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Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary Closing

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GRAEME HALL NATURE SANCTUARY, INC.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bridgetown, Barbados

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Contact:                                                Harry Roberts, General Manager

Telephone:                                            (246) 426-3610

Email:                                                   hroberts@graemehall.com

Backup Letters, Art and Archives:          www.graemehall.com/press.htm

Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary in Barbados to Close

[Vancouver, Canada] Environmental philanthropist Peter Allard announced that the 35-acre Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary in Barbados will close on December 15, 2008.

Saying that “no one individual can stand longer than a generation in the wilderness of environmental preservation,” Allard despaired that to preserve the environmental heritage at Graeme Hall for future generations of Barbadians would require “a government-led consciousness.”

“I thank the the citizens of Barbados who came to the Sanctuary to visit, and thank those who signed the petition with the Friends of Graeme Hall for a National Park,” said Allard.   “I believe the Sanctuary would not have been possible without the support of the many eco-visitors, school children and the hard-working employees who put their heart and soul into making the Sanctuary a first class visitor experience.”

Allard went on to say that the Sanctuary would not exist if it had not been for special individuals who helped make it happen  such as Dame Billie Miller and her kind and capable Permanent Secretary, the late Brie St. John, Dr. Lorna Inniss, Dr. Trevor Carmichael, Dr. Karl Watson and many, many others.

Approximately 85 employees and contractors will be negatively affected by the closing.   It is expected that tour companies, taxis and local businesses will lose bookings as well.

In 2007, over 6,000 Barbadians signed a Friends of Graeme Hall petition in favor of preserving the approximately 240 acre green area at Graeme Hall as a National Park.    As the largest green space on the South Coast between the Airport and Bridgetown, the proposed National Park would include the designated 91-acre RAMSAR wetland approved under the international Convention on Wetlands, the 35-acre Sanctuary, and recreational lands.

Saying that that the future of the Sanctuary and the National Park is in the hands of the people of Barbados, Allard believes that the Friends of Graeme Hall and the citizens of Barbados must decide what their priorities are.

“We have great affection and regard for the people of Barbados, and the Sanctuary effort has always been a philanthropic mission.   This has been an incredibly painful and saddening decision, but ultimately it is not for us to initiate or set national goals and long term legacies for the nation.”

More information about the Sanctuary and the proposed Graeme Hall National Park can be found at www.graemehall.com/press.htm and www.graemehallnationalpark.org .

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214 responses to “Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary Closing”

  1. crossroads Avatar
    crossroads

    BWWR my appoligies to you for including you in my speal. You seem to have more character than I had previously thought. However…..
    @ Anon show me another group of people more materialistic than Black people, with all the brand name clothing and cell phone but can’t feed your family of pay ya bills!!

  2. 111 Avatar
    111

    One would have really thought that Mr Peter Allard would have sought to setup a meeting with gov’t officials to shed some light on where he was with this project and maybe even to have sought their input and advice going forward.

    Sadly I know of no such request for any such meeting with any gov’t official but then we see this announcement made in the daily newspaper.

  3. Avatar
    Anonymous

    @ my buddy Negroman

    You really listen to dese idiots fuh trute tho. I hey cant stop laffin.

    One o dem say “We have a black Governor-General and a black government and those (and us) are internationally respected.”

    A black governnor general dat represent de so-and-so queen. De same monarchy that promoted slavery. Black politicians dat cant redistribute de wealth, dat cant create a new black business class to run dese white racist mother _________s outta Barbados once and for all.
    Only up to a few years ago, David Simmons was still wear dat stupid white wig pon top he head; ingrunt bajans still talking bout lil england; and nuff mo ingrunt black ones still wanna be knighted and called Sir dis and Dame dat. Even Hilary let we down!
    Graeme Hall swamp should not have an owner in de fuss place. It belongs to de people of Barbados.
    Allard, pack your ass and leave and tek de tiefing Canadian banks wid yuh. We got Credit unions dat we can transform into banks tomorrow.
    Shupes!

  4. So why not? Avatar
    So why not?

    Sounds like you all want to do a Mugabe. Maybe you should do a little research on what happened after Zimbabwe ran all the white people and the white tourists out of the country. It now has the highest inflation rate in the world and no food to feed its people because the racist Mugabe took the white people’s land and gave it to his buddies. He didn’t give a god damn about any other black person in that country.

