The Sustainable Nation Foundation Inc



Positioning Statement

The Sustainable Nation Foundation Inc. (SNF) is dedicated to addressing the critical strategic issues affecting the sustainability of Grenada and, by extension and replication, many other small island nations.

SNF has been set up to promote and develop an advancement strategy through an alternative integrated investment and development plan,  designed to provide economic security in a rapidly changing world and to see Grenada become fully self-sustaining in energy requirements, and economically independent with reduced food importation requirements within the next 5 to 10 years.


Introduction

With global warming now recognised as a fact by most nation-states, urgent actions are needed to slow and ultimately halt global environmental deterioration if the world’s current citizens are to pass along viable communities within which our children can raise future generations.

Population growth brings increasing pressures upon our scarce resources, affecting all parts of the planet. 20th century development by the first world countries has left little room for the 21st century demands of developing countries for food, water, energy, and equal living standards, so we are now set to see huge increases in pollution and the rate of global warming, thereby accelerating environmental deterioration all over the world.

Agricultural land is being lost to development, erosion and desertification at ever greater rates; whole forests are being felled, and oceans polluted and over fished. In short, the biological lungs of earth are faltering under human demand for food, fuel and space. Relentless pressure on our land and oceans is bearing down from every quarter of humanity, leading inevitably to critical losses in bio-diversity.

As the squeeze and the heat come on, cultures are going into future shock; old ways of living cease to be viable, making war and famine inevitable in many parts of the world; the outlook is grim. The wealthy, always more secure than others in times of uncertainty, are already moving to secure potentially safer places. National borders are being strengthened as the developed world tries to maintain its advantages and face up to the problems of global population growth and migration, away from the areas of greatest environmental deterioration.


What Can Be Done?

Collectively we have a choice.

We can choose to make as few changes as possible and continue as we are; the outcome being that the world’s average temperature reaches an eventual tipping point. This choice forces the planet into a self-correction mode - populations may eventually drop to sustainable levels though a combination of war, famine and disease. However, there is no assurance that the environment at this time will be one in which humans can survive. No doubt our earth will recover as she has before, but it may take millions of years. It may be no big deal in the greater scheme of things, but a very poor result for humanity; to be just another extinct branch of the evolutionary tree in the great race for life.

The other choice is to take action now to curb green house gas emissions, reduce pollution, preserve forests and oceans, and make much more intelligent use of resources in the hope that we can slow environmental degeneration to the point where technology can deliver sufficient clean energy to ensure that we can feed our population. This might mean that fusion energy is harnessed and generators are built and brought on line, but we are more than likely at least 25 years away from this. Therefore, in the short-term, renewable energy, nuclear energy and more limited use of fossil fuels will have to get us through.

There is a real danger that the problems we all face may look, to some, too big to handle. People may justifiably believe, based on how far we’ve gone and how much we have to do to correct our mistakes, that we have no hope. Some countries may consider that they have a right to burn fossil fuels to advance the life styles of their populations, with politicians in those nations looking only at the short-term futures. To survive as a single people, the world’s population has to believe that we can come out the other side of the climate change tunnel, and that there is a future worth striving for.  The Sustainable Nation Foundation Inc. intends to play its part in promoting that belief and securing a viable future.
So what of Grenada?
As the world teeters on the brink of recession, Grenada still feels buoyant, but even now food and fuel prices are rising fast and the poorer segments of our population are feeling the pinch. Close by, other Caribbean islands are in much worse positions.

Traditional short-stay tourism, which has been presented by the international community as the economic replacement to our outmoded agricultural economies, is highly vulnerable to outside events. Given its dependency on capital flows and its debt intensive nature, even short down turns can be highly damaging to small economies, increasing national and personal debt levels to the point at which they cannot be reliably serviced.

Highly likely events that may cause downturns in Grenada’s tourism market are:

1.    Global economic downturn or recession in Europe and or America

2.    Terrorist action against transoceanic jets

3.    An active hurricane season with hurricanes striking one or more of the islands of the Lesser Antilles

4.    Large increases in the cost of air travel as oil prices rise and carbon tariffs come into force

Points One and Two above may be matters of chance, but pressures on air travel costs are a certainty and are occurring now.

In coming years, the debate over air fares will widen to include the question of who pays for the carbon cost of flights and how the allowances granted (by governments) will be negotiated.

High carbon taxes on airline flights will be disastrous for the Caribbean islands that rely on traditional tourism. Carbon allowances for businesses, and potentially for individual families, will be completely crippling for the island economies as potential holiday makers are faced with a decision between, for example, a second car or a transatlantic return trip.

It’s worth remembering that the international community have pulled the economic rug out from under the feet of the Caribbean nations many times before!

The islands will have to argue hard for extra carbon allowances to keep the hotel industry alive. To be successful in this, the islands are going to have to come up with strategies which can be shown to dramatically cut the carbon cost of their tourism infrastructure.

