GLAN and Barbudan land defender, fisherman and tour guide George Jeffery, have initiated legal proceedings against the Antiguan-based Development and Control Authority (DCA) over the approval of a controversial development of a private luxury villa. The villa is being built by an English millionaire at Cedar Tree Point in Codrington Lagoon National Park – a protected wetland.
GLAN and Jeffery’s lawsuit seeks to reverse the decision of the DCA to grant a development permit, and stop the harmful project in its tracks.
Codrington Lagoon National Park is a Ramsar Convention protected wetland and home to Barbuda’s pride and joy – the magnificent frigate bird sanctuary.
The internationally significant wetland supports the low-lying island of Barbuda’s ecosystem and is home to many native species, including the magnificent frigatebird and the Barbuda warbler, whose breeding sites are now threatened.
As a signatory of the Ramsar Convention, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda has a series of conservation obligations, several of which have been breached in the case of the Codrington Lagoon.
GLAN’s co-claimant George Jeffery’s entire livelihood is at risk, but what worries him most is the “significant risks to the delicate ecosystem, a critical habitat for our beautiful Frigate birds”.
The luxury villa includes a 97.7 acre “security buffer” to lock out Barbudans from this area – the very area they have protected from human harm and used in a sustainable way for hunting, fishing and leisure in harmony with the ecosystem.
“This case is of huge public importance for us as Barbudans, we urge all concerned in Barbuda, our sister island Antigua, across the wider Caribbean and the globe to join us in this fight to protect our precious pristine island and our unique cultural and natural heritage.” said local Gulliver Johnson.
GLAN has obtained photographic evidence of ongoing destruction of the ecological integrity of Palmetto Point and the wider Ramsar site – including driving tracks observed on a turtle nesting site. GLAN also obtained images showing that PLH started constructing fences around what it considers to be its concession area, within and around the Ramsar site, which will interfere with the right to roam, the island’s land tenure system and animal pathways.
GLAN understands that the private developer, PLH (Barbuda) Ltd, has been allowed to remove mangroves and has started mining sand dunes, a crucial element of the ecological system of the island and a critical form of physical protection for the inhabitants. Such harms have been communicated by PLH (Barbuda) Ltd itself. The company’s “Palmetto Peninsula Ecological Management Plan Report” dated 17 December 2019, prepared by Deborah Brosnan & Associates on behalf of the developer, admitted the destruction of buttonwood mangroves. This represents a direct breach of the Environmental Protection and Management Act 2015 and raises significant concerns around the fulfillment of the State’s international obligations to protect the Ramsar site.
Barbuda, PLH (Barbuda) Limited, a Barbuda-incorporated company financed by the US-based legal entity Peace Love and Happiness LLC (PLH) is granted two 99-years leases (known as “Palmetto Point” or “Barbuda Ocean Club”) by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda to construct an exclusive resort and community for wealthy clients.
Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the region, hit Antigua and Barbuda. 95% of buildings were left damaged.
GLAN submits complaint to the Ramsar Secretariat asking them to urgently intervene and arrange an independent advisory mission to visit the park and advise on ongoing and future threats to the protected wetland.
The submission also asks that Codrington Lagoon is added to the Montreux Record, a register of wetland sites on the List of Wetlands of International Importance that guarantees further protection in those cases where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of technological developments, pollution or other human interference.
GLAN prepares updated, comprehensive submission to the Secretariat detailing the harms and risks to Ramsar site no. 1488. To date the Secretariat has not indicated what actions if any it will be talking.
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