Does anybody care?

AN INTENSE dry season coupled with the encroachments of residential construction are taking a toll on our forested mountain-side environment that, in our view, should alarm the authorities. For example, many residents of the Diego Martin valley, watching the refreshing greenery of their surrounding hillsides gradually disappear as a result of this double assault, are wondering where and when will this degradation end. How far uphill will the builders be permitted to go? And will the areas denuded by bush fires be reforested?

It seems to us that this is a matter that the Environmental Management Authority should be investigating. While it may not be seen as an incidence of pollution or wanton destruction, the clearing of virgin hillsides to provide for residential building sites is an erosion of our natural environment and heritage that must be questioned. There must be somebody in control of this kind of development. Builders should not be free simply to bulldoze our hillsides as they please. These private projects may not be industrial, but are not Environmental Impact Assessments required in such cases also? There must be somebody or agency to argue or contend for the preservation of our forested environment against such encroachments. Whatever the need may be for more upscale housing projects, it should not be filled at the cost to our natural endowments, particularly the lush greenery of our mountains.

Bitter experience also tells us that the more we denude our hillsides of their forest cover, the more problems we create for ourselves during the rainy season. Destructive floods are sure to follow, creating havoc in low lying areas. So that every effort must also be made to break this vicious connection between the seasons. As far as bush fires are concerned, we wonder how effective are our forest wardens, or whether we have any at all.  Somehow, there seems to be little we can do to stop or prevent the recurrence of bush fires during the dry season. On Thursday we reported that in the Maracas-St Joseph area alone, fire fighters have been summoned to deal with more than 100 bush fires for the month.

Apart from the flooding they help to cause, these forest fires also take a toll on the country's wild life as our story also related. The burning hillsides of Maracas-St Joseph have destroyed part of the natural habitat of many forest creatures, particularly the snakes which have sought refuge from the flames in the yards of the village and nearby rivers and drains. Their quest for safety, however, has brought the reptiles into greater danger as they are being slaughtered by fearful villagers. The hapless creatures have found a champion in villager Anthony Sorillo who is appealing to the folk of Maracas-St Joseph not to kill them. Fascinated by snakes since he was a boy, Sorillo has undertaken a one-man mission to save the snakes, several of which he has donated to the zoo.

On the previous day, Sorillo found a six-month-old boa constrictor which, he said, has been the victim of public ignorance. "Most people are unaware that the boa constrictor is useful since it gets rid of rodents and insects," he noted. Inspite of all the honest conservationist intentions, our country's natural environment is still under siege. It is a God-given asset that we seem unable to fully appreciate and, in many instances, are quite prepared to sacrifice on the altar of "progress and development." It is high time for a second look.