The local authorities do not care about the environment and are just plain hypocrites, according to well-known environmentalist, Billy Adam, who was reacting to concerns in other Caribbean nations. A leading international hotel chain, which has plans to construct a property in the Cayman Islands, is coming under fire from conservationists on another Caribbean Islands. Four Seasons plans to build a resort in Grenada when it acquired part of a national park in the eastern Caribbean nation. Bird lovers in Grenada who say the new resort will destroy the last stronghold of the “critically endangered Grenada dove” are criticising the Four Seasons. Mr Adam said the latest development in Grenada is cause for concern in Cayman since, in his words, the Cayman Islands has no development plan. Mr Adam said that more hotels in Grand Cayman would only compound the hypocrisy of the Government and its agencies, saying Cayman knows nothing about sustainable tourism. “They’re destroying the same coral reefs and environment the tourist comes to Cayman to enjoy,” he said. “The Cayman Islands doesn’t practice standards, it’s just hypocrisy.” He said that he could not understand how the Islands could be proud of being given the opportunity to host a regional sustainable conference in the next few months. Mr Adam said chemicals and waste coming from hotels and homes are killing the corals and this could drive away visitors and cause an environmental disaster. Construction work is underway in 25 countries including Barbados, another Caribbean island. The Bahamas and St Kitts-Nevis are two other Caribbean countries where Four Seasons have already established businesses. Back in Grenada, Four Seasons’ Chairman and CEO, Isadore Sharp received a letter from the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), which urged the hotelier to “either pull out of the project or alter it to protect the endangered dove’s habitat”. Mount Hartman National Park is the world’s last stronghold of the Grenada Dove, which is on the edge of extinction, with a total population of no more than 100 individuals. The dove occurs on only a small portion of the Caribbean island of Grenada, the conservationists said. “The Government of Grenada intends to eliminate and sell off the National Park to make room for a sprawling new Four Seasons Resort, including a golf course and hundreds of luxury villas,” said George Fenwick, President of American Bird Conservancy. “If developed as currently planned, this new high-end tourist resort will cause the extinction of the Grenada Dove, Grenada’s National Bird.” Mr Fenwick and the other conservationists said the current Four Seasons Resort proposal would encroach upon and degrade the core remaining Grenada Dove habitat. The developer issued a cursory environmental impact report that greatly understates the damage the resort as now proposed would do to the Grenada Dove’s survival prospects, and provides no effective means of protection of the Grenada Dove’s habitat, the project’s opponents said. Dr Paul Salaman, International Program Director of ABC, said the new development would deprive the country of its national park and endangered dove. “The fate of the Grenada Dove and one of the Caribbean’s finest National Parks is at the mercy of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts,” he said. “Four Seasons should immediately pull out of this deal or face the dubious distinction of directly causing the extinction of a wonderful and emblematic bird species.” Reprinted from caymannetnews.com