One of the obvious solutions to this is long-term stays by travellers. If the average length of stay is doubled, the carbon cost of flights is halved. In practice, however, this is not practical and does not fit with the holiday capacities of most people. Therefore, other solutions to long-term stays need to be found. Some examples of alternatives for encouraging long-term stays are educational, lifestyle, health and retirement tourism. We will speak to each of these briefly later in this document.

Rather than be dictated to by outside forces, the Sustainable Nation Foundation Inc. proposes that Grenada lead the way in national sustainability by becoming a blueprint - or better yet, a Green Print - for sustainable nationhood, through the incubation of environmentally sound and commercially viable governmental and public sector projects designed to ensure the long-term future of Grenada and other nations through the 21st century and beyond.

The good news is that dealing with environmental deterioration is in itself generating massive economic opportunity.  Governments all over the world, and particularly in the developed nations, are making large sums of money available to study the changes and search for solutions. SNF’s objective is to gain a slice of this budget, encourage and aid Grenada’s conversion to sustainability, and thus become a world leader in understanding nation-level sustainability issues.

SNF Inc. itself is a not for profit organisation acting as a project promoter. Once funded, planned and presented individual projects will go into independent commercial entities.

Long-term Tourism

Grenada is already the world leader in one area of long-term stay tourism, that being
Education.

Few countries on earth can claim to have such a large proportion of its economy dependent on the education market, together with a 30-year track record of success. St. George’s University adds enormously to the economy. Its students are here for several months at a time, and the transportation carbon cost of each student is a fraction of that of the weekly hotel guest.

SNF plans to promote the set up of a university campus dedicated to environmental sciences, alternative sustainable energy and organic food production. This is to be structured as affiliations with universities from around the world.

Grenadians understand that universities are good business and will be keen to invest in providing student accommodation.

To secure the market, SNF will be approaching major universities and selling them on the benefits of running courses in Grenada:

1.    Grenada is a small place with problems that are the same as much of the rest of the world but of a scale that can be understood and dealt with.
2.    Model democracy issues can be easily seen and understood.
3.    As an independent country, Grenada has a voice at the UN and other international bodies.
4.    Universities making applications for available international research funds will be at an advantage if the application is made from Grenada as nearly all such funds have regional allocations.

SNF will be looking for commitments to start courses in 2 – 3 years time. With those commitments in place, SNF will be able to approach banks for development loans and build the university campus. SNF is seeking suitable sites now and aiming to agree on Joint Ventures with the land owners. The project will then be independently incorporated.

Alternative Energy Companies

SNF will promote Grenada to companies developing, marketing and implementing sustainable energy projects, and encourage them to set up in Grenada. We already have some of the world’s most expensive electricity, so it should be easy for developing alternative energy systems to be competitive and profitable.

For example:
1.    Geothermal Energy
2.    Gasifiers that break down garbage and burn used oil. This can solve the problem of garbage build-up and land usage, and might eventually free up Halifax harbour, one of the best potential development sites on the island, by clearing the land fill site.
3.    Solar Energy, both photovoltaic and for direct cooling
4.    Wind Power
5.    Wave and ocean current power
6.    Hydroelectric

The SNF inspired university campus will be promoted as providing access to further research and product development. SNF aims to make Grenada a showcase to the world and to export the technology demonstrated or developed here.

SNF’s aim is to ensure that young Grenadians benefit by having very close integration between the new university and Grenada’s schools, so that children are educated, equipped and qualified to move out into the world and find work in the alternative energies market.

Lifestyle Tourists

Long-stay visitors coming to retire or work in banking and insurance services industries represent what can be called lifestyle tourists. Grenada has some of the best luxury housing sites available in the Caribbean, but to make that housing more efficient from a sustainable perspective, we will need to encourage long-term occupancy of this housing, with wealthy owners feeding money and jobs into the economy. Grenada offers one of the most desirable lifestyles anywhere and as the island becomes self-sustaining, it is going to look even more attractive.

In this respect and without compromising its heritage or character, Grenada should look to the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the BVI, all of which have very strong offshore service sectors. When hurricane Ivan hit the Cayman Islands, they did not have to go to the International Community for massive international aid, despite being hit harder than Grenada, as they had the insurance and financial power for considerable self-recovery.

This concept may sound worrying to some Grenadians as it may be preserved as selling out to wealthy foreigners but consider this: emigration and immigration have been the major development engines of the Caribbean Islands and have lead to the fantastic diversity of people that make this country so special. When the first settlers came in search of betterment, they first imported convicts and losers of civil wars, and then slaves and indentured labourers to solve their labour needs. SNF is proposing that Grenadians “import” wealthy people from all over the world with spending power to create a resident market for Grenadian business and produce. This is a market that will not be lost overnight to the vagaries of the traditional tourism market. Grenada already has powerful laws with regard to immigration and residency, so with new developments implemented with transparency, civil responsibility and public participation, there will be no loss of control.