    So maybe what Barbados really needs to do is run the “black racist mother _________s outta Barbados once and for all.”

  5. Avatar
    Anonymous

    “Mugabe took the white people’s land”
    **************************************

    Lord have his mercy!

    De white people land?

    I dont even know how to respond to this!

    I can only repond with a scenario.

    You really tink de europeans would allow africans to come into europe and tek up land?
    Are you some sort of idiot?
    Do you see how the italians treat blacks?
    Or how the Ukranians and russians treat blacks?
    Look at the French!

    Mugabe right like shite to tek back his ancestral lands.
    You stupid or what?

  6. no name Avatar
    no name

    Anonymous,
    I guess Mugabe was right to give his friends back their ancestral land and let the poor masses starve to death. Good reasoning there, Anonymous.

  7. So why not? Avatar
    So why not?

    It is mine if I bought it.
    You living in the past.

    Mugabe’s people starving but his buddies ain’t so that’s all that matters.

    Do you see how blacks treat blacks?

    I see who the idiot is here.

    You should have taken advantage of the free education offered to all of us.

    “We will sell de cars and walk like our forefathers and remain slim and healthy.
    We would ride bicycles and stay fit.
    We would stop wasting money on brands owned by white people dat dont give a shite bout we.
    We would live in board houses dat dont got hot-house-syndrome. Houses dat designed to suit de environment.
    We would go back to planting kitchen gardens and do all the things we did before a single tourist ever visit.”

    Where you were going to get the lumber to build the houses? Only lumber left is the mangrove trees in Graeme Hall and you don’t want that. Or you going to import from the Guyanese?

    Where you going to get bicycles? No steel produced in Bim to build them. Made in China and the US though.

    Where you going to get the seeds to plant your garden? Imported from where? Paid for by the money from tourism. No more canes to harvest and pay for these.

    You stupid or what?

  8. Avatar
    Anonymous

    An economy cant function with imports and export, you idiot.

    And if you believe the education is free you are a bigger fool.

    And yes Mugabe is damn right to take back the land.

    Implicit in your stupid argument is that we cant survive without white tourists or white farmers.

    Are you some sort of johnny or what?

    You, Allard, Loveridge all need to pack wunna georgie bundles and get off de island. Sick and tired o wunna white people and wunna nonsense.

  9. Negroman Avatar
    Negroman

    Anonymous That is what I talk about the brainwashed stupid ass miseducation we are receiving.That is why we are having responses like that from these asses on the blogs.
    The Americans in the 1940’s went into the heart of Palestine and took up the best and most fertile land in that region and created the Israeli State for a pack of half caste Jews from Russia who had to way to go and claimed it was the ancestral lands of the Jews.That is the reason for the conflicts between the Jews & Palestinians.The racist,stinking,murderous Europeans went to Africa killed millions of black Africans took away they lands and claimed the lands as their own and that Comrade Mugabe has the balls & courage to retake the lands and give them back to the people, we have black asses down here saying that he taking up white people lands.You are the biggest ass on this blog So Why not.Africa is the black Continent.The black Continent belongs to black Africans.
    The same murderous,stinking white people went into the USA slaughtered the American Red Indians took away their lands and claimed the lands also as theirs.My man those stinking,smelly,disease ridden Europeans are parasitical,murderous and wicked.They accumulated their wealth from the sweat,tears & blood of black people.They did not get their wealth from any hard work.They are a thiefing race of people.everthing they got the bastards stole from other people.
    You all idiots read the history of the world objectively and stop being fool by the whole set of nonsense that we are being fed through the international propaganda set up by the thiefing Europeans.They want to justify their wicked actions, but this black man is not gullible or brainwashed and can analyse and think for himself.Unfortunately many of you all swallowed the crap you hear and read from those idiots.

    Anonymous on the issue of Independence.That is a farcical situation.We are supposed to be an Independence country and still has that white thrash as Head of State.What a shame.We must report to that smeely woman when making major decisions.As an independence country we still have relic of our colonial past presence in all of our institutions,such as The Police,The Hospital,The Church and other areas.
    We do not have Independence we only have symbols & images.Our leaders are a bunch of clowns.

