Juno News - December 03, 2020


Ep. 3 ｜ Conservation vs. Corruption


Episode Stats

Length

14 minutes

Words per Minute

154.49312

Word Count

2,290

Sentence Count

7


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 it feels like the environmental movement has lost touch with its initial goal that is protecting the
00:00:10.160 natural environment instead of focusing on reducing smog and pollution keeping waste and plastics out
00:00:16.320 of our waterways and ensuring clean air and drinking water across our country our politicians
00:00:21.600 prefer to focus on theoretical and distant problems with obscure and tentative solutions
00:00:27.760 instead of cleaning our lakes and rivers the government insists that we tax our industry
00:00:32.480 and regulate it into oblivion on the vague hope that these actions will successfully change the
00:00:37.280 global temperature a century from now worse when it comes to international relations canada blindly
00:00:44.400 doles out cash to developing countries under the auspices of climate change canadian taxpayers quite
00:00:50.560 literally send billions of dollars overseas towards supporting vaguely defined climate change initiatives
00:00:56.960 often to corrupt and despotic governments for example in november 2015 the justin trudeau
00:01:03.120 government pledged 2.65 billion dollars over a five-year period to go towards a little-known
00:01:09.280 climate scheme called the united nations climate change international fund this fund claims to help
00:01:15.920 developing countries fight climate change but how do they actually do this and where does the money go
00:01:21.360 oftentimes as we explore in this episode the money goes right into the hands of poorly managed and
00:01:26.640 corrupt governments who don't care at all about the environment taking a closer look at some of the
00:01:31.520 countries receiving these funds it becomes abundantly clear that much like the carbon tax which is
00:01:36.800 nothing more than a wealth-free distribution program sending billions of dollars to developing countries
00:01:41.600 for climate change amounts to nothing more than the failed decades-old policy of foreign aid worse the
00:01:48.720 countries receiving these funds have no obligation to use our money to clean the environment and as we'll see
00:01:55.360 are often deliberately poisoning the natural environment while obscuring transparency and accountability
00:02:01.920 take for example the case of the graham hall nature sanctuary in the beautiful west indies isle
00:02:07.280 of barbados the graham hall nature sanctuary was founded in the mid-1990s after canadian philanthropist
00:02:14.000 and conservationist peter allard acquired approximately 34 acres of land in barbados with the vision of
00:02:21.040 turning it into a protected sanctuary and an eco-tourist site the sanctuary was part of a 300 acre land
00:02:27.360 parcel that the government of barbados had in the 1980s pledged to preserve and protect as part of a
00:02:33.760 green buffer for conservation and recreation between urban areas they even became a party to the international
00:02:40.000 biodiversity convention and specifically acknowledged the graham hall wetlands as a major biodiversity resource
00:02:46.480 for the island the graham hall nature sanctuary opened its doors to the public in 2004 as an
00:02:51.680 ecotourism destination and it enjoyed rave reviews on travel sites like tripadvisor it was enjoyed by
00:02:57.280 locals and international travelers alike the sanctuary after all was the last significant mangrove on the
00:03:03.200 island and home to a wide variety of fish and wildlife communities due to its international importance
00:03:09.040 as a reserve and a staging post for thousands of migratory birds is recognized and was declared a
00:03:15.440 ramsar internationally protected wetland the project was initially a huge success as it both brought in
00:03:21.600 tourists and it helped to promote the local ecosystem and restore biodiversity to the wetland
00:03:27.840 sadly however a series of decisions made by the barbados government began to severely threaten the
00:03:33.360 biodiversity of the wetlands first the government introduced an amendment to its protection plan
00:03:38.960 and revoked the commitments it had made with regards to the international biodiversity convention
00:03:43.760 it then reduced the size of the protected wetlands area from 300 acres down to just 90
00:03:49.600 while rezoning part of the wetlands for residential and commercial property development
00:03:54.560 this decision was made despite a petition signed by over 6 000 barbadians opposed the new development
00:04:00.480 who wanted to preserve the 240 acre graham hall nature park things went from bad to worse in 2005
00:04:07.760 when the government of barbados completed its barbado south coast sewage plant a project funded through
00:04:14.000 a loan from the inter-american development bank known as the idb it was through this project that
00:04:20.320 the government of barbados backed by the government of canada the idb and the imf began contaminating
00:04:27.200 and poisoning the wetlands almost immediately after its completion and without any prior public notice
00:04:33.440 the government-owned internationally funded barbados south coast sewage plant began dumping serious
00:04:40.400 quantities of sewage into the neighboring property the graham hall nature sanctuary the first disastrous
