Organs and Institutions of the Organisation

The British colonial Governments used these geographical groupings for their administrative purposes. From 1871 to 1956, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts–Nevis–Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands were placed in a Leeward Islands Federation under one Governor. During the same period, Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines with Barbados (until 1885), Tobago (until 1889) and Dominica (from 1940) were in the Federal Colony of the Windward Islands with another Governor. The islands in each group are geographically close, most within eyesight of each other and the flying time between some islands is between 15 to 20 minutes. While their geography and political history aid in regional cooperation, the islands possess other characteristics that are even more supportive of regional integration.

PHYSICAL & FINANCIAL LIMITATIONS

First, they are all very small islands with limited physical and financial resources – mini states in the context of global affairs. In 1981, the smallest Member State of the OECS was Montserrat at 39 square miles/102 sq. km and the largest Dominica with 751 sq. km/305 sq. miles. Their combined land area was 2,892 square kilometres or 1,075 square miles which would still have made them (as one state) one of the smallest countries in the world, just slightly larger than Luxembourg (2,590 sq. km) and Samoa (2,830 sq. km). All the islands have very small populations, so small that together the estimated total population in 2018 of the seven founding Member States was 628,898. The addition of the Associate Members of Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique just about doubles the population of the OECS, taking it to an estimated 2018 total of 1,448,952, (about the population of Trinidad and Tobago) with a combined landmass of 5,882 sq. km/2,230 sq. miles. That would still make the OECS region comparable to the world’s smallest states.

The combination of these tiny populations into one larger economic space of between 600,000 and 1.4 million through regional integration would be logical, particularly as their economies are similar – the majority are tourism-based while others are a mixture of tourism, agriculture and light manufacturing. The limitations of size and physical and financial resources are an incentive for the governments of these small islands to come together for the joint administration of important social and economic services for their citizens. In this way, each Government will reduce the high cost of providing these services on its own and each will ensure higher quality services for its people.

GEOGRAPHIC SIMILARITY

The second natural factor facilitating regional integration of the Eastern Caribbean States is that the islands are generally similar in terms of topography and not only in size – although there are differences between the Windward and the Leeward islands.

The majority of the islands are volcanic in origin with active and dormant volcanoes in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and Montserrat. On 8 May 1902, the Mount Pelée volcano in Martinique erupted and killed approximately 30,000 people, and in July 1995 Montserrat lost its capital, Plymouth, to an eruption of the Soufriere Hills volcano.

TABLE 1.1

Area and Population of the Founding OECS Member States

STATE SQ. KM SQ. MILES POPULATION

(2018 Estimate)

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

440 108 96,286

DOMINICA

750 305 71,625 GRENADA 340 133 111,454 MONTSERRAT(1) 102 39 4,993 ST. KITTS AND 260 100 52,441

NEVIS

SAINT LUCIA 610 240 181,889 ST. VINCENT AND 390 150 110,210

THE GRENADINES TOTAL 2,892 1,075 628,898

Source: World Bank Grouping: Small States Information by Country. data. worldbank.org/region/small-states 1. Source: worldometers: worldometers.info/world-population/

TABLE 1.2: Area and Population of the OECS Associate Members

STATE

ANGUILLA BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS SQ. KM SQ. MILES POPULATION

(2018 Estimate) 90 35 14,731 150 58 29,802

GUADELOUPE

1,690 653 399,848

MARTINIQUE

1,060 409 375,673

TOTAL 2,990 1,155 820,054

Source: worldometers: worldometers.info/world-population/

TABLE 1.3 Combined Area and Population of OECS Member States

STATES SQ. KM SQ. MILES POPULATION

(2018 Estimate) Founding States 2,892 1,075 628,898 Associate Members 2,990 1,155 820,054

