Page 32 - bon-dia-aruba-20200428

a32 local
Tuesday 28 april 2020

Letter to the editor:

Open letter to The Government of Aruba and the

‘Stuurgroep Herstel en Innovatie’

ORANJESTAD — Aruba Bird- of this misrepresentation in and delegate nature con- - Regulate pollution using the terrains over time
life Conservation, a nature the board of ATA. If a bal- servation work to Aruba’s sources (pesticides, fertil- for sustainable economic
NGO established on Aruba, ance had initially been in- nature conservation NGOs. izers, poorly-maintained development, responsible
is herewith requesting you troduced in the board’s - Introduce ‘Rights of vehicles, soil erosion from energy production and
to instate, and as soon as design, no such thing as Nature’ for Aruba. Enforce deforested areas and sand housing facilities. A very
possible, a National Nature ‘adventure tourism’ would regulation and control of roads, etc.). good place to get the con-
and Environment Commit- have existed today and nature, taxes and labor, - Give high priority to struction sector involved in
tee. our nature resources would to the benefit of the peo- correcting the faulty water moving Aruba forward in a
not have been destroyed ple living in harmony with treatment plant. sustainable way.
It is quite predictable at this to such an extreme extent. Aruba’s nature; shift from - Regulate Aruba’s If you might find such an
time which mistakes we will A serious correction is re- quantity to quality. Mean- groundwater resources, re- agenda too challenging,
be repeating as a country. quired here. Similar to the ingful stakeholders should visit illegal dumpsites, clean we can help bring the right
After the refinery closed national approach to CO- be involved in the redesign up the toxic mess. people to the table who
down in 1985, we tried to VID19, different curves will of such a modern coherent - Develop a national will be willing to contribute
‘build’, i.e. we turned to also have to be bent in the nature and environmental plan for climate change to the solutions at hand.
the construction sector to tourism sector, the UTVs/ legislation. They should also impact on Aruba. Sincerely,
make the island move for- ATVs and watersports sec- be involved in the enforce- - Consider not re- Greg Peterson, chairman
ward. Please note that that tor as a start. ment redesign. opening the refinery, Aruba Birdlife Conservation
‘solution’, over the years - Enforce legislation - Develop a national cleaning the area and re- q
has had many negative on more hotels and con- high-quality nature certi-
effects. It has doubled our dominiums (Moratorium: fication program. Partici-
population density, it has No more extra 6000 or 5000 pation of citizens in such Knight orders for
reduced our quality prod- or 3000 or 1000 hotel and a program should be on-
uct and turned it into an condo rooms! Just no more going and free of charge. Aruban citizens
over-tourism quantity ma- as in zero more.). Only individuals who have
chine. Not only were the - Retrofit existing half- such certificates should be ORANJESTAD — On Thursday 23 April, the Governor of
people of Aruba unhappy built resort infrastructures to permitted to participate in Aruba, Z.E. Alfonso Boekhoudt, contacted 17 Aruban
with the chosen direction, vertical farming and hous- nature-related economic inhabitants by phone to tell them that His Majesty has
but it has also exposed our ing for elderly, young pro- activities. pleased the King to appoint them in a knight order.
island to international real fessionals and families. - Introduce a ‘Na-
estate-related crime. - After 8 years of po- tional Education Nature During the annual ribbon rain, Royal awards will be
Innovation entails using an litical promises, it is time to Platform’. Introduce nature awarded in the Order of the Dutch Lion and in the
ecological approach to finalize the process of pro- conservation in our educa- Order of Orange-Nassau on the occasion of the cel-
recovery and resilience. tecting the 16 nature areas tional system on all levels. ebration of His Majesty de Koning. However, the ac-
We must avoid making and placing them officially Have the University of Aru- tual ceremony of the Royal award will take place at
the same mistakes all over under full supervision of our ba chair and take a lead a later moment this year. When this will be, depends
again. national park. role in this process. partly on the course of the Coronavirus. By calling the
Just take a look at the at- - Adapt the existing - Redesigning the so- inhabitants personally and announcing who are dis-
tached pictures taken dur- unprofessional marine park cial economic model for tinguished Royal, those who have made themselves
ing a one hour walk in our design to a responsible is- Aruba based on sustain- very deserved for society can still be appreciated.
national park and see for land full surrounding ma- ability and well-being and The following people have been appointed Knight
yourselves where we will be rine park with holistic spatial adopt corporate citizen- in the Order of Orange-Nassau: Jacob Bult, Peter
headed if we repeat the planning, zoning regulation ship legislation that assures Paul Michael Theodoor Hermans, Imy Josephine Ce-
same mistakes once again. and appropriate enforce- investors invest in nature cile Heinze-Lasten, Alexander Maarten Nieuwmeyer,
So here is a first draft of an ment. conservation and contrib- Olga Josefina Buckley en Jan Willem van Nes.
itemized agenda for a Na- - Free Parke National ute to a national educa-
tional Nature and Environ- Arikok from misguided po- tion fund. Among them is Aruba Today’s appreciated partner
ment Committee. litical influences intended - Enforce strict regu- Jan van Nes, owner of restaurant Asi Es Mi Peru and
- Correcting the to put ‘special interest lation of waste manage- president of the Aruba Food & Beverage Association.
AHATA in ATA over-repre- groups’ first and give FPNA ment. The following persons have been appointed Member
sentation of investors. Intro- all financial and other sup- - Adopt international of the Order of Orange-Nassau: Sebastian Israel Fal-
ducing a new board struc- port required to run our na- quality standards for ener- con, Elizabeth Phillis Craigg, Reuben Laurence Craigg,
ture in which the general tional parks as profession- gy, ocean, and land. Maria Louisa Croes, Rolando Juan Croes,Edwardo Fer-
well-being of Aruba pre- ally as possible. Earmark a - Regulate natural re- nando de Graf, Jacobo Dominico Henriquez, Swinda
vails above ‘special group part of ATA’s budget for source extraction (fishing, Anastacia Thiel, Elba Lucilda Hirschfeld-Smith, George
interests’. The pictures tak- park management, with no poaching, mining, goats Jozef Geerman and José Bernardino Andrade do
en in the park are symbolic strings attached. Involve grazing). Salâo. q