NCC chairman expresses ‘serious concerns’ about NCA changes: Cayman News Service

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*^{NCC Chairman Stuart Mailer reads a statement at the June 19 meeting}*

(CNS): National Conservation Council chairman Stuart Mailer said council members are “deeply concerned” about potential changes to the National Conservation Act and a disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting the law and the work of the NCC and the environment ministry scientists it relies on.

Mele made a statement during the council’s regularly scheduled quarterly meeting on Wednesday defending the bill, noting its necessity and stressing the importance of science-based decision-making.

Mailer says National Communications Commission Not yet “formally or Formal consultation any possible changes to the National Conservation Act”, but in a report published by CNS Suspected plan modification.

He explained that the legislation not only enables the government to carry out its constitutional duties; Section 18 of the Bill of RightsIt states: “In all decisions, the Government shall give due consideration to the nurturing and protection of an environment that is not harmful to the health and well-being of present and future generations, while promoting sound economic and social development.”

CIG is also obliged to fulfil commitments under a number of international multilateral environmental agreements, e.g. Ramsar Convention On the wetlands.

The NCA also enables the Cayman Islands to meet its responsibilities under a charter signed between the UK and the country in 2001 by then Environment Minister McKeeva Bush MP, who is now the Cayman Islands’ chief minister. Political opposition to the lawThe charter he signed calls on the Cayman Islands to incorporate environmental protection into all aspects of policy planning and implementation.

“The provisions of the NCA are therefore necessary to support and provide a strong environmental governance framework, ultimately for the benefit of people across the country,” Mellor said.

“All provisions of the NCA reflect best international practice, such as the precautionary principle adopted by the Act, which recognises that there may be a significant risk of adverse impacts or the likelihood of irreversible damage, and therefore warrants full consideration of the environmental impacts of all our decisions and plans, and to act with caution when all relevant information is not immediately available.”

Mellor said the “capacity and expertise of the Department of Environment must continue to assist the NCC” and that the requirement that “a majority of the council members must have relevant technical or scientific expertise” remained part of the bill. It is understood the government wants to remove that part of the law.

Mellor said the recent rainy weather and the resulting flooding of roads and residential areas clearly demonstrated the need for evidence-based decisions to protect human life, property, the economy and the natural environment.

“Hopefully, it will be clear to everyone living in the country that, despite dire predictions by opponents, the provisions of the National Armistice Agreement have not hampered economic growth or development,” he said, backed up by official government statistics.

“The NCC firmly believes that the NCA has a vitally important role to play in our shared efforts to protect the character and quality of life of the Cayman Islands,” Mailer said. “There is growing evidence that a healthy environment underpinned by strong legislative protections is a prerequisite for both health and the economy.

“The NCC therefore firmly believes that the provisions of the NCA are essential to the sustainable development and survival of our country now and in the future.” He added that any amendments to the Act that weaken the council’s ability to act effectively or lead to poorer conservation outcomes and a substandard environmental governance framework for people and the natural environment would be “ill-advised and strongly opposed”.

The law follows an audit of the UK’s overseas territories’ environmental protection framework. The assessment showed that the Cayman Islands and Pitcairn Islands were the only ones of the UK’s 16 overseas territories to be assessed as “weak” in all areas. In terms of “development control”, the report was harshly critical.

It said that environmental concerns were weakly integrated into the planning process and that there was no formal environmental impact assessment requirement at the time, and it urged the CIG to address these weaknesses through the then-draft Conservation Bill.

The review found that Grand Cayman’s development plan was in urgent need of an update, something the government has yet to do. It also failed to produce a plan for the Sister Islands, which are increasingly becoming a target for developers.

The UK report criticised the lack of political accountability for decision-making and the poor levels of transparency and consultation, which the current UPM government seems to want to restore.

In his statement, Mailer also noted that there is public interest in the second judicial review. Recent CPA Decisions By approving an after-the-fact application to build a road through an environmentally sensitive area in Grand Cayman’s east interior, he said the CPA had breached the NCA’s consultation provisions, “similar to the unlawful decision on the Boggy Sand road proposal which resulted in the Grand Court and Court of Appeal ruling in favour of the NCC”.

Mellor continued: “On legal advice, the NCC brought a judicial review as this appeared to be the only legal way to quash the CPA’s unlawful decision and return the decision to them for proper consultation in light of the NCA and recent Court of Appeal decisions.” But he noted that the commission still hoped to “resolve the matter through negotiation rather than litigation”.