The Tribune

THE Bahamas Protected Areas Fund says the country’s long history of protecting its natural resources is being threatened by illegal poaching, climate change, external shocks and unfair rules governing the way overseas development assistance (ODA) and other international funding initiatives are allocated.

According to a recent paper published by BPAF, The Bahamas continues to be excluded from these funding opportunities because of its gross national income per capita, a misleading metric that suggests the country is wealthier than it actually is and therefore not in need of foreign aid.

Typically, ODA is considered on the basis of gross national income per capita, stated in current prices, with no adjustment for inflation, BPAF noted in a press release. Consequently, the average income in The Bahamas in 2018 was assessed at $30,330 per person.

However, as “The Bahamas—A Legacy in Environmental Stewardship” points out, this statistic does not consider the disparity between the higher incomes of wealthy, second-home owners or professional expatriate workers, and the much lower incomes of ordinary Bahamian workers, BPAF noted.

“Nor does it evaluate how the rising cost of living is impacting Bahamian businesses and residents, even though CEO magazine recently rated the Bahamas as the sixth most expensive place to live in the world,” the group said.

“The BPAF contends that this high cost of living has very real consequences for Bahamian environmental NGOs (non-governmental organisations). Their mission is forced to take a backseat behind health, education and law enforcement as it relates to subventions from the government or contributions from private donors.

“This is of particular concern for the BPAF since the fund was enacted in law in 2014 to ‘ensure sustainable financing in perpetuity’ for scientific and policy research, education, conservation and management of protected areas in the Bahamas, including national parks.”

BPAF is also mandated to support areas established for biodiversity conservation generally, the protection of carbon sinks, water resources, wetlands and blue holes, degraded or threatened ecosystems as well as areas established for adapting to and mitigating against climate change. The financial cost of managing protected areas is significant globally, BPAF said.

“The cost in The Bahamas in 2018 for simply maintaining status quo management of the Bahamas National Protected Areas System (BPNAS) was estimated at $18.78m annually. However, the annual cost to achieve management effectiveness, which includes strong management plans and operational capacity (surveillance, enforcement, monitoring and evaluation, outreach and stakeholder support), was projected at $70.93m.

“This gap underscores the significant underfunding of protected area managers and the protected areas system. In fact, the projected cost to effectively manage the protected areas system is $73.01 million in 2020, a figure that is expected to more than double to $157.98m by 2027 assuming the country meets the goal of 20 percent by 2020.

“Funding identified for managing protected areas were estimated to be $10.58 million in 2018, another $10.75m in 2020, and a further $15.38m in 2027. This was before the devastation of Hurricane Dorian and economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic forced major budget cuts that will negatively impact funding of the BPAF and its environmental partners,” BPAF’s press release noted.

According to Karen Panton, the BPAF’s executive director: “COVID-19 only strengthens the need for funding, especially as it relates to coastal resilience and nature-based funding for alternate livelihoods and food security.”

Ms Panton explained that as government funds are increasingly required to meet humanitarian needs associated with the pandemic, less funding will be available for natural resource management, which will mean increased exposure to the impact of storms.

“And as the pandemic persists,” Ms Panton said, “we are seeing the need to continue looking at more nature-based options for livelihoods, including local, community-based tourism, backyard farming and apiculture so that persons can support themselves and their families.”