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This year's Budget Statement contains little for the environment. Few words and probably even less additional funding.

The Statement mentions only two initiatives: "The Ministry plans to introduce an Agricultural and Educational Outreach Programme", and "a Fishing Apprenticeship Scheme will be introduced."

Former Premier Scott's high profile Sustainable Development Initiative has dropped so far out of sight it didn't even rate a mention.

So let's look first at what was specifically mentioned, farming and fishing.

While we applaud efforts to preserve the skills of farming, without land to farm, these skills may well be useless.

In order to preserve agricultural land in Bermuda, that land has to be protected from development. It has not been lost on farmers that some government plans and projects have been among the most serious threats to the preservation of agricultural land.

With the much-lauded surpluses in the economy, the government ought to be investing in the future, not just of farmers and farming, but the future of us all, by the aggressive purchasing of sensitive tracts of land.

The economy produces much money but so little is being 'put in the bank' by buying land, particularly farmland, to keep it from development.

From the budget statement, there doesn't appear to be any funds set aside for the acquisition of open space.

Funding should be earmarked for buying up open spaces and farmlands. This would indicate a genuine concern for agriculture, farmland, the art of farming and the quality of life in Bermuda.

Ecological risks

The experiment in longline fishing must be watched closely. While the principle of strengthening Bermuda fishing capability is laudable, it is not without ecological risks.

The Statement's goal of "making Bermuda a more inviting place for our people" must include the retention of open space.

If Bermuda becomes a metropolis, most of our foreign workers will be quite comfortable in a metropolis-like Bermuda. It is Bermudians who will be progressively less comfortable in their home as the Island loses its rural character and becomes more urbanized.

Perhaps the clearest examples of how words can belie actions are the extraordinary means the government is pursuing to provide luxury accommodations for visitors and foreign home-buyers while being unable to make it possible for low and middle income earners to find affordable homes

As I wrote earlier, there is no mention in the Budget Statement whatsoever of the concept of Sustainable Development.

It would appear that former Premier Scott's initiative has been relegated beyond the back burner. When so many Bermudians were encouraged to take part in surveys, questionnaires and public meetings, it is extremely disappointing and an affront to find all that public goodwill being so dismally rejected.

Overall, the government seems to have little beyond a token concern for the Environment. (e.g. the word environment appears a half-dozen times or so with regard to everything else, but not at all in the discussion of the Environment Ministry's programmes).

Adding insult to injury, the Environment Ministry has been saddled with two entirely unrelated portfolios, telecommunications and e-commerce, which only serve to dilute the Minister's attention and stretch the already scarce resources available for environmental issues.

We'll have to see if the Ministry gets additional funding.

It's a sad day to see such a reversal in focus where the environment is concerned. The government has apparently lost sight of the fact that without a healthy environment, the economy and the people cannot flourish.

Neither can its own

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