  10. Avatar
    Anonymous

    We still got a bunch o africans walking bout de place calling demselves Sir Dis and Lady Dat and Dame Dat.
    One bunch o clowns!

    I find it so embarrassing!
    Dem aint even got de courage to tek down Nelson and talking bout Independence!

    De great white savior appears and talking crap bout save Graeme hall and everybody jumping pon de bandwagon.
    Why de ass duh dont jump on de bandwagon bout Greenland or de stinking sewerage plant in town.

    Dem does really mek me sick. Any white johnny could get off a plane and come and fill dem head wid nonsense and dem does run wid it.

    De swamp aint goin no way unless david thompson allow white developers to come in and do wha duh like wid it and destroy wha leff.

    Why de ass wunna dont go and sign a petition to stop de nonsense on de West coast wunna ingrunt _________s?

  11. So why not? Avatar
    So why not?

    Inform me how an economy functions then?

    There will be no economy without foreign exchange generated by selling a product that the rest of the world wants. What does Barbados have ? Tourism! Ya “johnny! No bauxite, no precious metals, no crops. Only tourism!

    Mugabe didn’t give the land back to his people. He gave them to his friends! His people are starving. The farms that once fed the people no longer exist.

    And my stupid argument was that we cant survive without any of the races not only whites. We need each other to survive. Barbados will not survive by separating itself from the rest of the world because we don’t like white people. White people need black people just as much as black people need white people or Indians or Chinese. Listen to what you are saying.

    Oh and the black people are wiping out each other more than ever in Africa. Don’t forget Rwanda, Sudan etc. And the Europeans were long gone. How ironic it was that European peace keepers that had to come back to these countries to stop the ethnic cleansing and genocide.

    Or Operation Restore Hope in Somalia(1992-1994) which the stupid American whites undertook to bring humanitarian aid to the people because the black warlords would not allow food and medicine to be brought to their people.

    The concern is not racial divide, it is surviving with each other because we are all human.

    How convenient you forget to tell this story?

    Who is the idiot to history? Take a look at the world now!

  12. Negroman Avatar
    Negroman

    So Why Not
    The 2 world wars were Europeans killing Europeans.Dispute that.In the 90’s in former Yugoslavia there was ethnic cleansing and a long & brutal civil war.There is an ongoing conflict between the Irish & the English.Many terrorist acts were carried out by the Irish Republican Party and similarly by the English government against the Irish.Dispute that.The Europeans are accustomed to killing & slaughtering each other. The europeans killed the most people in the world and created and are creating weapons to kill.That is is the trait within all white people.It is a killing race.They love to see blood and that is why white people love to eat red meat rare with blood in it.It is a cannibalistic race.
    Fool the conflict in Rwanda was instigated by the Dutch colonists if my memory serves me correctly by the divide & rule tactic of putting the light skin Tutsis to oppress & suppress the darker skin Hutus.Idiot go and read the history of Uganda,Rwanda & Burundi and stop coming on the blogs with your weak arguments.
    So Why not you have not really challenged any of the points I put forward in my earlier comments.Show some depth and mount a challenge to my comments.

  13. Nostradamus Avatar
    Nostradamus

    John Da Silva has started a facebook group. “Save The Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary.”

    Go to facebook and join the group.

  14. So why not? Avatar
    So why not?

    I don’t challenge history. But my point is that all races have been responsible for atrocities throughout history.

    Your point has been that the white Europeans are responsible for everything bad that has ever happened to the black race.

    Come again.

    So the fact that blacks like chicken means they like “white” meat?

    There are still cannibalistic tribes in Africa.

    The fight still goes on in the Congo-http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081031/ap_on_re_af/af_congo_fighting

    I took that link not even 5 minutes ago from yahoo news.

  15. So why not? Avatar
    So why not?

    My apologies for hijacking this blog. As everyone can see this racial subject really stirs some emotion in me.

    Back to the issue of Graeme Hall! Whether or not it is a white man who is offering it to us we as Barbadians should be doing our best to make sure that it is preserved for our children’s children to experience.

  16. Avatar
    Anonymous

    @ So why not?

