Ongoing coastal development plans continue to threaten St. Maarten’s nature and access

The Nature Foundation Sint Maarten is once again voicing its concerns for environmental conservation and public access on the island, following recent news about developments around Mullet Bay, Beacon Hill, and Little Bay.

For nearly three decades, since our founding in 1997, the Nature Foundation has worked – often quietly and behind closed doors – to protect Sint Maarten’s coastlines, wetlands, and hillsides. We have submitted countless assessments, provided formal advice, and engaged directly with government. Sint Maarten’s natural ecosystems are essential to wildlife, recreation, culture, economy, and wellbeing, but we continue to lose them at alarming rates. The past few weeks have seen a flurry of activity that has caused renewed concerns about the future of our remaining coastlines.

Last week, the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI) revealed they are currently in court to keep Mullet Bay’s coastal area in public hands. Should the owner of the surrounding lands in Mullet Bay, Sunresorts Ltd. N.V., win the case, the rest of our beaches are at risk of the same. This means private owners may be able to deny access to residents through physical fencing or private security. While we remain critical of how our beach use has been managed under successive governments, and watchful of the potential impact on Mullet Pond – a nearby wetland of international importance – the privatization of public beach access is unacceptable.

Further cause for concern is the series of approved building permits for an address linked to The Morgan, published in the National Gazette last week. A March 3 Daily Herald article noted that future phases may include a breakwater and lagoon. This is the same site where, in 2020, a request for water rights was rejected after community members took to the streets in protest over concerns about a planned dolphinarium. We have not forgotten this, and we are watching closely. The Nature Foundation firmly opposes any coastal infrastructure of this scale without a full Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) – an independent process that evaluates how a project will impact our environment and communities before construction is permitted to occur.

Finally, active heavy machinery has also been spotted at the shoreline next to Little Bay Pond in recent weeks. Earlier this year, a website advertising a development called “Lagune Bay,” showing buildings surrounding the pond and beach, drew public attention. The Nature Foundation has submitted negative advice on proposed developments around this pond multiple times. Little Bay Pond is one of only four remaining ponds in a country that once had nineteen. It is an internationally recognized Important Bird Area (IBA) due to its fishing grounds for the brown pelican, Sint Maarten’s national bird. It is also a site of deep cultural and historical significance, as this pond sustained the lives of enslaved people on surrounding plantations for generations.

These three sites represent only a fraction of harmful development which has caused so much frustration and hopelessness in Sint Maarten. We maintain that sustainable economic development and infrastructure can be pursued through a national spatial plan, high standards for construction approval, and meaningful community input. But our current pattern of development will not result in improved livelihoods – instead, it will deliver the destruction of habitats for our wildlife, loss of public access, increased strain on our electricity grid, more traffic on our oversaturated roads, and the erosion of our resilience in the face of hurricanes, energy crises, and economic shocks.

As a small non-profit organization, the Nature Foundation cannot change decisions made by courts or the Government of Sint Maarten. We can only provide advice on what sorts of decisions are in the interest of Sint Maarten’s communities, both people and wildlife. But much of our guidance has been disregarded in favor of more – more concrete, more permits, more money – rather than better – better living, better planning, better management. We urge residents and visitors alike to voice their feelings to elected officials, and for elected officials to overcome their partisan issues and work towards envisioning a better Sint Maarten. There is no time to lose.