00:04:46.960 dump occurred in 2005 but it was just the first of many major raw sewage dumps into an internationally
00:04:54.320 recognized ecological site and mangrove the sanctuary tried to no avail to plead with the government to
00:05:00.720 stop the dumping take responsibility and begin to repair the critical environmental damage but these
00:05:07.440 calls fell on deaf ears by 2008 the graham hall nature sanctuary had to close its doors to the
00:05:13.520 general public due to the environmental damage of the sewage spills and the environmental degradation of
00:05:20.000 its wetland due to pollution coming from the neighboring government sewage plant in 2009 as a desperate
00:05:26.480 attempt to save the sanctuary canadian philanthropist peter allard filed a complaint with the international
00:05:32.320 court of arbitration stating that the government of barbados had violated its international obligations
00:05:38.080 by refusing to enforce its environmental laws thereby allowing pollution and land development to damage
00:05:44.000 the sanctuary mr allard's case however has been tied up by local authorities and has thus far failed
00:05:50.400 to force the government to take action instead these spills occurred almost continuously until the
00:05:57.040 complete collapse of the sewage plant in 2018. at the same time the newly elected prime minister
00:06:02.640 visited the graham hall nature sanctuary and declared it a national crisis on live television
00:06:08.320 so who is ultimately responsible for the mess of the graham hall nature sanctuary true north reached out
00:06:13.440 to mr allard the largest stakeholder in the sanctuary to find out more about how the government of barbados
00:06:19.360 has responded and whether or not they've taken any responsibility or accountability in an email
00:06:24.720 to true north mr allard said i've sent a number of couriered letters to the government to discuss
00:06:29.840 the ongoing situation but have only been met with silence and inaction he went on to say through
00:06:35.200 formal requests to the government of barbados the government of canada idb and imf i've requested
00:06:41.280 plans and or documents which include operating manuals of the south coast sewage plant but have been
00:06:48.080 advised that there are not several letters have been sent to the offices of the prime minister
00:06:53.440 home affairs finance environment transport works and maintenance energy and water resources and
00:07:00.560 barbados water authority he said but that he did not receive any responses likewise true north directly
00:07:06.800 reached out to several offices within the barbados government through phone and email but we too heard
00:07:12.080 nothing back interestingly mr allard was able to get an answer from war drilling inc which is a
00:07:18.240 subcontractor of the barbados water authority it set out a plan to construct and install a marine outfall
00:07:24.320 and pumping system remarkably within the letter they claim the graham hall nature sanctuary has been
00:07:30.560 designated as a collection area for emergency overflows from the sewerage plant the government didn't even
00:07:37.120 bother to tell anyone but they quietly designated an internationally recognized wetlands as a dumping
00:07:43.200 ground for its sewage while the barbados government evades accountability we looked to outside organizations
00:07:49.280 that also had a hand in building this plant as mentioned the inter-american development bank the idb
00:07:55.200 directly funded this project the idb is an international institution owned by 48 sovereign states including
00:08:02.240 canada that provides financing for infrastructure projects in developing countries in latin america
00:08:07.920 and the caribbean as confirmed in an email exchange with true north the idb issued a loan to the
00:08:13.680 government of barbados for the building of the barbados south coast sewerage project which was approved
00:08:19.120 in 1993 and completed in 2005. true north uncovered the original loan conditions as laid out by the idb which
00:08:27.360 disclosed the estimated cost of the project is the equivalent of 73 million us dollars and that was
00:08:35.120 in 1993 dollars but going through the loan's terms and conditions there didn't seem to be any clauses
00:08:40.720 regarding preserving the natural environment mitigating environmental damage promoting sustainability
00:08:47.120 or combating climate change when asked about the environmental damage that came as a result of the
00:08:51.840 loan the idb simply replied with canned talking points paying homage to the environment the idb is
00:08:58.640 committed to maximizing positive environmental and social outcomes of our work while minimizing risks
00:09:04.800 and negative impacts on people and natural capital the environmental safeguards currently in place were
00:09:10.080 implemented in 2006 and are listed on our website we continue to strengthen the environmental and
00:09:15.920 sustainability safeguards for the projects we finance a new environmental safeguards framework was a
00:09:21.680 approved by our board in september 2020 and will go into effect in one year the idb spokesman then
00:09:27.440 simply referred us to the government of barbados and the barbados water authority the executor of the
00:09:32.640 project for more information and an explanation of what happened while the idb was directly funding
