Charting A New Course

THE STAR Businessweek FEBRUARY 9, 2019

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in this edition of

Charting a New Course

The Future of Saint Lucia Port Infrastructure

By ED Kennedy, STAR Businessweek Correspondent

Today’s tourism providers need quality infrastructure more than ever. In a world where tourists can not only book accommodation online but plan their journey from door-to-door right down to the minute, a 5-star hotel can still lose a guest if travel on the ground from a port or airplane to the lobby is much harder compared to another destination on offer.

Continued on page 4

SBW THE STAR Businessweek

Preventing Criminality in CIPs 2019 is the 25th anniversary year of St Kitts and Nevis’ Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP). This anniversary may be cheered each year by financial beancounters inside the nation’s government, but it also remains a controversial date Pages 3 & 7

Underwater goldmine For most tourists, the Caribbean is synonymous with white sand beaches and turquoise waters. This dazzling natural beauty, which draws visitors back year after year, is sustained in part by rich marine ecosystems that keep life above the waves as busy as life below them Page 7

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FEBRUARY 9, 2019

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Creative capital: The Caribbean Development Bank invests in artists

By Catherine Morris, STAR Businessweek Correspondent

The STAR Businessweek

BY Christian Wayne – Editor at Large

‘It’s not the size of the boat but it’s the motion of the ocean’ and its flatter, opposing counterpart ‘size matters’ are two conflicting idioms that come to mind when digesting this week’s lead story “Charting a New Course: The Future of Saint Lucia Port Infrastructure” starting on page 1. Chronicling Saint Lucia’s pipeline of critical tourism-related infrastructure upgrades slated to begin this year, the author makes an incredibly articulate case for the Chastanet government’s enduring efforts to develop national infrastructure in the island’s south and how these moves will likely spearhead Brand Saint Lucia’s ascent into the good books of global cruise operators.

On the flipside, “Underwater Goldmine” on page 7 offers a counter-narrative on how continued environmental degradation stands to usurp any gains made from the Caribbean’s efforts to attract more spendthrift travellers to our shores. The bottom line: if we continue destroying the coral reefs and the environment, no tourists will want to experience our so-called paradises, regardless of how many new cruise ports and airports we construct.

In other news, the Caribbean Development Bank has launched a new fund aimed at supporting the ‘creative industries’ with the perennial goal of ‘diversifying’ the economies of the Caribbean. No doubt a noble effort on the part of their donors, but one has to be weary of a panel of stodgy bankers deciding what creative projects are worthy of grant funding, no? I wish them well and look forward to seeing what type of projects they choose to support. Read more in “Creative Capital: The Caribbean Development Bank Invests in Artists” on page 2.

Citizenship by Investment Programmes are once again in the news as Saint Kitts and Nevis celebrates the 25th anniversary of its CIP. As the author so eloquently states in “Preventing Criminality in CIPs” on page 3, no doubt the Kittitian beancounters are rejoicing. This industry is really starting to exhibit signs of a ‘winner take all’ model, at least as far as the Caribbean is concerned. Curious what our readers think about this.

Write to us with your thoughts!

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CIIF grants will focus on supporting fashion and contemporary design, visual arts, audio-visual design, festivals and carnivals, and music

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udding fashion designers, visual artists, animators, musicians and other creative entrepreneurs are being offered financial support through a new multi-million dollar fund launched by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and designed to help the region diversify its economy and increase its cultural capital.

The Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund (CIIF) will provide grants of up to US$150,000 to innovative new projects from all artistic endeavours but is focusing specifically on five niches — fashion and contemporary design, visual arts, audio-visual design, festivals and carnivals, and music. These have been identified as “priority areas” for the Bank which is focusing not just on finance, but also providing technical support and improving the regional business environment for creative arts over the long-term.

Projects under the scheme should not last longer than two years and are expected to last, on average, six months to a year. But budding entrepreneurs

won’t be left in the lurch; the aim of the Fund is to support sustainable development and ensure that creative workers get the tools they need to build a thriving, lasting business.

Improving the arts infrastructure

Cultural and creative businesses face many hardships in the Caribbean.

For the region’s artists, following their dreams is rarely an easy path as they struggle to get funding, have limited access to global markets and cannot navigate the challenging economic environment. Many simply do not have the resources to compete and turn their passion into a viable business.

Lisa Harding, Coordinator of MSME Development at the CDB, says: “We recognise that access to finance is one of the major constraints of the sector. This fund is seeking to fill that financing gap in the market.”

