To the Prime Minister of Aruba, mr. Michiel Godfried Eman and the Council of Ministers of Aruba
To the President of the Parliament of Aruba, drs. Mervin Wyatt-Rass and the Members of Parliament of Aruba
To the Governor of Aruba, Mr. Fredis Refunjol
To other interested parties.
December 12, 2016
Honorable Mr. Eman, Mrs. Wyatt-Ras and Mr. Refunjol,
We are conservation scientists based across the world who have worked in many parts of the world on issues that integrate the goals of balancing biodiversity, including the ecological needs people require such as clean air, clean water, and safe, healthy food with those of long-term prosperity and sustainability. The Government of Aruba has an incredible challenge in finding ways to ensure economic prosperity and a high quality of life for its residents and visitors. Aruban government leaders certainly deserve praise for trying to engage in forward-thinking broad-scale planning for the future of the island including for tourism, infrastructure, and energy issues.
It is clear that the Government of Aruba has made a push in recent years for an increased component of renewable energy sources within Aruba’s energy portfolio, for better handling of municipal wastes, sewage, and water resources, and in the encouragement of hotels and other parts of the tourism sector in their own adoption of responsible and sustainable technologies and best practices. All of this is commendable.
However, one critical goal that has always been at the heart of true sustainability is the continued maintenance of biodiversity—more specifically, protection of the original native flora and fauna at levels that guarantee a high likelihood of their long-term survival. The native animals and plants of a region are, after all, a part of the historic natural legacy of a place. Generations of early Arubans, both Indigenous and later those from other cultures, relied on the natural resources of the island for survival.
Today, an exponentially larger population relies on those same resources, if not always for daily survival, then for maintaining a healthy and high quality of life, and certainly as a tourism resource that attracts visitors from around the world. The health of the flora and fauna of Aruba also provides a native, natural barometer to assess the state of the environment for the residents and visitors of Aruba. Losses and declines in different plants and animals serve as indicators of negative changes to the environment that signal impacts that will ultimately affect the human population as well.
One of the most globally unique and important biodiversity features of Aruba is its seabird nesting islands off the San Nicolas coast. These islands support as many as ten different species of tropical seabird, with as many as 10,000 nesting pairs—one of the most diverse and dense breeding populations 1
of these birds in the South Caribbean region and certainly the most significant in the islands that once made up the Netherlands Antilles. For this reason, these islands have been given global recognition by BirdLife International as official Important Birds Areas, and their significance has been well documented in numerous publications.
These islands have likely supported nesting seabirds for thousands of years and have been documented by early European visitors since at least the 1800’s. In fact, early Arubans would have relied on the eggs of these birds for their own survival during certain times of the year. Today, seabird populations like those that nest on the San Nicolas islands could not withstand the harvesting of their eggs as they did in historical times because so many of their nesting islands around the world, especially in the greater Caribbean Basin, have been lost to development, degraded by pollution, or heavily used for human recreation. But these seabirds are living descendants of the birds that have, for time immemorial, been part of the natural legacy of all Arubans. However, recent reports of new hotels and tourism infrastructure near or beside Rodger’s Beach and Baby Beach and reopening of the oil refinery operations are cause for a high level of concern about the government’s commitment to ensuring that the globally important seabird nesting islands nearby will be protected. This includes concerns about the possibility of an underwater gas pipeline and a C02 exhaust algae plant neither of which should be placed or developed in any way that impacts the tern nesting islands.
Seabirds also cannot nest if the islands are used by people or if there is disturbance in nearby waters by people engaged in the kinds of aquatic recreation common in other parts of Aruba. Without a serious effort by the Government of Aruba to manage and minimize human intrusion and disturbance to the San Nicolas seabird nesting islands, Aruba will almost certainly lose one of its most unique and important natural features. Clearly such an outcome, along with lack of protection at other sites like Bubali, could not be lauded as sustainable or “green” in any way possible and would stain the reputation of Aruba as a world-leading example of how to balance economic development with the protection of ecological functions.
