinary research are strong points of Wageningen UR. Environmental issues pertaining to the BES islands – such as eutrophication and overfishing – can be tackled in collaboration with local parties, Dutch research institutions and universities and government agencies. The Netherlands can play a significant role in the sustainable management of the BES islands, based on a joint vision and by sharing and making available existing expertise.
The time for action is now. After all, the BES islands and the Netherlands have chosen each other. Now is the moment for government agencies, business and the Dutch academic world to help these “Galapagos Islands of the Netherlands”. The challenge for all stakeholders is to give shape to this endeavour.
In the run-up to the new status, Wageningen UR has already carried out a number of studies for the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. For example, IMARES, the marine institute of Wageningen UR, contributed to inventorying the consequences of climate change. Wageningen UR was also involved in research into the natural wealth of the coral reefs of the Saba Bank. Together with Caribbean partners, a management plan is being drawn up for the Caribbean EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone), an area larger than the Dutch North Sea. A nature recovery plan has also been drawn up for the mangrove forests of the protected lagoon of Lac on Bonaire in order to turn around the deterioration of this unique area of nature.
IMARES has set up a “tropics team” to address the questions and opportunities presented by the BES islands. Together with the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, IMARES has launched AcroporaNet, a national knowledge forum for tropical scientists. But more can and must be done in the interest of the BES islands.
In 20 years of experience in the Dutch Caribbean, I have found that guests always leave fired with enthusiasm and ambition following scientific field trips. The reason is the biodiversity of the Caribbean islands, which is like walking into an undiscovered gold mine where new scientific insights are there for the taking. The small scale and availability of a relatively good infrastructure makes doing research easy. A lot can be achieved with relatively little. “Don’t forget BES, prioritise it” is my message to policymakers.
Dolfi Debrot