The Tribune

WHEN the Biological Resources and Traditional Knowledge Bill was passed in February last year, it was said that it would stop “the plundering” of The Bahamas’ genetic resources by foreign researchers without earning any money for our country.

It certainly sounded good. Environment Minister Romauld Ferreira talked of how The Bahamas was “a hotbed” of resources, but that there were no laws to ensure the country received fair benefits in return.

Mr Ferrerira said scientists had found “what they believe is a cure for cancer” in our waters, and the bill would ensure the country would maximise the economic benefits from its natural resources.

He said: “It’s so important to put in a legislative framework to prevent different companies, different groups and different people with different relationships from having to meet different criteria for the same permits. That’s a form of victimisation that we’re opposed to. I certainly am.

“This particular Act is probably one of the most important pieces of legislation tabled in the House to govern our natural resources, particularly the marine environment of The Bahamas.”

Good intentions, it would seem, but we know those can pave a path in a wayward direction.

Fast forward a year and where are we? Well, research seems to have ground to a halt – including efforts to tackle the stony coral tissue loss disease affecting coral in our waters.

For a year, it is said, the scientific and environmental communities have been unable to obtain permits, while the National Science Foundation, the largest scientific research grant financier in the US, is steering applicants away from The Bahamas.

The Cape Eleuthera Institue – the Island School estimates it has lost tens of thousands of dollars in research funding, and other scientific non-profits have temporarily closed as finance has dried up and permits have remained absent.

Dr Nick Higgs, of the Cape Eleuthera Institute, said it seems the department handling the permit system does not have the capacity to operate it, while all research, small or large, is subjected to the same regulatory burden as high risk commercial activities.

As he said, it’s like “charging the Red Cross to come in and do relief”.

Attorney General Ryan Pinder says the government is doing a page by page review of the Act, aiming to be completed by the end of next week.

He criticised the former Minnis administration for “a poor excuse for legislative governance”.

Good intentions are not enough – legislation has to be carried out effectively, and appropriate resources provided to ensure processes such as handling grant applications and issuing permits can be carried out.

A “year of nothing” as Dr Higgs has called it isn’t just a frustrating delay, it has prevented scientists from acting to prevent real damage to our environment.

Mr Pinder has pledged to fix the situation, and we wish him well in doing so. But if we have lost a year of scientific work because the law was passed without dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s or making sure the right resources were in place, that is a shocking oversight by the previous government.

Crime fight

In yesterday’s editorial, we hoped that Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis would update the nation on the fight against crime having previously pledged to do so – and he did indeed make a series of announcements during a press briefing yesterday. Some of the details in that press conference were welcome – such as confirming the ongoing crime problem, the work the police have done to identify eight to ten gangs operating in the country, and the constitution of a National Security Council to share intelligence across agencies.

He talked of saturation patrols, a familiar tactic particularly from the Christie administration days, and an expansion of Urban Renewal, again a familiar refrain from the PLP’s playbook.

There was talk of more tools, such as the use of drones, CCTV and Shot Spotter sensors, and the creation of a specialised police task force – presumably the same one referred to previously by Assistant Commissioner Clayton Fernander.

A lot of this is more of the same, but perhaps with extra resources on top. Again, it was said that the force has a shortage of about 800 police officers.

While there is not a lot of new proposals here – talk of “working assiduously with our international partners” for example is just what we have been doing year in year out – we hope that there will at least be new funding to go with it. That was not announced – the price tag on this push against crime or what it will pay for – and that extra funding ultimately will determine a good deal of how much more of a presence can be put on the streets. There will be costs for recruitment, costs for overtime, costs for equipment and so on.

It is, however, a fight against crime that must be won. Already since Sunday we have seen six more people murdered, and so far this year 44 people are dead, 22 last month alone. In the meantime, we must remember the part we too play in this fight. For those of us who know where an illegal gun is, report it to the police and get it off the street.

We are reminded of a young man who came into The Tribune many years ago. He was a gang member, and he was terrified. He wanted to get out of the gang life, but he was afraid of the reprisals, he was afraid of what might happen, and he did not know what to do.

The Tribune brought him inside and sat him down, and listened. A police officer was called to come and talk to the young man, and he too sat and listened.

Some time later, that young man got a job working on the presses that print our newspaper here at The Tribune. He had an avenue out, and took it.

There are many more who will be in gangs because they feel they have no other option. Those young people too need to be given a path out of the gang life.