SXM Pride Foundation

SXM Pride - World Wetlands Day Tree Planting

This coming Friday February 5th at 4pm EPIC, St. Maarten Pride Foundation, Nature Foundation and the Seaside Nature Park will be planting 25 Buttonwood Trees (plants found along St. Maarten's coast) at the Seaside Nature Park’s grounds in Cay Bay in commemoration of World Wetlands Day which is on February 2nd, 2010 and in recognition of the importance of St. Maarten’s wetlands and coastal zones. The Foundations are asking all volunteers, organizations and interested individuals to come out and help.

SXM Pride - World Wetlands Day has been commemorated annually since 1997. Hundreds of Non-Governmental Organizations and other community based groups around the world make use of this second day of February to take special action aimed at raising government and public awareness of the importance of protecting wetlands.

Today Tuesday February 2nd, 2010 “World Wetlands day”, marks 39 years since the adoption of the Ramsar Convention/Convention on Wetlands in the Iranian City of Ramsar in 1971. “The Convention’s mission is the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local, regional and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world”. (Ramsar COP8, 2002). Presently there are over 150 signatories to the convention with more than 1800 wetland sites designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Significance.

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SMNN - Cupecoy: --- The Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation was notified by some concerned Cupecoy residents of illegal building activities on the Cupecoy beach. A representative of the foundation visited the beach over the weekend and noticed that a developer has built a high concrete wall on the sandy beach covering the natural rock formations that makes the Cupecoy ocean side so special, says president of the St. Maarten Pride Foundation Jadira Veen.

See also Sxm Pride paying close attention to Cupecoy Beach

SMNN -

Philipsburg:--- The St. Maarten Pride Foundation has sent a letter to the executive council regarding the dilapidated buildings in Mullet Bay. Following is the letter. The Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation has been paying attention to the recent developments surrounding the visit of Mr. Ansari to the Island and to the public outcry demanding that something must be done about the ruins of the old Mullet Bay Resort. [More....] As one of St. Maarten’s foremost environmental organizations, the foundation is hereby adding its voice to the public’s demands that the dilapidated buildings at Mullet Bay need to be demolished and that the area needs to be cleaned. Mullet Bay Resort was once Sint Maarten’s Flagship hotel, destroyed by hurricane Luis in 1995. The island as a whole and its tourism product was massively destroyed by hurricane Luis. Despite the hardships of the hurricane aftermath, the island has been rebuilt with the hard work of many in our community bringing the island back on the tourist map, with the exception of the Mullet Bay owner. We are now 14 years later, and the ruins of the old Mullet Bay Resort stand as ugly eyesores, many painted with graffiti along the Rhine Road. St. Maarten Pride Foundation is hereby requesting that your Council requires Mr. Ansari to demolish the remaining ruins at his expense. Many of our return visitors have commented over the years about the derelict state of the area, many of them have written letters to the newspapers, made comments on tourism websites as well as social networking sites. Pride Foundations is of the opinion that the current state of the Mullet Bay area with its derelict buildings is an eyesore and diminishes the value of our tourism product as a whole. While our taxpayer’s money is being spent on marketing campaigns to promote a beautiful paradise, our visitors have to pass through the Rhine Road and witness an area that resembles a war zone. The Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation is reminding Government that we have legislation that can be used to force the owner to demolish his derelict buildings and clean up the area; The island waste management (Afvalverordening Sint Maarten) Artikel 28a states the following: “Het is de eigenaar van enig onroerend goed verboden: a. dit goed geheel of ten dele aan te wenden of de aanwending daarvan te gedogen voor het opslaan van onbruikbare of aan hun bestemming onttrokken voertuigen, vaartuigen, of vliegtuigen of onderdelen daarvan, oud metaal, glas, afbraak, afval, puin of andere oude materialen”. The island waste management (Afvalverordening Sint Maarten) Artikel 35: “1. Indien het bestuurscollege bij een aangetekend schrijven aan de eigenaar of gebruiker heeft verklaard dat de toestand van enig onroerend goed naar zijn oordeel vervuild of gebrekkig is, is de eigenaar verplicht binnen de door het bestuurscollege te bepalen termijn de door dat college voorgeschreven maatregelen uit te voeren. 2. Onverminderd het bepaalde in het eerste lid is de eigenaar of gebruiker van enig onroerend goed verplicht te gedogen de maatregelen die de door of vanwege het bestuurscollege aangewezen ambtenaar ter bescherming van het milieu noodzakelijk acht en hem ter uitvoering van deze maatregelen toegang te verlenen”. Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation is of the opinion that our Island Government should no longer tolerate and entertain Sun Resort’s refusal to clean up their derelict buildings as their inaction is not based on lack of finances or resources, but rather appears to be one of disrespect to the people of Sint Maarten, our laws and our tourism product. St.Maarten PRIDE foundation is also advocating that the area remains free from residential, commercial and Industrial development for a period of 15 years after the demolition. This small island has seen rampant development in the past 10 years and it would be wise to implement a large scale building moratorium until, police and security, sewage, environmental management, roads and infrastructure along with drainage issues have been planned out well by our government. The Mullet Bay area is the last open green zone on the Western side of the island and should be promoted for eco-sports and leisure activities, such as golf, tennis, biking, rollerblading, running/jogging, kayaking and of course beach activities. Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation hopes that government will use our existing laws in order to force Sun Resorts to clean up their mess and current derelict buildings. Without doing such, our government will be setting a negative example by allowing a development group to violate our laws to the detriment of our people and our main source of income Tourism.