Environmental Publications

Commitment No 10: Promote Publications that Spread Public Awareness of the Special Features of the Environment in the Territory. This was the tenth, and final, commitment made by the government of Anguilla, like other OT governments which in the year 2001 signed up to an Environmental Charter [link here]. This post brings me to the end of this examination we have been conducting of the various commitments made by the government in signing up to the Charter.

Dr Mike Pienkowski is the Chairman of the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum. He was engaged as a consultant to examine how we were performing under our Charter. He prepared a Report of August 2007. The Report measures performance by the year 2007 of UKOTs and the UK Government in implementing the 2001 Environment Charters. A copy of his 19-page Report can be read [link here]. We come now to the end of our glimpses at our government’s efforts to meet these commitments.

The Report tabulates the number of publications on local environmental topics by government and NGOs in each year from the year 2002. Anguilla is alone in claiming to have published none until this year 2007. We claim three publications by government this year. I am not aware what they are. Perhaps the explanation lies in the fact that the government-funded Anguilla National Trust has been engaged in a number of publications. The ANT claims 7 publications. This is better than BVI and Cayman Islands NGOs, but not as good as Bermuda and TCI.

I hope someone will tell us what exactly these government publications on the environment were.

I found it telling that no one in the Department of the Environment or in the National Trust thought it necessary to come online and respond to any of the implied criticisms in this series of posts. Perhaps they had nothing to say. I may have to come back to this Report in a while, if that does not change.