    I was talking bajan but your use of english is either misleading or you are pure johnny.

    “Back to the issue of Graeme Hall! Whether or not it is a white man who is offering it to us…”

    Offering what to us?
    Are you some sort of johnny for real?
    First you said Mugabe took away de white people land, now you are talking about a “white man offering it to us.”

    Are you for real or are you just a pure white johnny?

  17. Negroman Avatar
    Negroman

    So Why Not
    You are as stupid as they come.I never indicated that all wrong perpetrated against blacks were done by the white man.I will never make excuses for some of the nonsensense we blacks are doing.
    I do not want you to challenge history I want you or anyone to challenge my points in an effective way.Do not cop out with the feeble excuse that all races need each other to survive.I agreed with that partially because we blacks could survive on our own because we are the parent race and have the stronger & superrior genes.Anyone can come & dispute that.The other races need us to survive,we do not need them.
    Idiots like you always try to make excuses for the atrocities that the stinking,disease,white race perpetrated against blacks and also try to justify the whiteman’s action.
    You are pathetic as they come.You are a blog nuisance.

  18. So why not? Avatar
    So why not?

    And your ignorance shows through on every comment you make.

    Because I tackled a subject that you disagree with makes me an “idiot,” “pathetic,” and a “blog nuisance.”

    Well I say you are an ignorant, racist, bigot.

    And yes the white man is offering us a multi million dollar piece of land at no cost; just that we make it into a national park and preserve it. But it seems you all would rather let the black government line their pockets with money from the white developers and bulldoze it.

  19. So why not? Avatar
    So why not?

    I have made no excuses for the atrocities perpetrated by whites over our history but to not point out the atrocities of every other race makes this argument misleading and biased.

  20. Avatar
    Anonymous

    @ Negroman

    Put that johnny ‘So Why Not’ on ignore.

  21. So why not? Avatar
    So why not?

    Be my guest. I have tried to have a cultured argument(if there is such a thing) with you two and have been called every name the two of you could come up with because I engaged you and challenged you. Hence your ignorance has shown through with every reply.

  22. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @Negroman: “…I want you or anyone to challenge my points in an effective way.”

    I’m willing to give it a go…

    @NM: “Do not cop out with the feeble excuse that all races need each other to survive.”

    I, personally, do not believe that this arguement is a presupposition. It would, however, be nice…

    @NM: “I agreed with [So Why Not’s argument] partially because we blacks could survive on our own because we are the parent race and have the stronger & superrior genes. Anyone can come & dispute that. The other races need us to survive,we do not need them.

    With respect… Hail Hitler!

    @NM: The argument you’re making has been made before (and failed). (Spectacularly!!! (Read: many *millions* died!))

    IMHO, we all need each other simply because we all find ourselves within the same bubbles.

    (Admittedly, some are betting they can hold their breaths longer than others.)

    @NM: As a self-admitted “whiteman”, let me please present that yes, I do see colour. When I first meet someone, I perceive their hair colour, then their eye colour, and then their skin colour.

    …and, then, I listen to what they have to say…

    …and, *then*, I infer what they *might* think (because *no* *one* can *know* what anyone else *thinks*)…

    I *then* judge them on *that*…

    (…and *then* I continue the conversation and debate, because I probably inferred incorrectly…)

    @NM: Try it. You might find yourself enlightened. (Although, as a warning… as with all mature thinkers, you may not find yourself quite as self-sure as you currently are…)

    (IMHO. FWTAIW.)

  23. Busted Avatar
    Busted

    I am sceptical of anyone who says they do not see colour.
    It is politically correct to say that we do not notice a person’s skin colour when we first meet them but deep down we know this is really not the case.
    The problem arises when our actions are solely determined by what our eyes perceives.
    The race issue is always lurking in the background even though we in Barbados pretend it is not.

  24. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @Busted… So, just to be very clear…

    You did *read* my above? Correct?

    And, while we’re “talking” — have you seen NM around anywhere? If so, perhaps you could poke them, and remind them they raised a challenge…

    I thought we had a discussion going on here, but their silence has (suddenly) been deafening…

  25. Busted Avatar
    Busted

    @Chris
    Yes I did.
    The order of your perception is what I find interesting.
    “When I first meet someone, I perceive their hair colour, then their eye colour, and then their skin colour.”