The CDB is determined not to waste the region’s homegrown talent and wants to change the landscape through targeted support, better training and improved platforms

for growth. The Bank is initially contributing US$2.6m to the CIIF, which will become a multidonor fund over the long-term.

Grants are streamlined into three categories with three distinct goals: to create an enabling environment, to improve data intelligence and market research, and to boost the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises. This opens up the fund to a range of applicants including those from academia, government, business support organisations, NGOs and entrepreneurs.

Regardless of their circumstances and standing, all applicants must display innovation, collaboration and sustainability as these are core values for the programme. CIIF Co-ordinator Dr Marielle Barrow Maignan says: “Innovation is thinking about where we want to go in building technology [and] other sectors into how we operate within the creative industries sector. We want innovation to be hardwired into the fund in terms of its culture Continued on page 5

Citizenship by Investment

The star businessweek

FEBRUARY 9, 2019

Preventing Criminality in CIPs

By ED Kennedy, STAR Businessweek Correspondent

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019 is the 25th anniversary year of St Kitts and Nevis’ Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP). This anniversary may be cheered each year by financial beancounters inside the nation’s government, but it also remains a controversial date — one that kicked off a new era in which the traditional protections and limitations on citizenship where drastically lowered.

Since then many nations in the Caribbean and globally have introduced their own CIPs. Most recently, a number of new developments surrounding CIPs has altered the dynamics of the industry once more, with fresh concerns surrounding some national CIPs, and doubts raised about the long-term viability of them.

So what does the 25th anniversary of St Kitts and Nevis’ CIP tell us about the progression of the industry? And how may the latest developments impact CIPs locally and around the world?

Let’s look now in-depth.

EU Off and On in Enforcement

Though the Caribbean may be the epicentre of the world’s most well known CIPs, it is arguably in Europe that the greatest controversy surrounding them is unfolding at present. Recent months have seen rising tensions between the European Union and member states like Malta and Bulgaria.

Yet while an EU report in January called for tough crackdowns, since then it’s emerged that the public version of the document released thereafter reportedly stepped back from some of its stronger recommendations, such as the barring of CIP applications for individuals currently on a UN or EU sanctions list.

Undoubtedly many in the Caribbean will feel there is a certain hypocrisy

According to Investment Migration Insider, a CIP industry publication, Saint Kitts & Nevis’ Citizenship by Investment Unit has steadfastly declined to publish any type of statistics on its programme, as the island’s head of the Citizenship by Investment Unit, Les Khan, considers it a trade secret

out of Brussels, given its prior approach to the ‘naming and shaming’ of global havens, which notably excluded known EU havens while listing others further afield.

Nonetheless, any clamp down in EU CIPs can have flow-on effects for the Caribbean, especially in an era when a number of other nations have tightened emigration rules, or signified their intent to do so.

The St Kitts and Nevis Experience

St Kitts and Nevis has pioneered the CIP model, and also experienced multiple scandals since its inception. In 2014 the nation recalled its passports issues over the previous two years, following pressure internationally surrounding the apparent abuse of the CIP by those seeking to commit financial crimes. Canadian authorities were so concerned about this risk that they announced in November 2014 that they would require St Kitts and Nevis passport holders to acquire a visa before they entered the nation due to Ottawa’s concerns about the CIP. Then, during late 2018, it was reported that extensive fraud had been perpetuated

in the CIP, with a Dubai-headquartered firm allegedly selling St Kitts and Nevis passports far below the government directed price of $200,000 for real estate investment.

For many nations with newer CIPs, the experience of St Kitts and Nevis remains a ‘canary in the coal mine’.

While these nations have surely learned from the experiences of the first nation to offer CIPs, recent years have seen new challenges arise for state security as the digital arena grows, and the ability to penetrate traditional borders and disrupt a nation’s day by day life has grown with it.

Simply avoiding known problems without anticipating new ones wouldn’t work here.

Rogue ‘Citizens’

While once an individual has citizenship in a nation there is not (usually) an avenue to remove it, recent years have seen the growing recognition of the need for national laws that can be enforced globally. And within them there is potentially an avenue to address a rogue CIP individual.

Most prominently this has been seen with the United States’ Magnitsky Act. It was

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created to allow US law enforcement to sanction who they deem to be human rights offenders, ban them from entry to the US and freeze their assets held in American institutions. Nations like Australia and Norway have also sought to enact laws that would allow their governments to strip dual-citizens of citizenship when having been involved with terrorism.