00:09:38.400 this project other international organizations were also pumping cash into the barbados government for
00:09:44.480 instance the international monetary fund known as the imf disclosed that in june 2020 it had
00:09:50.560 renewed a four-year extended arrangement with the barbados government that allows them to draw up to
00:09:56.160 377 million us dollars when asked by true north if there are any environmental conditions or
00:10:02.960 obligations attached to these funds a spokesperson from the imf simply referred us back to the idb
00:10:09.120 our support is macroeconomic we don't support specific projects we were told finally the government of
00:10:15.200 canada also played a direct role we looked into the numbers and found that while this was happening
00:10:20.320 the canadian government was pouring millions of dollars into barbados much of it under the banner
00:10:25.760 of environmentalism in emails to true north global affairs canada disclosed that since 2005 canadian
00:10:32.400 taxpayers have sent tens of millions of dollars to barbados this includes 13 million dollars in direct
00:10:38.720 bilateral aid 67.6 million dollars for a regional international assistance program for the caribbean
00:10:45.920 that benefited barbados plus another 4.5 million dollars in multilateral aid this includes at least
00:10:52.480 1.4 million dollars to support initiatives that the government calls environment and climate action
00:10:59.040 global affairs noted that none of the funding was channeled directly to the government of barbados
00:11:04.880 but it didn't say exactly where the money went when asked what measures are in place to ensure
00:11:09.440 that money earmarked for the environment actually goes towards protecting the environment global affairs
00:11:14.880 canada stated the following canada exercises due diligence for international assistance funding
00:11:20.160 through established funding agreements ongoing oversight and a systematic screening process
00:11:25.760 all programming and funding mechanisms are thoroughly examined to be consistent with canadian values
00:11:31.040 and to meet the highest standards of transparency and accountability but when asked specifically about
00:11:36.560 accountability for the environmental degradation at the graham hall nature sanctuary a spokesperson did not
00:11:42.800 directly address the problem and simply provided more general information about its auditing process
00:11:48.480 while governments and international financing institutions evade responsibility two independent
00:11:54.160 environmental assessments have outlined the severity of the damage done in april 2010 a major
00:12:00.320 scientific survey was carried out studying the impact of the sewage spills on the sanctuary grounds
00:12:06.560 the report analyzed the adverse factors affecting the health of the mangroves and wildlife it supports
00:12:13.360 this report describes how the absence of a drainage outlet and periodic tidal influences is compromising
00:12:20.560 the environmental health of the wetlands within the sanctuary erasing the brackish characteristics
00:12:26.320 that are the signature of a flourishing mangrove community it explains the increasing disappearance of a
00:12:31.840 diverse community of plant and animal species as a result of assimilating and processing pollutants from
00:12:38.640 upland stormwater runoff direct pollutant discharges and unmitigated discharges of raw sewage the report was
00:12:46.400 scathing about the barbados government's almost total lack of action in controlling this issue this report
00:12:52.640 included a 10-year plan for recovery but this was 10 years ago in 2010 by 2014 it was reported by the
00:12:59.840 barbados free press that nothing had been done by the barbados government to address the issues raised
00:13:05.920 and now 10 years later there is little evidence the government has lifted a finger to address or
00:13:10.720 reverse the damage it has done another independent environmental assessment was completed in 2019
00:13:17.280 and it found the situation has only worsened over time according to the 2019 report results show there
00:13:25.360 has been serious degradation between the two environmental assessments some of the highlights from this
00:13:31.840 report include human contact should be avoided due to the high concentrations of fecal bacteria
00:13:38.160 very high concentrations of fecal coliforms including e coli bacteria were observed at all four sample
00:13:45.520 locations the discharge of partially treated sewage is the source of the very high bacteria
00:13:52.160 concentrations in the lake as sad as this story is for the local people in barbados questions remain
00:13:58.800 about canada's involvement and the international community's culpability in enabling reckless
00:14:04.080 environmental degradation and their responsibility to ensure these types of things don't happen after all
00:14:10.640 environmentalism is a multi-billion dollar a year industry and yet when it comes to the basics
00:14:17.280 things like keeping sewage out of supposedly protected wetlands in developing countries
00:14:22.320 environmentalists and climate alarmists are nowhere to be found we didn't get all the answers we were
00:14:27.920 looking for but that seems to be the case for so many issues when it comes to government and the
00:14:32.720 environment that's why true north is continuing its investigation we'll continue seeking answers from
00:14:38.960 those involved in this scandal