  26. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @Busted… I admit, I’m busted… What can I say; I’m biased…

    I find (short) orange hair incredibly sexy… (Annie Lennox rocked my world…)

    (Although short blue, purple, red and black hair has been known to cause me to change my mass distribution…)

    Is NM around anywhere to hit one last time tonight, or am I going to have to retire for the evening with a lovely (colourful) lady?

  27. Busted Avatar
    Busted

    To each, his own I guess. I tend to notice size and shape more. 🙂

    Re: NM
    Duppy kno’ who fe frighten.

  28. God Help Barbados Avatar
    God Help Barbados

    HaHa Chris you do make me laugh…..which is a good thing when one looks at all the depressing shite on here.

  29. no name Avatar
    no name

    My guess is the neither Anonymous nor Negorman has contributed to our country in any meaningful way.

    My guess is that they do not give to charity and avoid those in need.

    Both are probably overweight and live high.

    Unfortunately both have the destructive “sense of entitlement”.

  30. no name Avatar
    no name

    We who care in Barbados wish you well.

    You have made many lives better here and in places where your kindness and generosity are appreciated.

    Thank you!

    God belss you.

  31. Straight talk Avatar
    Straight talk

    What gets me about Negroman, Scout and the ult. Anon is that they are promoting the self same race hate and discrimination they believe is responsible for their own benighted existence.

    They promote the mindset of apartheid SA, the mores of our primitive ancestors in “captive” trading to their white partners, going on for 200 years and prove to the liberal mind that such superior race policies still exist in their unreconstructed brains.

    There are more slaves coming out of Africa this year than ever there was in the height of the third passage.

    Check it out. Google Slavery.

    Unfortunately David, from a perspective of opposition to illegal immigration, which we all support, you have the lunatic Nazi fringe (3 member strong) hijacking every thread you post with more and more xenophobic vitriol, than even you can endorse.
    Or do you?

  32. Avatar
    Anonymous

    @ no name

    Keep guessing!

  33. Avatar
    Anonymous

    @ Straight Talk

    “they are promoting the self same race hate and discrimination they believe is responsible for THEIR own benighted existence”
    *************************************

    It is funny as hell how you exclude yourself.

  34. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Anybody does tek on Chris Halsall doh?

    Shupes…

    When last you went to de pharmacy to get you refill o mad tablets?

  35. David Avatar
    David

    We have read the back and forth and we are optimistic that someday on the issue of race relations it will find its level in Barbados. Unfortunately some may think that some of the perspectives expressed on BU represents a fringe element but we think not.

    The issue of race relations may someday soon have to be boldly tackled. The media and successive governments have shied away from it but every issue which comes up we hear shades of arguments motivated by race.

    We have news for those Barbadians who believe that this situation will fade away, it will not until we confront it squarely.

  36. Straight talk Avatar
    Straight talk

    I exclude myself because I don’t hate 90% of the world for being dissimilar.

    This may be my shortcoming, but it works for me.

    You seem to find your inner strength through hatred of all mankind, except we fortunate 240,000 slave descendants on this speck of rock.

    I am pleased you have found your place in life, and hatred as your raison d’etre.

    It won’t work with me , and I suspect it will eventually fail for you.

    However I wish the three of you well in your crusade to make Bim a better place to live.

    Can you imagine what would happen if the whole world held your views?

    Thank the lord for evolution.
    (With apologies to JC and Sarah Palin)

  37. Avatar
    Anonymous

    You like you fuhget to tek you mad tablets too cuz you aint sound like nobody wid cents.

    We would send all de apologists like you packing with Allard and Loveridge too.

  38. Straight talk Avatar
    Straight talk

    Apologise…moi!

    Only for the brainless, racist, moronic 3 Bajans monopolising these threads.

  39. Avatar
    Anonymous

    You obviously dont know what an apologist is, you dumb ass!

  40. JC Avatar
    JC

    How JC get in this leave JC out of this behaivour I trying to behave I have some serious views I got some other issues to deal with right now!

    Wannah think black people foolish shupes !! ha ha ha (lol)

  41. Nostradamus Avatar
    Nostradamus

    I posted this over at BFP.

