Independent Senator Dr Kristina Hinds does not support the construction of offshore islands, cautioning they may be neither sustainable nor safe for the marine environment.
She was speaking in The Senate on Wednesday where there was debate on the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan 2022/2023.
“There is so much in this document that talks about climate change, it talks about biological diversity and the blue economy. We know that there are initiatives that seek via the debt swap to preserve areas,” Hinds stated.
“Yet we talk about building these offshore islands. These can be useful for tourism and probably for other things. However, there is very little that I can find to suggest these can be built in a way that is sustainable and in a way that does not harm marine biological diversity.”
The University of the West Indies political science lecturer said she was very concerned about the amount of dredging and concrete that was required to build such structures.
“And in a place such as our small island developing states where we are concerned about sea level rise, are we looking to create islands that are going to be drowned in 20 to 30 years? I am very concerned about this.” (AC)