When taken together, there is potentially a blueprint here for Caribbean nations, offering a path to seize the assets of the rogue CIP citizen and also to strip them of citizenship, thereby removing their right to reside in their adopted nation.

Such a path would, of course, come with its own challenges, such as the need to ensure (however appalling their conduct may be) that a CIP individual is not left stateless when stripped of citizenship in the region. Yet because CIPs can easily be acquired without needing to surrender a current citizenship in the native nation, the likelihood of an individual being left stateless is reduced.

Existing Protections in Place

While the risks of a CIP citizen going rogue are not small or insignificant, it does need to be acknowledged that there are pre-existing hurdles and also broader deterrents in place that somewhat diminish the security risks.

A High-Net-Worth Individual that also holds a prominent place in the private sector is by no means guaranteed to be a model citizen, but their public recognition does guarantee the risk of reputational damage if they are found to be generating outcry in their (adopted) CIP nation.

Conversely, it’s an unavoidable reality that many nations that offer CIPs also offer a clandestine financial sector to HNWIs globally. This can be an enticement to those who may have acquired their wealth through dubious or even outright criminal means.

Continued on page 7

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FEBRUARY 9, 2019

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Charting a New Course: The Future of Saint Lucia Port Infrastructure Continued from page 1

According to the Central Statistical Office of Saint Lucia, in 2017 Saint Lucia hosted 669,217 cruise ship passengers across 423 cruise ship calls, with an average of 1,582 passengers per ship opting to disembark their vessels to experience the island’s offerings

Recent years have seen Saint Lucia’s construction sector hard at work upgrading infrastructure, seeking to ensure the nation’s tourists enjoy an easy and speedy experience getting from A to B. As well as upgrades to Port Castries’ Pointe Seraphine Berth One that opened in January 2018, recent months have seen the Chastanet government actively driving forward plans for the construction of a cruise ship port in Vieux Fort. This will complement the redevelopment of the Hewanorra International Airport which will be a key part of future port plans.

Let’s review the state of Saint Lucia now, and the government’s plans for the future.

Why the Urgency Behind Infrastructure Upgrades?

While the benefits of some upgrades are obvious to the eye, a casual observer might ask what major advantages will come with the upgrade of a port. After all, many of the world’s busiest airports deal daily with massive congestion, yet still function (though often ineffectively, to many travellers’ minds). In turn, while technology may progress, fundamentally, cruise ships still dock the same way they did 100 years ago.

There was a time when many tourists would travel ready to rough it: an uncomfortable airplane seat, a ferry across choppy seas, and a recognition that seeing

the world would often involve a tough walk down a rarely travelled path. Today it’s different.

The old way of travelling hasn’t outright disappeared — with some providers doing a strong trade in ‘adventure tourism’ — but fierce competition for the tourism dollar locally and globally has seen tourism operators shift decisively to providing a premium and seamless experience from start to finish.

This has meant that not only have tourism providers taken their business to a new level, but governments have been required to boost infrastructure too. Failing to do so grows the risk that cruise lines will downgrade (or even delist) a port on a travel itinerary. By

the same measure, upgrading not only helps secure existing business into the future, but offers a platform to entice new business from further afield.

From Port to Port

The US state of Florida plays host to the three busiest cruise ports in the world with Miami, Port Canaveral and Port Everglades collectively hosting a whopping 12.5 million visitors per year. It’s easy to identify here the benefits of infrastructure upgrades locally, with the majority of cruises departing Florida destined to visit the Caribbean.

As well as the importance of the Florida market, the rapid growth of Texas’ economy is helping drive the Port of Galveston to

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a new prominence in the regional cruise circuit, today hosting around 1.7 million visitors a year, with flow-on effects to the Caribbean.

Regionally, the Port of Nassau in the Bahamas, the Port of Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands, and Port St. Maarten (alongside the territory of the US Virgin Islands) make up the leaders in the Caribbean field.

Saint Lucia may trail other regional nations, hosting 669,217 cruise passenger arrivals in 2017 compared to Grand Cayman’s 1,711,565 passengers, but the enduring problems the latter island has faced — with up to five cruise ships in port at once, giving rise to the risk of logjam and lines throughout — shows a ‘build it and they will come’ approach will not suffice if the queue is too long on arrival! And there can be no doubt of the perspective of cruise providers in this space.

