DOES ST LUCIA HAVE A LAND USE PLAN?

Last Sunday, while on a casual drive with friends to Soufriere and Vieux Fort, we travelled along the back of the Morne Road, perchance to recapture the landmarks that were familiar before unplanned development, including rude, rusty, galvanize huts along roadsides, became the order of the day. On approaching the Cul-de-Sac valley I beheld two significant land clearings alongside the main road, each about an acre in extent, which were being back-filled with rocks and quarry waste for some sort of structure, in the name of development.

I was reliably informed that the work had nothing to do with agriculture or with farmers. As an agronomist and an advocate of anti-colonialism, I am compelled to admit that such an assault on the Cul-de-Sac valley would never have happened in the worst days of colonialism.  

The seeming lack of any scientific approach to planned land usages in Saint Lucia saddens me. We are inflicting upon ourselves what the former colonial authority never attempted: reckless and unplanned land use. Before political independence, the island’s agriculture was carefully planned so that the more productive valley lands were reserved for the cultivation of export crops. Homes, schools and other structures were built on hillsides with poor soil and low agriculture productivity. The natives may not have benefitted directly from such planned land usage but at Independence they inherited the whole estate after years of training and observation.  

Sensible application of scientific land use by the former colonial power, with reference to topography and soil type, ensured that future generations of Saint Lucians were bequeathed a foundation of proper land use on which to build a new national economy. Whether for agriculture, tourism, sports or healthcare, including modern hospitals, the way we planned and developed the land was largely in our hands after Independence. Political visionaries were challenged to out-perform the colonial agenda they so hated.   

An awareness of the island’s history, and the use to which the Cul-de-Sac, Roseau and other valleys were put before Independence, leaves conscientious and knowledgeable Saint Lucians heartbroken. To witness the reckless bastardization of the Cul-de-Sac valley among the limited, productive, agriculture lands on the island is to be left in disgust. Clearly, something has gone terribly wrong here. Let me be clear: this reckless misuse of the island’s limited agriculture lands did not begin yesterday.

I will not join the herd that merely stands aside while pointing critical fingers at the abuse. It’s a crying shame, what has been happening on the floor of the Cul-de-Sac valley. Surely, the government’s planning department is sufficiently competent to suggest to policy makers that contouring the hill slopes overlooking the fertile valleys and investing in roads, water and electricity is a better
path to sustainable development than the haphazard use of leasing and selling these valley lands to people who have no plans to practise any form of agriculture.    

This steady reduction of fertile lands to grow our food will lead to our demise if we are not careful. It must confound anyone armed with the knowledge of modern-day reparations debates, to witness what seems a deliberate pushing aside of agriculture from productive and accessible lands. Sometimes I wonder whether this reckless land use is a result of a gap in the education of those in charge. If so, this gap must quickly be filled with a dose of education that informs the more perceptive that there are people who would recreate a new world of serfs and slaves.  

It will do no harm if the minister responsible for planning presents a paper in parliament stating his government’s policy towards planned land utilization. It should also state the government’s policy regarding the acquisition of idle land which can form the basis of a land bank, from which appropriate land can be withdrawn to sell and/or lease to local and foreign investors. We are marking the 40th anniversary of political independence with a year-long programme of activities, so a policy statement on land use should be the grand development axis that distinguishes this anniversary from all previous efforts. To build resilience and a new country, the people must be fully engaged and give full expression of their desire to own a piece of this country as they pursue freedom from want and hunger. To this end, a scientific land use plan must assume increasing importance, and be grasped with both hands. 

The era when the new-fangled degree-carrying Saint Lucians, with modern technology at their fingertips, gleefully supported foreign encroachment on valuable agriculture lands, calling it progress, must be a thing of the past. This vulgarity must be relegated to the back burner. It’s time for something new—intelligent policy, wholly Saint Lucian—to replace the former recklessness. The Saint Lucian national motto of ‘The Land, The People, The Light’ must mean more than mere words for those who profess to lead. The Dominica motto is: ‘After God is the Land’. 

Throughout history man has fought for a land to call home; some still do. The next national fight may be over the use of clean drinking water. The judicious use of the land will secure Saint Lucia’s food and water supplies in the foreseeable future. Wise land use planning should ensure it stays that way.