Tourism Minister Ian Douglas says the indiscriminate dumping of garbage in Dominica is hurting the nature island brand.
Douglas says he is concerned about the fast food and soft drink containers littering the country’s road ways.
He says it makes the environment ugly and visitors have expressed concerns in that regard.
Douglas also expressed concerns about pollution of the country’s water.
“As people we are hurting the nature island brand. It undermines our ability to portrait a true nature island product and our visitors are appalled and amazed at the site of garbage at our street and waterways,” he said.
Weii said mister Douglas.Its just a pity that He has failed the people of Portsmouth miserably time and time again in removing those obnoxious ‘skeletons’ littering the shoreline of the second town.a whole new generation has been born and grown up in Possie ie from pre-school to college to university with those wrecks
Mr. Douglas really has no moral authority to comment on any garbage problem in Roseau or anywhere else for that matter.Not until he explains to Portsmouth and to the Nation where is the Venezuelan.co. that he promised since last year that was supposed to remove those wrecks.
Mr.douglas must stop playing games with the people and then coming on the eve of elections to “apologise’ for not having performed as he should.
Let me imagine for a while.A brand new hotel from Morocco.Tourists checking in…looking out from their balconies…..a panoramic view of twenty year old and more wrecks to greet them….. and….you can guess the rest
But the folks in Possie don’t seem to mind anymore.
I’m a patriotic Dominican who leaves abroad. I’ve always followed news in Dominica via internet and has from time to time gave my opinion on various issues of the day regarding Dominica, the people etc. This very same subject about rubbish in Dominica was highlighted last year at the time when one particular cruise ship ended his voyage to Dominica. Although the cruise ship company gave reasons for their action, it was alledged the real reason (or at least one of the reasons) was because of the filfy state of the island. At the time I put my two pence in there and advised the government to ‘forefeit votes’ and introduce strong preventative laws in place. Not surprisingly my two pence or the other concerned Dominicans views were not taken aboard.
In addition to laws, the people need to be educated about hygiene, pride in their country, the disease their children or the next generation will inherit, their small minded attitude which has never changed in decades and has stopped Dominica from progressing etc etc. I could go on and on but what’s the point when dealing with most Dominicans is like water off a duck’s back.
the nature island brand is superficial in my view because we have not embraced a holistic environmental approach to Dominica’s development. legistlation is needed not only in terms of garbage disposal but also in regards to agricultural chemicals with the potential to pollute water courses and adversely affect the health of Dominicans. even in terms of the construction of industrial and residential sites how much environmental impact assessments are done?(this brings to mind the asphalt plant.lol) i fully agree that everyone needs to play their part irrespective of government but government must also play a significant role in the turn around required in terms of education programs and necessary legistlation. for example misdemeanor offences such as simple possession of cannabis, littering etc can be punished with community service where they will clean a specified area over a period of time instead of sending persons to prison which incurs a greater cost in terms of housing and feeding these individuals. (when ron green presented a green budget everyone was laughing now they want to go green.lol)
It should be noted that although there was always some degree of gabbage in Roseau. The increase in fast food outlets have increased this, together with an an increase in vermin.
The majority of the gabbage from these outlets cannot be recycled, so Dominica is facing a big problem, and solutions will need to be found
To all of those with smart retorts to the minister, you are all missing the point. Let us diregard the messenger and think seriously about the message.
I agree with Gen Mahaut… we should clean up Dominica for ourselves and our children. That means we need to have pride in what is ours. We need to love and appreciate our beautiful island. I find it amazing how foreigners seem to be in awe at the greenery and the flawlessness of nature found in Dominica. Maybe we need to take a step back and become “foreigners” too…
Various efforts need to come together in order for us to accomplish this goal:
1) a public education campaign promoting cleanliness and dumping in bins
2) a no-tolerance approach to litering and dumping of garbage
3) increased police presence in places that are known as dumping and littering sites (the Bayfront, certain corners in Roseau, etc)
4) willingness of magistrates to prosecute offenders
5) use of prisoners to remove debris from those targeted areas (under strict supervision of course)
6) Etc
Just My2Sense
Mr Minister what about the old wrecked boats along the coast line at Portsmouth? Isn’t that a sore eye to the environment? especially along the Indian river where we have alot of tourists going up the River?…………….What do you think? Cleanliness starts at home eh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May is Local Government Month
Can Local Government do more to help keep Dominica clean?
There is a well established Local Government system in Dominica with a Local Government and Community Development Department and 42 local authorities (Roseau City Council, Portsmouth Town Council, The Carib Council, Canefield Urban Council, and 38 Village Councils). Additionally there is the umbrella Dominica Association of Local Community Authorities (DALCA) comprising 7 Distrcit Council Associations.
As Local Government practitioners we can surely do more to address the garbage/solid waste problems within our respective communities individually and collectively at the National level.