On Cruise Control

The cruise line of the future will see significant change. Not only is the passenger capacity of many cruise liners set to increase, but also the size of their ships. This is why Royal Caribbean International (RCI) has

Put simply, Saint Lucia has invested in order to acquire a lead over its competition; the task now is to hold on to it.

With 2017 and 2018 having delivered record growth in the number of tourism arrivals, and with the planned upgrade of Hewanorra International Airport driving new interest in Saint Lucia as a destination globally, the progression of the port Vieux Fort would be an ideal addition

already added its voice in calling for the development of more modern and serviceable port infrastructure globally.

It is here that Saint Lucia can carve out a unique advantage — not only given its recent upgrades in Port Castries, but now its new plans for a cruise ship port in Vieux Fort. Were it brought into being, it would offer tourists a truly enviable connection, with Hewanorra International Airport just a five-minute drive away.

The government has been in discussions with key stakeholders, including Carnival Cruises. Though it remains early days, the proximity of not only Hewanorra but the Pearl of the Caribbean racetrack means a new port here would represent another strong step in the revitalisation of Saint Lucia’s south, the three representing a new trinity of key infrastructure, and all sharing a push for new tourists.

An Anchor for the Future

Saint Lucia’s investments in its infrastructure will not only reap benefits in the short term, but continue to attract new growth over a longer duration, especially as other regional nations (for whatever reasons) ultimately may delay and forestall necessary upgrades of their own.

Put simply, Saint Lucia has invested in order to acquire a lead over its competition; the task now is to hold on to it. With 2017 and 2018 having delivered record growth in the number of tourism arrivals, and with the planned upgrade of Hewanorra International Airport driving new interest in Saint Lucia as a destination globally, the progression of the port in Vieux Fort would be an ideal addition.

A strategic consideration for the government and the business community will be to ensure that the growth in the south complements that in Castries. By no means should it be expected that one will automatically detract from the other.

Instead, fostering common links between the existing cruise port in Castries and the expected addition in Vieux Fort will be essential to maximising domestic travel that visiting tourists make, and also to selling most effectively Brand Saint Lucia’s new strengths in tourism infrastructure, going into the decade ahead.

FEBRUARY 9, 2019

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Creative capital: The Caribbean Development Bank invests in artists Continued from page 2

CDB introduces Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund to regional practitioners at CARIFESTA XIII. Lisa Harding, speaking as Investment Officer, Private Sector Development Unit, CDB, at the Cultural Policy and Intellectual Property Rights workshop on August 20, 2017

and its governance.”

In terms of collaboration, Maignan wants to see initiatives with widespread benefits, saying: “We are looking for projects that really seek to bring others up.

We are looking for projects that span other countries.”

Entrepreneurs will also be encouraged to network with others in their niche through the CIIF Creative Talk which allows stakeholders to brainstorm ideas, make connections and learn from others more entrenched in the sector. The CIIF Grant Writing Studio will also act as an ‘ideas incubator’, where inspiration can be hammered out into practical real-life business models.

CIIF organisers are hoping the Fund will attract significant buy-in from member countries, recognising that governments have a role to play in enabling their cultural industries. Funding through grants can go a long

way towards giving those in the sector a helping hand but policy, legislative and institutional change is also necessary to sustain any development in this area.

“We need this community to be built around the Fund in order to ensure the Fund’s sustainability and also to ensure that the projects within the Fund are sustainable,” says Maignan.

“Even though we all enjoy culture, it is a lot deeper than we think. It is about embedded meanings, it is both the mundane and the extraordinary. To ensure we can all continue to enjoy it, we have to all support it.”

Diversification

Largely reliant on tourism as its main engine of economic growth, the Caribbean has traditionally viewed its cultural offerings through the lens of the tourism sector.

But these industries have the potential to be moneymakers in their own right.

According to the World Bank, cultural and creative industries generate around US$2,250bn in revenue worldwide and are responsible for 3 per cent of the world’s GDP. This dynamic market is growing, and could be the perfect vehicle to address some of the Caribbean’s biggest issues such as youth unemployment, poverty and social inequality. Harding says: “We hope that, through the Fund, we can finance exciting innovative projects that would help build the sector and diversify our economies even more and take our creative industries to another level.”