For Aruba to continue to be recognized, as it has been, for its globally cutting-edge sustainability practices, a real concerted plan must be adopted and insisted upon by the Government of Aruba to both recognize its crucial biodiversity features and to find creative ways to protect them in perpetuity. In the case of the San Nicolas seabird nesting islands we suggest three initial required actions:
1) officially declare the five San Nicolas islands as national protected areas that are forever off-limits to any form of human development;
2) close the waters around the islands to all forms of human use except for research and monitoring during the spring-summer nesting season, at a sufficient distance to ensure nesting birds are not disturbed;
3) budget to hire and equip with boats and other equipment, on an annual basis, ideally four (but at least two) seabird island wardens (under the auspices of the Arikok National Park) to guard the islands against human intrusion and disturbance, and who have the authority to issue fines to those who break 2
regulations regarding disturbance to the islands. These wardens can also assist in monitoring and research on the birds as needed or desired;
As scientists, we believe that the San Nicolas seabird nesting islands are important enough to worldwide biodiversity conservation that without action by the Government of Aruba to ensure their protection in the face of nearby development (and the resulting use by humans), the broadest environmental and conservation community in the U.S. and worldwide will become extremely concerned and will want to raise awareness about the issue. It would be a shame for Aruba’s reputation as a leader in sustainable tourism to be sullied by this lack of planning for one of the world’s most important seabird colonies along with lack of government support to preserve habitat at other natural areas on Aruba including at Bubali. We admire many of the sustainability initiatives that have already been implemented on Aruba but recommend that the biodiversity part of the Government of Aruba’s sustainability portfolio be raised to the level that it can be called world-leading by protecting the San Nicolas seabird islands and other areas identified by the Parliament of Aruba in 2013 as worthy of protection.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Wells, Ph.D., Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
Gerhard Bruins, B.Sc., Ottawa, ON, CANADA
Iain Stenhouse, Ph.D., Portland, ME, USA
Peter Marra, Ph.D., Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, Washington, DC, USA
Kenneth Rosenberg, Ph.D., Cornell Lab or Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
David Wilcove, Ph.D., Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
Ronald Butler, Ph.D., University of Maine at Farmington, Farmington, ME, USA
Jay Penniman, Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project, Makawao, HI, USA
Stephen Kress, Ph.D., Seabird Restoration Program, National Audubon Society, Ithaca, NY, USA
Matt Jeffery, Ph.D., National Audubon Society, Washington, DC, USA
Malcolm Hunter, Ph.D., University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA
Gail Fraser, Ph.D., York University, Toronto, ON, CANADA
Herb Wilson, Ph.D., Colby College, Waterville, ME, USA
Rebecca Holberton, Ph.D., University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA
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Stephanie Avery-Gomm, Ph.D. candidate, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Scott Wilson, Ph.D., Ottawa, ON, CANADA
David Haskell, Ph.D., University of the South, Sewanee, TN, USA
Elena Kreuzberg, Ph.D., Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society-Ottawa Chapter, Ottawa, ON, CANADA
Hsiao-Wei Yuan, Ph.D., National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Peter Vickery, Ph.D., Richmond, ME, USA
Susan Elbin, Ph.D., New York City Audubon, New York, NY, USA
