January 12, 2026 – The United Progressive Party (UPP), under the leadership of Joshua Francis, is once again calling for the immediate cessation of all excavation activities currently underway at Deux Branches, Commonwealth of Dominica. This urgent appeal comes amid growing concerns about the irreversible damage being inflicted upon our nation’s precious ecological system.
The UPP is mobilizing all citizens who love Mother Dominica to join renowned music legend and son of the soil, Nasio Fontaine, along with several other like-minded leaders, in direct protest action at the excavation site. This is not a political issue—it is a matter of national survival and our sacred duty to protect the land that sustains us.
“Our ecological system is not for sale. Our heritage is not negotiable. Our future must not be sacrificed for short-term gains,” Francis emphasized. “We are calling on every Dominican—from every village, every political persuasion, every walk of life—to stand with us at Deux Branches until our voices are heard and our demands are met.”
The protest action begins immediately, with participants gathering at the excavation site to maintain a continuous presence until the desired results are achieved: the preservation and protection of Dominica’s ecological integrity.
Nasio Fontaine, whose music has long championed environmental justice and cultural preservation, will be joining fellow Dominicans on the front lines of this critical struggle. His presence symbolizes the unity between our cultural identity and our environmental responsibility.
“This is our moment. This is our test,” Francis concluded. “Will we stand by while our natural inheritance is destroyed, or will we rise together to defend what belongs to all Dominicans—present and future? The choice is ours, and history will judge us by our actions, not our words.”
The United Progressive Party urges all media outlets, civil society organizations, and concerned citizens to amplify this call to action and join in the peaceful defense of Deux Branches.
Dominica’s tourism-based economy is based entirely on pristine natural beauty.
Not golf, not shopping, not nightlife (and certainly not good roads) – just natural resources. The word is getting out, internationally, that reckless and ill-managed mining and quarrying are spoiling natural resources. And that that the mined material might even be unsuitable for airport construction! There’s no faster way to kill the tourist industry, not to mention causing significant environmental damage. Stop this madness! (I’m a US-based tourist, have been visiting Dominica regularly for 20 years)
If we lose our nature isle then people are not coming here to see nature.
We must drop nature isle in our tourism slogans
we must sell it as sewo isle
what we lose in nature will not be regained during this dlp reign.
someone else will get de credit for Nature Isle.
If de criticisms were coming from our visitors what would be de attitude?
They see and know in silence.
Why should they fight for us?
Opinions are formed in silence
De nature isle mentality has been lost………….de government is always in a fight against people who want to preserve it.
When foreigners come down here we should take them around to see the roads then back to the ship or airport.
They criticize the government for lack of development,when they see development taking place they doe want development.A handful of blue enemies of development,because they believe with all that development the blue political bumbaroes will never get into office.
one of the parties should have. a seat in Parliament that they are just not using.
How can I get the party that the Parl Rep is currently affiliated to occupy the seat in parliament please. Next seating he should be out there with not independent but as the party he is affiliated to.
the lady from Salisbury align yourself with if the UWP if this is what you are and will be contesting during next election. Change senators you all have to be prospective candidates in their respective constituencies. then you can have Constituency issue being addressed and other issues.
A group of public servants embelically aligned with the Roosevelt’s administration visited the Deux Branches apparently to quell the raging controversy of the wanton destruction of the area.
Listening to the administration’s most senior ‘experts’ including the line minister, it was frightening to learn how little these people know. Even the point person on the administration’s side does not even know the correct definition of a mine.
These specific public servants think asking for transparency is an attack on government. So they try to misrepresent by obfuscating, distorting and cremating the TRUTH. With inept, grossly unqualified public servants like these, no
wonder Dominica is in last place in the OECS.
I”m now convinced more than ever before that the top echelon of the Dominica civil service is composed of nothing more than buffoons. Deceprion is glorified. Dominica is doomed under this godawful regime.
People come to Dominica 🇩🇲 for carnival and WCMF .What Nature Isle, it’s sewo Isle say it as it is .One thing i realise is Dominicans don’t have to look very far to know why there is little development. Who has the energy for this on every project .The funny thing is those who fight it the most will probably use it the most .
Where knowledge is lacking everything else is lacking! Ignorance is not bliss!
The question I would like Joshua, Nascio and others who want to stop the completion of the International Airport, and demand an honest answer from, is: Will you use this airport to travel once it is completed and in full operation? If they say yes ,then they will show themselves as big hypocrites. And I will be standing there to remind them. All that yapping about damage done to the mountain, although a temporary inconvenience, can be easily restored and trees replanted. Anywhere in the world where governments take on heavy infrastructural projects there is always damage done to to the immediate environment, but once the projects are completed they immediately do the restoration. We get hurricanes, landslides earthquakes, volcano eruptions quite regularly which also damage the environment. So what is the big fuss? Let us develop DA now for the benefit of future generations.