The CIIF is currently issuing a call for enabling environment grants, the deadline for which is February 28th. To apply, or get more information about CIIF, visit the programme website: www.caribank.org/ciif

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FEBRUARY 9, 2019

Regional

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Saint LUCIAN HOTELIER TAKES ON CARIBBEAN CHALLENGE INITIATIVE

by GLISPA (Global Island Partnership)

From left: Eleanor Phillips, Director of External Affairs for the Caribbean for The Nature Conservancy; German Ambassador to CARICOM and Chairman of the CCI Steering Committee Holger Michael; Karolin Troubetzkoy, new Envoy for the Caribbean Challenge Initiative; and Yabanex Batista, CEO of the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund

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aint Lucian hotelier, Karolin Troubetzkoy, has joined the Caribbean’s efforts to address the crisis of marine and coastal resources degradation with her appointment in January as Envoy of the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI).

CCI was launched in 2008 in response to the crisis facing the Caribbean’s marine and coastal resources. The organisation serves as a voluntary, informal and innovative platform uniting a coalition of governments, the private sector and partners around collaborative action to conserve and sustainably manage the Caribbean’s diverse marine environment.

Troubetzkoy, the Executive Director of the storeyed Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain resorts, was appointed to the newlycreated position following a CCI Steering Committee meeting in Castries in January.

“It is humbling to be asked to serve in such an important position to help ensure a more prosperous and sustainable future for the region,” said Troubetzkoy. “Creating a more resilient marine environment is a critical component to reduce our vulnerabilities to climate change. These regional challenges are best tackled through inter-stakeholder collaboration. I look forward to building Continued on page 8

The Saint Lucia Registry of Companies & Intellectual Property Company Incorporations Name: Big Feat Media Inc.

Name: Hashtag Ltd.

Description: Online-only newspaper.

Description: Communications company

Directors: Pete Michael Ninvalle, Rafael Wayne

Directors: Alex Holder

Ninvalle, Virginia Ninvalle, Christina Ninvalle

Date Incorporated: 1/17/19

Date Incorporated: 12/24/18 Chamber: Chambers of Gerard R. Wiliiams Name: St. Lucia Car Rental Services Ltd. Description: Car rental, vehicle leasing,

Chamber: McNamara & Co., Chambers Name: A & S General Contractors Inc. Description: General construction

and vehicle sales

Directors: Amjad Reasat, Sharon Reasat

Directors: John Elliot, Denyse Darcie, Travis Daroie

Date Incorporated: 1/17/19

Date Incorporated: 1/4/19

Chamber: AMICUS Legal

Chamber: SEDU Name: CP Holdings Inc. Name: WiPAY (St. Lucia) Ltd.

Description: Property Development

Description: Money transfer transactions

and property management

Directors: Richard Du Boulay, Dunstan Du Boulay,

Directors: Canice Phillip, Vard Tard Daniel

Pinkley Francis, Aldwyn Wayne Jr., Keisha Hall-Wayne Date Incorporated: 1/16/19 Chamber: Du Boulay, Anthony & Co., Chambers Name: Travel Views inc.

Date Incorporated: 1/21/19 Chamber: ACE Corporate Services Name: Old Navy Equipment Services Ltd.

Description: Tourism media

Description: Excavation and trucking services

Directors: Vincent Andre Alexander, Doris Eith

Directors: Hyman Jospeh

Date Incorporated: 1/17/19

Date Incorporated: 1/21/19

Chamber: Jennifer Remy & Associates

Chamber: SEDU

Environmental Economics

The star businessweek

FEBRUARY 9, 2019

Underwater goldmine

Coral reefs are a huge contributor to Caribbean economies, but is Saint Lucia doing enough to capitalise on and conserve this precious resource?

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Preventing Criminality in CIPs Continued from page 3

By Catherine Morris, STAR Businessweek Correspondent

The methodology for this study was derived from one of the most prevalent ways people communicate today — social media. Social content was analyzed using Microsoft’s machine learning. More than 86,000 social images and nearly 6.7 million text posts were studied for identifiers that indicated reef-adjacent activities. The social media metrics were layered with traditionally sourced data from government agencies and the tourism industry, such as surveys from visitor centres, sales figures reported by travel-associated businesses and economic data from government accounting systems

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or most tourists, the Caribbean is synonymous with white sand beaches and turquoise waters. This dazzling natural beauty, which draws visitors back year after year, is sustained in part by rich marine ecosystems that keep life above the waves as busy as life below them.