Residential projects suitable for these long-stay tourists are already under development: Egmont, Bacolet Bay, Point Marquis to name a few. These can stimulate further investment and market opportunities for Grenadian business people. In order to enable Grenadians to take advantage of the business and job opportunities, SNF aims to participate in the promotion and planning of new tourist-minded towns, socially attractive places where restaurants and bars can thrive, and shops can flourish.

In turn, a readily available and growing market for agricultural produce will stimulate renewed agricultural activity. A major plank of the SNF is in supporting organic farming, local food production and a consequent reduction in the carbon cost of food transportation.
Health Tourism

With the strength of the medical university, a major teaching hospital could be established here as a centre of excellence serving the entire region. This can also support high levels of healthcare for Grenadians. SGU is already making moves in this direction with their new nursing course – preventative health care and naturopathic medicine.  Additionally, this can lead to health tourism, and to retirement long-term visitors.

Note: All long-stay initiatives bring with them the added benefit of supporting traditional short-stay tourism. Families that live here tend to bring in many visiting friends and relatives, as would the medical centre, university and retirement homes. The SNF long stay tourism initiative should been seen as diversifying and expanding the existing tourism infrastructure.

Supporting Change and Diversity (Sustainability)

SNF will support and assist in the public communication (translation) of tourism and development projects and plans.  Transparent and community participatory planning and implementation are as necessary as project environmental impact assessments, monitoring and evaluation, for nation change towards sustainability.  Ensuring that social harmony and the preservation of Grenada’s cultural heritage is strengthened, is not only a mainstay for SNF but crucially instrumental for a healthy Grenadian future, especially as it relates to tourism, investment and the international community.  People are the foundation of a nation and in respect of this, SNF will support initiatives involving public discourse, education, youth development, networking and cohesion.

Grenada’s Commitment to the International Community

Central to the SNF concept is the Government’s agreement to fully support and adopt the ambitions of SNF, and to make their statement a commitment to the international community, specifically stating that it is the country’s intention to be fully self-sustaining in energy terms within 5-10 years. This is to be thrown down as a challenge to the rest of the world, and the major international bodies need to be fully convinced of Grenada’s commitment to becoming a fully sustainable nation.

To this end, not only the Government of Grenada but public and private institutions will need to commit to marketing Grenada as a sustainable destination.

The International Reaction

If Grenada succeeds in convincing the world of its commitment, then SNF believes we will be highly successful in attracting investment, not only into some of the commercial projects listed above, but also to aid finance for projects that have implications for the overall environment such as:

•    Improvements to the sewage collection infrastructure in St. George’s and around the country.

•    The proper treatment of sewage (which currently discharges directly into the ocean causing pollution of our seas and beaches, and which adds to the acidity of our coastal waters causing enormous harm to coral reefs).
Other Projects being promoted or assisted by SNF
•    Garbage Recycling
•    Used Oil Recycling
•    Common Immigration between Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines
•    Grenada Marine Parks Development
•    Coastal Clean-up
Benefits of SNF’s concept to the Government and to the People of Grenada
The potential benefits to Grenada include:

•    International political kudos for our leaders – a real story to tell with pride on the international stage

•    Positive publicity for the island

•    Access to the best knowledge and technology, creating further opportunity for education of our young people.

•    Benefits that can flow down the education chain in Grenada’s schools

•    An ability to export knowledge

•    Increased spending by students and long-stay visitors will benefit the economy

•    Enhancement of traditional tourism destinations, as well as increases in hiking, cultural and other eco-tourism activities

•    Ability to negotiate for carbon credits on the back of carbon savings made against what would be occurring if tourism growth followed the traditional short-stay model
Structure
The Sustainable Nation Foundation Inc. is a not-for-profit body incorporated in Grenada in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 1994.

However, the SNF team believes that commercially driven projects are far more likely to actually deliver outcomes and growth. Therefore, companies will be set up as
commercial operations to own and develop the assets which the foundation identifies, and to market and sell the created knowledge and know-how accumulated by the SNF activities. It is envisaged that the companies will take in cash and land investments.

SNF Founding Members

Bru Pearce
Robin Swaisland
Justin Evans
Dr. Kelvin Sealey
Dr. Angus Friday
Darryl Braithwaite
Richard deLima
Russ Fielden

SNF Friends and Supporters

We are inviting people who empathise with these ideas and proposals to put their names to the document and join as friends and members of the foundation.

We hope to gain the endorsements of representatives from as many sectors as possible. Participation by members of the international scientific and environmental community is particularly welcome. We ask you all to think on who you know that might like to participate and to put their names forward as people we might approach.