I am therefore calling for a National Strategy to be developed and implemented that will seek to address the issue of solid and liquid waste at the National level.
I support this call as I do Mr. Douglas’ pleas. However, we do have a minster responsible for environmental matters and I do not hear any pleas, action plans, or commitments from that corner. It is all well and good for Govt. to, repeat the mantra ” we can not do it on our own” but that can never be an excuse for abdicating responsibility or punishing those who disregard existing legislation. The mayor of Roseau is responsible for keeping the city clean but I do not see any public waste bins in the streets for example. And it is inexcusable that, when we spent millions to install a central sewage system years ago, people are still allowed to drain their waste water into open street gutters.
The first requirement is dedicated and firm leadership and the people will follow.
Its not just the dumping garbage that is destroting our BRAND because we are allowing our brand to be destroyed by selling garbage on the bayfront and passing it of as Dominican made. this is illegal and no one doing anything abot it while our locals crafters go hungry. Lets clean up our island from all garbage or else!!!!!!!!!!!
The island is in need of a clean-up, no one can deny that.
Only we the people of Dominica can do this. We should, MUST take pride in our surroundings.
We should do this for Dominica, not just for the tourist.
There should be more bins to dispose of rubbish, more street cleaners. Get rid of all the abandon vehicles.
We know that we have a beautiful island and we should take pride in keeping it beautiful.
i love the smell off piss and debris in the morning…
if the government is gabbage wat u expect to be in dominica
Well said Mr Prime Minister. The Gov’t does not need to legislate
cleanliness,Dominica belongs to all of us and it behoves each and everyone
of us to keep it clean. Nothing wrong with that. Do we really need to educate
people to not litter? Really. The cleanliness of the islands is for all ,those
who live there as well as visitors. Since we are promiting Tourism it behoves
us even more to keep the island clean.I see nothing wrong with that.
We all say we love Dominica and i am sure every Dominica do love their country. Police do not stand along the roads to see that people do not litter PR
.
you got it right, dear gen mahault
while i support a clean and green environment no law no constitution will prevent people from dumping gabbage all around roseau and else where.
While i am all for saving the tourism industry and i believe that the minister’s words are quite narrow in view. Our first priority should not be to save the tourism industry but to save Dominica period, not for the toursits but for our children. we live here, we shouldbe concerned about the environment We live in and preserving it for future generations. the tourists can then come in and enjoy the fruits of that. but your primary concern cannot and should not be to tidy DA for foreigners. Dominicans where is our pride. so its ok to live in a pig sty if no one comes to visit..stupes. come again Mr Minister and while you complain about too many plastic soda bottles and fast food packages littering the country, tell me what are you doing about it. its all go to say so we all see it, but back that up with some form of legislature. there are countries where plastic soda bottles are banned for importation. What are your proposals, how do you plan to curb this problem? We heard you its dirty, so what’s the plan now.. what wait don’t tell me you relying on Dominica’s innate civic duty to do the right thing, or that we will just wake up tomorrow and decide hey Ian says we should not dump , so lets tidy up eh… We all need to do our part and we need to start targeting preschoolers and up and start planting that seed of preservation, cleanliness and national pride. Awaiting your strategy Mr Minister….
I found myself nodding my head many times in agreement…couldn’t have put it better myself.
Amen! We have laws prohibiting dumping and signs can be seen all over the place saying so, quoting fines of $5,000. How may people have been prosecuted for this offence in the last decade?
If the authorities are not prepared to back up their threats with action you can plaster the whole countryside with signs, only for, them to continue to be ignored as they are today.
Ignorance cannot be cured…Please read again…where did he made these statements….maybe he was addressing some Tourism related even.
Actually these statement are not bad at all and it should challenge you to think within…how can I better my community.
Please Read
Tourism Minister Ian Douglas says the indiscriminate dumping of garbage in Dominica is hurting the nature island brand.
Douglas says he is concerned about the fast food and soft drink containers littering the country’s road ways.
He says it makes the environment ugly and visitors have expressed concerns in that regard.
Douglas also expressed concerns about pollution of the country’s water.
“As people we are hurting the nature island brand. It undermines our ability to portrait a true nature island product and our visitors are appalled and amazed at the site of garbage at our street and waterways,” he said.
Well said, I agree the effort should start with the pre schoolers and continue up the school chain
also more radio and tv spots on keeping the environment clean. By the way I think there is some
tax called Environmental levy collected on certain imports (not certain about this) just wondering
what this money is used for. DA definitely has a serious litter problem
ian only now u want to salvage the tourist industry?
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, DO YOUR PART TO KEEP DOMINICA BEAUTIFUL, AND GET OFF IAN’S BACK.
Is a clean up campaign accompanied by the necessary efforts to educate in order? Our brand is very important and all efforts must be made to maintain it. We are the nature Island, clean air, clean water and clean beaches. let’s do our part.