Chris Leahy, Bertrand Chair of Natural History and Field Ornithology, Massachusetts Audubon Society, Lincoln, MA, USA
Katherine Parsons, Ph.D. Boston, MA, USA
David Mizrahi, Ph.D., New Jersey Audubon Society, Cape May Courthouse, NJ, USA
Bridget Stutchbury, Ph.D., York University, Toronto, ON, CANADA
Dan Scheiman, Ph.D., Audubon Arkansas, Little Rock, AR, USA
Jessica Eberhard, Ph.D., Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
David La Puma, Ph.D., Cape May Bird Observatory, Cape May Court House, NJ, USA
John Marzluff, Ph.D., University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
John Faaborg, Ph.D., Columbia, MO, USA
Sara Morris, Ph.D., Canisius College, Buffalo, NY, USA
Jerome Jackson, Ph.D., Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers, FL, USA
John Takekawa, Ph.D., National Audubon Society – Science Division, San Francisco, CA, USA
Steven Latta, Ph.D., National Aviary, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Peter Dunn, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Bruce Robertson, Ph.D., Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, USA
Hans Blokpoel, Ph.D., Ottawa, CANADA
Brian Palestis, Ph.D., Wagner College, Staten Island, NY, USA
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Pat Baird, Ph.D., Simon Fraser University, BC, CANADA
Chip Weseloh, Ph.D., Downsview, ON, CANADA
Sandra Bouwhuis, Ph.D., Institute of Avian Research, Wilhelmshaven, Germany
John Anderson, Ph.D., College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
Ryan Bavis, Ph.D., Bates College, Lewiston, ME, USA
Peter Bruins, Ph.D., Zeist, The Netherlands
David Shealer, Ph.D., Loras College, Dubuque, IA, USA
Madeleine Lemieux, Ph.D., Plantagenet, Ontario, CANADA
Brenda McAfee, Ph.D., Ottawa, ON, CANADA
Jacques Bouvier, St. Isidore, ON, CANADA
Michel Gosselin. M. A., Ottawa, ON, CANADA
Liz Rowland, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
Gregory Budney, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
Lisa Schreffler, Ph.D. student, George Mason University, Arlington, VA, USA
Mike Anissimoff, M.Sc., Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
Henk Sierdsema, B.Sc. ,Ir. SOVON, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Daniel Levitis, Ph.D., Bates College, Lewiston, ME, USA
Nathan Hentze, M. Sc., Vancouver, BC, CANADA
Steven L. Van Wilgenburg, M.Sc., Saskatoon, Sask, CANADA
Gérard Desjardins, Gatineau, QC, CANADA
Adam C. Smith, Ph.D., Ottawa, ON, CANADA
Gilles Falardeau, B. Sc., Québec, QC, CANADA
Thomas Irwin, P. Eng., Kanata, ON, CANADA
Nancy Kingsbury, Ph.D., Ottawa, ON, CANADA
Jim Leafloor, Ph.D., Winnipeg, Man. CANADA
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David Craig, Ph.D., Willamette University, Salem, OR, USA
Alex MacDonald, M. Sc., Nature CANADA, Ottawa, ON. CANADA
Michael Patrikeev, Ph.D. candidate, Queens University, Kingston, ON, USA
Marie-Anne Hudson, Ph. D., Ottawa, ON, CANADA
Anouk Hoedeman, Safewings Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, CANADA
Kevin McGowan, Ph.D., Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
Margarita Martínez, Fundación W. H. Phelps, Colección Ornitológica Phelps, Caracas, Venezuela
Yifang Wang, Ph. D., Ottawa, ON, CANADA
Philippe Thomas, M. Sc., Ottawa, ON, CANADA
Raymond McNeil, Ph. D., Montreal, QC, CANADA
Kyle Elliott, Ph. D., Montreal, QC, CANADA
W. A. Montevecchi, Ph.D., St. John's, NL, CANADA
Emma Kelsey, M.A., Santa Cruz CA, USA
Tony Gaston, Ph. D., Ottawa, ON, CANADA
A.W. Diamond, Ph. D., Fredericton, NB, CANADA
Ellen W. Chu, Ph. D., Belmont, CA, USA
Charles Duncan, Ph. D., Portland, ME, USA
Brett Sandercock, Ph.D., Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
Miyoko Chu, Ph.D., Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
John Fanshawe, Ph.D., Cambridge, UK
Richard Podolsky, Ph.D., Rockport, ME
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