More than 11 million visitors come to the Caribbean each year to experience the region’s unique coral reef ecosystems, generating almost US$8bn in expenditure and roughly translating into 660 visitors and US$473,000 per square kilometer of reef annually. The figures, taken from a new study by The Nature Conservancy in partnership with the World Travel & Tourism Council, Microsoft and JetBlue, show that coral reefs aren’t just environmentally significant to the region; they’re also hugely profitable.

What is ‘reef-related tourism’?

Reef adjacent tourism is a steadily growing segment of the industry, accounting for 23 per cent of all tourism expenditure. Not to be confused with operations directly related to reefs, such as diving or snorkelling, this niche encompasses beach activities, seafood, enjoying the marine environment through swimming, sailing, fishing, boating or simply taking in the scenery.

The Nature Conservancy estimates that reef-adjacent expenditure is worth US$5.7BN annually, and attracts around 7.4m visitors.

The true value of coral reefs is not just about seeing the reefs close-up, but also enjoying the myriad of indirect

benefits. While previous studies have largely focused on the direct benefits of reefs, The Nature Conservancy is keen to highlight the indirect benefits of related off-reef activity and estimates that the entire sector of reef tourism is evenly split between the two categories. The tourist enjoying a dish of local seafood is just as much a beneficiary of (and a contributor to) reef tourism as the snorkelling swimmer taking part in an underwater tour.

The islands currently profiting the most from all kinds of reef tourism are the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where reef-related visitor expenditure surpasses US$1bn per year. Other countries heavily dependent on this important source of income include the Cayman Islands, the US Virgin Islands and Barbados.

Saint Lucia has around 90km of reef environment, comprised of narrow fringing reefs close to the south and east coasts as well as scattered patch reefs. The island is home to a number of Marine Protected Areas including the Soufriere Marine Management Area and the Pointe Sable Environmental Protection Area, both of which encompass coral reef habitats.

Prioritising conservation

According to The Nature Conservancy, 65 per cent of the Caribbean’s coral reefs generate tourism dollars, making sustainable reef management a top priority for all tourism stakeholders. By framing coral reefs as a cash cow, The Nature Conservancy hopes to attract more investment in their protection and funding for sustainable conservation efforts.

Coral reefs face many threats including overfishing, pollution, natural disasters and coastal development, all of which have intensified in recent years. Saint Lucia’s reefs have sustained damage in the

past thanks to devastating hurricanes, in particular Hurricane Tomas in 2010, and have also been affected by disease and bleaching.

Environmental action groups, government and industry stakeholders have been collaborating to protect Saint Lucia’s coral reefs, with efforts ramping up in recent years as the threats deepen. Tourism leader, Sandals, has been particularly proactive through the work of the Sandals Foundation which funded a coral restoration project in May 2017 on the island’s west coast. The project established two coral nurseries in which over 1,300 corals grew on specially designed trees. Sandals Foundation’s Environmental Officer Jonathan Hernould commented: “We all depend upon the marine environment, especially islands like Saint Lucia. Coral reefs are an essential part of the marine ecoystem and without them our tourism industry would suffer greatly.”

Government has also taken important steps to preserve the reefs, helping to launch a Coral Reef Early Warning System in the Soufriere Marine Management Area last year and undertaking a 12-month consultancy project through the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project to assess the current state and needs of reefs within the Pointe Sable Environmental Protection Area. Consultant Jean-Pascal Deslarzes said: “Coral reefs are highly diverse and provide a large number of services. We can measure their value in terms of how people are attracted to witness their beauty, and their role in preserving the livelihoods of thousands of Saint Lucians.”

But there is always more to be done.

Saint Lucia is a member of the Caribbean Challenge Intiative, a regional coalition that aims to protect and sustainably manage 20 per cent of the Caribbean’s marine and coastal ecosystems by 2020. While many members of the CCI have met or surpassed the 20 per cent goal, Saint Lucia is still working towards this target.

In 2012, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had a dire warning for the region: take action now, or most Caribbean reefs will disappear within the next two decades. An IUCN study found that the region’s corals have declined by more than 50 per cent since 1970. One of the reasons given for this alarming decline was heavy tourism.

Reefs may be good for the tourism industry, but is the tourism industry good for reefs?

The Nature Conservancy believes that healthy reefs and a healthy tourism industry can coexist, provided both are sustainably managed.

This means mapping and assessing the current state of Caribbean reefs, raising awareness of their sensitivity to threats, and continued collaboration across the region to minimise the impact of human activity.