    This morning there is a letter to the newspaper on the Graeme Hall Park people’s website.

    http://www.graemehallnationalpark.org/press_letter_nation_oct31_2008.pdf

    The Friends of Graeme Hall (FOGH) note with concern the recent press reports that the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary (GHNS) will be closing on December 15, 2008.

    FOGH is a group of concerned citizens in Barbados who support the Government of Barbados in
    preserving and managing, in perpetuity, the Graeme Hall Swamp wetland (a Natural Heritage
    Conservation Area and Ramsar Site) and the agricultural upland buffer as a multi-use green
    recreational open space, with the potential to become a National Park.

    The GHNS occupies approximately 35 acres of an 81 acre Wetland which has been designated a
    Natural Heritage Conservation Area (NHCA) in the Physical Development Plan 2003 (PDP).
    The rest of the Wetland is principally owned by Government. According to the PDP this
    designation applies to features and locations that are important to the natural and physical
    heritage of the island. The essential goal of this designation is to retain, protect and enhance
    these features for future generations. (PDP 2003 Section 4-1).

    On 11 April, 2006, The Graeme Hall Wetland was also designated Ramsar Site No. 1591. This
    designation sets out the landscape characteristics that recommend the elevation of its status to
    that of “International Importance to Wildlife”. This recognition automatically positions The
    Graeme Hall Swamp as a positive focal point for new education, tourism, and environmental
    initiatives.

    As a signatory to the Ramsar Convention, the Government of Barbados accedes to four main
    obligations set within the community of sovereign states. These are:
    1. Maintain the ecological character of the Site (Article2)
    2. Include wetland conservation considerations within the national land-use planning, so as
    to promote, as far as possible, the wise use of wetlands (Article 3)
    3. Promote the conservation of wetlands in their territory through the establishment of
    nature reserves on wetlands.
    4. International cooperation in support of preservation of wetlands that transcend national
    boundaries (Article 5)

    We believe that the impending closure of the GHNS is a threat to our Nation achieving the stated
    obligations and objectives of the NHCA and Ramsar designations. We urge all the parties
    concerned to work together to find a solution that will ensure that the entire Wetland and buffer
    lands will be retained, protected, enhanced and managed for the benefit of our country and
    future generations.

    Yours faithfully,
    Friends of Graeme Hall Inc.

  42. David Avatar
    David

    Here is an owner’s perspective.

     

    Background points: Allard is in his sixties. He has devoted approximately one-quarter of his life as an environmental philanthropist to help create Morne Diablotin National Park in Dominica, Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary in Barbados, and other environmental projects in North America. The environment and parks require commitment beyond a lifetime – it cannot simply be the responsibility of one man. It’s best if private environmental philanthropy can be combined with public and international support over many generations.
    Allard is saddened that there has not been proactive governmental support over the years to expand environmental preservation, education and recreational opportunities at Graeme Hall. Some will say that Allard “took his chance” and lost – that it’s his fault that the Sanctuary could not continue. What these people don’t understand is that the Sanctuary is a philanthropic effort. Allard invested in the wetland knowing that he could have made far more money in a commercial investment, and he makes no secret of the fact that he had hoped his environmental efforts could have stimulated interested within government to form a long-range partnership.
    It is a flaw in government policy to assume that private interests can support an environmental legacy over 100 or more years. Typically, the average philanthropic or family business operation lasts no more than 27 years.Allard has spent more on environmental preservation in Barbados than any other individual. For over 12 years Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary provided educational and environmental programmes to tens of thousands of children and adults. It is the largest privately funded environmental education and preservation organization in Barbados.
    The Sanctuary has been selectively penalized and excluded from certain benefits under the Special Areas Development Act. As a stakeholder, the Sanctuary has been excluded from meaningful land-use planning processes at Graeme Hall. The government of Barbados has not responded to the petition or to the grass-roots proposal favoring the National Park. The proposal was formally submitted to government in 2007 and can be found at http://www.graemehallnationalpark.org. (In 2007, over 6,000 Barbadians signed a Friends of Graeme Hall petition in favor of preserving the approximately 240 acre green area at Graeme Hall as a National Park. As the largest green space on the South Coast between the Airport and Bridgetown, the proposed National Park would include the designated 91-acre RAMSAR wetland approved under the international Convention on Wetlands, the 35-acre Sanctuary, and recreational lands.)
    The previous administration never replied to a 2007 offer to donate 70% or more of Sanctuary lands to the Government and people of Barbados to help leverage formation of a National Park that would include surrounding buffer and upland lands. Other formal offers by the Sanctuary for long-range partnerships to assist with environmental works such as repairing the sluice gate, management of sensitive environmental lands under a co-management agreement with government ministries, and fundraising for Graeme Hall wetland and upland preservation have also been met with silence.
    The government recently ratified the Amended 2003 Physical Development Plan which proposes urban development for the Graeme Hall green area seaward of the ABC Highway. This is in sharp contrast to the recommendations of the 1986 National Physical Development Plan and the 1997 ARA Barbados Tourism Development Programme Study. There is a belief that there is government and developer pressure to develop the buffer and upland lands around the Graeme Hall wetland, instead of saving it for preservation and recreation.
    Environmentalists now assume that the Government of Barbados has development plans for the buffer and upland agricultural lands at Graeme Hall. This governmental mindset in 2006 was why the application for the infamous 30 acre Water Park at Graeme Hall was accepted by Town and Country Planning. Originally this area was to be left open in accordance with the original 1986 Physical Development Plan. Environmentalists also assume that in the minds of many influential government officials and developers, the RAMSAR site where the Sanctuary resides exists as a 100-year floodplain sump to be used for contaminated stormwater, instead of a vibrant and living wetland.