TOTAL 5,882 2,230 1,448,952

Islands of the OECS: One Community

In these islands, soaring mountains and deep valleys clothed with lush tropical trees and forests dominate their landscape. An island which vividly depicts this is Dominica which styles itself as the “Nature Island of the Caribbean”. The highest mountain in the grouping is Soufriere in Basse Terre, Guadeloupe an active volcanic peak that towers to 4,813 ft.; while Saint Lucia is famous for its twin peaks – Gros Piton and Petit Piton in the south-western town of Soufriere – rising straight from the sea to 2619 ft. and 2461 ft. respectively. In contrast to the purely volcanic islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and the eastern half of Guadeloupe – Grande Terre – are formed from coral limestone (although there is a volcanic region in Antigua) and are flat, with low hills, scrubland, some woodlands and grasslands. The majority of the islands boast white sandy beaches that are integral to their tourism products, while some of the more volcanic ones like Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines feature some grey or dark sand beaches.

BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

The islands share a rich heritage of biological diversity. Their marine life contains several species of marine mammals, multiple species of whales, dolphins and turtles. The North East Marine Management Area in Antigua and Barbuda is notable as a refuge for endemic, rare and globally significant wildlife. Similarly, the many offshore islets throughout the region serve as homes to both globally important and threatened species. The flora and fauna of the islands, particularly the Windwards, are regarded as one of the most diverse and interesting in the world, in keeping with global recognition that the Caribbean is a biodiversity hotspot. There are 168 regionally endemic tree species in the Windwards; endemic parrots are found in Dominica, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines and endemic hummingbirds in Dominica and Martinique. Almost all the Windwards contain protected forest reserves. The islands are all subject to the menace of tropical storms and hurricanes during the annual hurricane season from June to November. The phenomenon of climate change in recent years has intensified the force of these hurricanes with devastating consequences for these Eastern Caribbean States. Additionally, invasive alien species that have either been introduced or found their way onto the islands by other means, also pose a threat to the very critical biodiversity, especially the endemic species.

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COMMON HISTORY

Thirdly, the islands share a common history. They are all English and French speaking former colonies of Britain and France. The British colonies each had a constitution and a form of government modelled on the British parliamentary system of democracy. From British colonial days, they inherited a number of regional institutions that the British had in place for more efficient administration and which provided common services. These institutions are: the British Caribbean Currency Board (1935-1965) which became the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority (in 1965) issuing a single currency – the Eastern Caribbean Dollar; a Directorate of Civil Aviation (from 1957) for civil aviation matters; and the Windward and Leeward Islands Supreme Court and Windward and Leeward Islands Court of Appeal (from 1939) which was transformed into the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in 1967.

COMMON CULTURE

The fourth factor facilitating the regional integration of the islands is that the people are all of similar racial backgrounds, the majority being descendants of Africans who were shipped to the Caribbean to work as slaves on British and French plantations from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Their culture is common, derived from the melting of the cultures of the variety of peoples – African, European, and Asian - who arrived in the islands during the colonial era as well as the indigenous people whom they met there. It is expressed in their carnivals – be it the pre-Lenten celebrations in Dominica, Guadeloupe, and Martinique, the Emancipation Day festival of Antigua and Barbuda, the summer events of Grenada, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines or the end of the year festivities of St. Kitts and Nevis; in their music – the pulsating calypso and soca rhythms in the English speaking islands, the world-famous Zouk originating in Guadeloupe and Martinique with roots in Dominica’s cadence-lypso, the folk music and dances driven by African drum beats; in their folk dress and costumes – fashioned from madras and cotton cloth, the women’s headdress which depict their social status; in their religions – the predominant Catholic faith in Dominica, Saint Lucia, Martinique and Guadeloupe, the Protestant denominations in the other islands and Rastafarianism throughout the region; in their foods and cuisine – their seafood, their common tropical fruits like mango, guava, papaya, sweetsop, sapodilla, passion fruit, tamarind and vegetables such as yams, plantains, cassava,

breadfruit while the same dishes with local varieties, for