There are existing laws in place to guard against abuses, such as Saint Lucia’s Proceeds of Crime Act. But CIP citizens could be anticipated to have means and ways to evade and frustrate national laws, internationally. So what measures can combat that? As a starting point: a government pursuing reforms that bring greater transparency and the closure of loopholes to its financial sector. This would, in turn, strengthen the security of its CIP against those seeking residency chiefly for the ability to bank money more easily than they could do in their native nation.

The Cost of Citizenship

Citizenship today has been through a long journey and many evolutions since its origins with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The tight security and restrictions surrounding the acquisition of citizenship — usually available only by birth, a close family link via a parent or martial spouse, or a long emigration process — meant essentially that all nations collectively protected the institution of citizenship.

The rise of CIPs has changed all that. While a domestic investment is indeed a welcome contribution to a nation, parting with a couple of hundred thousand dollars in order to beome a CIP citizen in the Caribbean is not money that multi-millionaires and billionaires would feel financial pain over giving up.

Put simply, few would hold that financial investment signals strong links to a nation and its people.

This is not to suggest that CIPs have no possible benefits, nor that they need to be abolished, but recent events have illustrated that there remains an imbalance between how much a nation charges for a CIP and how little that cost may be to a HNWI. And if citizenship comes cheap to such an individual, it’s unlikely they will ever SBW truly value it.

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Saint LUCIAN HOTELIER TAKES ON CARIBBEAN CHALLENGE INITIATIVE Continued from page 7

awareness of the CCI, its goals and the opportunities presented by this initiative.

Investing my time and efforts in this volunteer leadership role is built on my desire to give back to a region which I have called home for many decades.”

This is not the first time Troubetzkoy has held a leadership role in the Caribbean; she served as President of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) from 2016 to 2018. In Saint Lucia, Troubetzkoy was recently re-elected President of the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association (SLHTA), a position she also held from 2010 to 2015. She was instrumental in the creation of Saint Lucia’s Tourism Enhancement Fund.

Since its inception, CCI has galvanized new funding and concrete action, and has supported Caribbean governments in meeting their conservation and sustainable development commitments. CCI describes itself as an “action shop”, emphasizing tangible impacts.

Participating members — including 11 governments and 15 companies — have formally declared their commitment to marine and coastal conservation and have agreed to take action to help achieve the initiative’s two major goals: to conserve and

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effectively manage at least 20 per cent of the marine and coastal environment by 2020; and to put in place fully functioning finance mechanisms that provide long-term, reliable funding to ensure a healthy marine and coastal environment into the future.

To date, five countries — Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, and the United States Virgin Islands — have achieved or surpassed the 20 per cent benchmark. The remaining countries — The Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines — are actively pursuing plans for declarations to meet their commitments by 2020. In her new role, Troubetzkoy intends to shepherd this process and mobilize high-level political support for major CCI advancements and events.

At the meeting in Saint Lucia, the CCI Steering Committee also announced the creation of its 2020 road map, a series of national level activities across the CCI countries to celebrate the countries which have met the “20-by-20” goal and also to encourage those still working towards their commitments.

The centerpiece of CCI’s financial architecture is the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF), which was established in 2012 and currently manages US$70 million towards effective management of the Caribbean’s marine environment.

CBF’s Chief Executive Officer, Yabanex Batista, commented: “The CBF, along with national level funds, aims to serve as a financial platform to attract and effectively deploy resources for conservation in the Caribbean. We look forward to working

hand in hand with Mrs. Troubetzkoy to galvanize action and increase financial support for achieving CCI goals.”

Financial commitments have been received from The Nature Conservancy, the Government of Germany through the German Development Bank (KfW) and the Global Environment Facility through The World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.

In welcoming the envoy, Chairman of the CCI Steering Committee, German Ambassador Holger Michael, stated: “The appointment of Karolin Troubetzkoy as CCI Envoy represents a significant step in achieving the CCI objectives of sustainable coastal area management.”

Eleanor Phillips, External Affairs Director for The Nature Conservancy in the Caribbean, added: “As one of the key architects of the CCI, The Nature Conservancy is excited to have Mrs. Troubetzkoy join as CCI Envoy, a role we see as critical to encouraging CCI member countries to achieve CCI goals by 2020.”

CCI was launched in 2008 in response to the crisis facing the Caribbean’s marine and coastal resources

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