  43. Avatar
    Anonymous

    So what?

  44. Avatar
    Anonymous

    There’s absolutely no sympathy for Allard or Loveridge from this corner.

  45. Negroman Avatar
    Negroman

    Straight Talk
    You all like to report world affairs in a very convenient manner.It is ludicrous on your part to even fathom the thought that more slaves are being recruited from Africa than during the middle passage.Utter nonsense.Stop coming here and distorting the truth.Human Trafficking is an international crime.Slavery is a crime against humanity.Stop trying to degrade Africa.
    Straight Talk,in Europe there is more human trafficking than in any other region of the world.Adults & children from Poland,The Maldives,Romania,Russia & it break away States & other regions of Europe are being transported & exploited in other countries in other European States,Asia, USA & other regions for work,& sexual reasons.Denied this.
    Straight Talk,deal with the real issues the world are facing today and stop distorting the truth of Africa.Africa is the cradle of the civilization and this world cannot exist with out the existence of the great black continent and it original black inhabitants that Your Truly is proud to be a descendant from .

  46. Avatar
    Anonymous

    @ Negroman

    Put Straight talk on ignore too!
    All dem so we shipping out when de revolution starts.

  47. no name Avatar
    no name

    Anonymous says

    “Put Straight talk on ignore too!
    All dem so we shipping out when de revolution starts.”

    Yeh right!

    Anonymous is obviously not from around here. Must be a Trini.

    Bajans on the whole are too complacent.

    If rain falling forget revolution. If the weather is good, make sure the revolt breaking for lunch. If we marching make sure we passing by Chefette or Kentucky at lunchtime.

    And remember to bring parasols because the sun is real hot.

    How much you paying?

    Revolution, my eye!

  48. no name Avatar
    no name

    Anonymous, stop trying to fool people.

  49. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Hahahahahahahahaha. Dah was a good laff, but some revolutions are silent.

    The silent ones are the more deadly ones and bajans are known for dat type.
    Watch out when my people get quiet. Dah’s when Bajans are most lethal. Ask de BLP who aint learn from 1986 to listen to de silence!

  50. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @Negroman: “Africa is the cradle of the civilization and this world cannot exist with out the existence of the great black continent and it original black inhabitants…

    You seem to have difficulty with simple deductive reasoning…

    There is a fundamental difference between “[all humans] would *not* exist without [the first humans]” and “[all humans] cannot exist without [the first humans]”.

    A simple Proof by Contradiction (AKA Reductio ad Absurdum):

    1. By your arguement, no descendent can exist if their ancestors don’t.

    2. Are any of your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents alive?

    3. Are you alive?

    4. Quod Erat Demonstrandum (QED).

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