Hark the rumour… that soon we will have toilet facilities at No Man’s Land. Is this the tourism grand slam? The defining action of a THA short on —? Words defeat.
Figure 1: Once was a pretty place
C’mon guys. The idea of our marine park - the Buccoo Reef and Lagoon Complex, the almost designated RAMSAR Environmentally Sensitive Area - is to allow nature to function, to allow the ecosystem there to provide us with things we cannot make on our own. Already the situation within the park is less than satisfactory given the noise, traffic and the garbage. Can we not find an alternative site for the needs of people who Must party?
Environment Tobago recalls a time of resistance. The time a sitting THA official felt that No Man’s Land and is environs was merely a place for mosquitos to breed. Who would have thought his legacy lives on.
We recall too, the water table there is so high that at certain periods each year the reef side and the lagoon side are literally joined. How will toilets work there? Considering its already so hard for the minions of State to get other public beach facilities working. There is talk that the poop will be pumped out regularly, has something changed with regard to our distaste of maintenance?
One remembers, not long ago, the huge hullaballoo (we were part of that admittedly) when Sandals the Resorts Co. faced a ton of trouble for daring to think of building bespoke toilets - wrapped, as they promised, by even nicer accommodation. One shudders to think the very people charged with protecting the same space from violation by the ilk of Sandals, would themselves dare to ‘bathroomise’ No Man’s Land. Nothing is sacred these days in the chase to ‘deliver’.
Solutions need to be sustainable
So get this. The current THA’s knee-jerk reaction to the ‘people pressure’ on No Man’s Land is not good enough but they could however, adopt aspects of that old idea of running the park - in the manner the Institute of Marine Affairs advised back in the early 1990’s. Simply catering to one demographic (party people), while disregarding the cares of providing for those not yet born is criminal. Mismanagement is to trite a word.
The only recommendation that was implemented from the IMA plan was the hiring of a park manager (David Shim), who left the job in 1998. The Park Manager’s post has since been repopulated twice. The person currently holding the job is obviously not coping any better than his predecessors. The problem they all say comes down to resources - Money.
So if the approach Must be sustainable and Does require money, it Should conform to an entrepreneurial approach. This by the way, remains in line with the draft Marine Park Plan of 1994. The organisational structure put out by that Plan proposed a registered body, likely a Social Enterprise class of business - which the IMA (as author) back then dubbed the Buccoo Reef Management Committee (BRMC).
Accordingly, the BRMC would in turn empower a slew of sub-committees; whose function collectivley entail; managing finance, overseeing the natural environment, compilation and fostering of research and public relations. Security concerns will be dealt with by yet another stakeholder sub-committee, made up of Police, Coast Guard and the Maritime Division of the relevant government Ministry.
The Plan also spoke of a cadre of staff who will report to a park manager. The manager will act as liaison between the Committee and the staffers. The following illustration hopefully shows the concept.
Figure 2: Conceptual Park Management
The arrangement in (park) management structure in the above figure does differ from the IMA plan - In that the Coast Guard, Police and the Maritime Division are on a sub-committee rather than in the head block. Because, experience shows that attending regular meetings and making the day to day contributions required to run a quasi-business operation may not mesh with typical Coast Guard, Police and IMA workers legal remit.
To revisit our concern (the toilets are No Man’s Land. In an earlier post we spoke of Carrying Capacity, but the Business plan for No Man’s Land is also suspect. By what stretch of imagination can toilet fees pay for maintenance of those babies? Not everyone will want to use a unisex Port A Potty. Certainly the Pigeon Point Heritage Park will want their money returned if they are entity asked to foot the bill. Which seems logical as the Buccoo Reef Management Co does not yet exist.
Environment Tobago is beyond appalled that this rumour is making the rounds and we are ashamed to be spreading fake news if it is indeed so. However, we have learned by dint of experience that where there is smoke, fire soon come. As it is, we implore those unthinking souls who are in charge to take stewardship of the marine park seriously. We do.