In response to my column last week, someone asked what species will be affected by further development at Invaders Bay.Where the Maraval River meets the sea, thousands of fish darken the shallows in vast schools. Spectacled caimans sun themselves on the muddy banks. Juvenile scarlet ibises, yet to take on their characteristic colour, comb the water's edge for fiddler crabs. In the shade of a sprawling mangrove tree, a black-crowned night heron works with focused determination on its catch.
All of this my cameraman and I saw in one morning working our way through the mangrove.On the eastern bank of the river, there is a buildup of debris. Should that continue, the trees would die off, thus eliminating the perches used by several bird species, like the osprey, which regularly strafes the surface of the water from its lofty base of operations.
In my naivet� I envisioned opportunities for nearby businesses to invest in the restoration and preservation of the mangrove, to incorporate this wildlife habitat into an overall development plan. Perhaps there could be a boardwalk through the mangrove, or viewing platforms for birders; wistful and wasteful dreaming, I suppose.
From the 3D artist's rendering of the long-term development plan for Invaders Bay, there is meant to be a marina, but more specifically a terminal for cruise ships. All of this, it can be reasoned, is meant to tie in with Derek Chin's streets-of-the-world concept.
It will likely amount to what already obtains in many other Caribbean islands–port of call at which tourists are herded through a commercial corridor of duty-free shops where they are duty-bound to spend their US dollars. Because what every tourist desperately needs is a useless bronze replica of a steelpan and a T-shirt emblazoned with "I iz ah Trini."
Mr Chin's vision includes more restaurants, shops etc. The concept is heralded as the Epcot Centre of the Caribbean. That is precisely the trouble with how we envision development in this country: we are zombies of contagion cultures which strip the host of any sense of identity.
The thought of a Carnival museum does seem a good one though, given that in a few short years the Carnival as we once knew it will be dead, so it will be useful to have a collection of artifacts through which anthropologists can rummage as they try to piece together the decline of our civilisation.
Jamaicans do not invite tourists to their island to eat at a steakhouse or burger joint (even though they have them); they bring them there to eat jerk! Several years ago when the US McDonald's chain invaded Jamaica there was a pre-existing restaurant bearing the same name (it was the owner's name). This restaurant serves typical Jamaican fare: jerk and curried goat.
The foreign franchise exerted extreme pressure to have the local diner change its name. That modern-day imperialism was fiercely resisted and in the end Mickey D's was forced to capitulate.What this suggests is that while Jamaicans aren't opposed to foreign investment, they understand that it must not be at the expense of their own culture. We are a bit more obtuse when faced with what reads like simple logic in other Caribbean territories.
Why not introduce tourists to products made by our world-famous cocoa (assisting in the revitalisation of the industry)? Expose them to other local dishes; take them on a tour of a wildlife refuge right on the edge of the city!
But then, how would they know that we are an island with "plenty morney"? Trinis have an acute insecurity of being "islanders." We surround ourselves with towering buildings to engender a pseudo-metropolitan aesthetic while burying in its foundations all that makes us unique. Navigating the dull, grey torpor of Port-of-Spain is depressing, yet as a nation we equate lifeless architecture with progress.
I can hear it now, "You fightin' over ah small piece ah mangrove!"There is no natural habitat on this island spared the pressures of development. Not one! The Caroni swamp has to contend with the leaching of toxins from the Beetham dump as well as year-round hunting. Nariva, well you know the story there.The Northern Range will eventually be reduced to aggregate and spread out as roads across the land. On this tiny island, there is absolutely no wildlife sanctuary.
While we have opportunities to nurture a sustainable eco-tourism industry, we opt for the fast cash of the false economy, one propped up by state expenditure generated by finite fossil fuels.As our natural resources dwindle below levels which can support triennial increases, technicolour housing schemes and the "contracts trough," Trinis will not have the income to sustain a Streets of the World.
A sustainable model for development could create not only jobs with a greater life span but a breeding ground for entrepreneurship. In the end, the rest of the nation will take its cue from what becomes of Invaders Bay; that is why this matters.