Sometimes, living on a small speck in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, we tend to forget that we are attached to the rest of the planet ... not to mention the universe. And so our concerns over the rapid urbanisation of Cayman seem to be just that - our overdevelopment problems. But, in fact, they reflect what is happening throughout the region, if not the planet as a whole.

The tragic effects of the Indonesian tsunami showed us that the destruction of coastal habitat - whether mangroves, coral reefs or sea grass - had a very clear connection to the disaster. Trash the protective ecosystems to build shrimp farms and resorts, and you reap the consequences: death and destruction.

Entire communities were wiped out by tidal waves where their protection was gone; other villages, with their buffers intact, survived. Tremendous economic damage was caused - billions of dollars worth.

Nobody thought of that when they were busy making a fast buck logging, dredging and filling ...whatever it took to develop their particular money-maker.

Now, in a recent article from Travel Weekly, we see a region-wide picture that puts our own development madness into the context of what is happening throughout the wider Caribbean. In an article entitled "Infinitely Upward" Ms Gay Nagle Myers gives us a stark picture of the Miamisation of the Caribbean - with barely a word about the ecological or sociological consequences.

The article opens with a view of the region from the perspective of the average tourist. "Where to stay?

is the pivotal question ... and there's not such an easy answer. The choices for today's visitors are ... daunting, but travel guidebooks, word-of-mouth recommendations, the guidance of agents, Web sites, blogs and clever packaging by operators help to winnow the choices," states Ms. Myers.

But when she takes a closer look at the choices, the industrialisation of tourism that is sweeping through the West Indies is mind-boggling.

Tourism industrialised

"With more than 300,000 rooms in 7,250-plus hotels, guesthouses, apartments and villas, and more opening faster than the price of gas rises, that decision can be more confusing than trying to decipher room categories and rate structures," the article continues. "Those totals, by the way, include 45,270 rooms in 471 properties in Cuba.

"Throw in an unparalleled building frenzy bulldozing its way down the sweeping curve of powder-white, palm-fringed beaches, and the ruckus could be enough to send those who yearn for the quaint beach shacks and barefoot beer joints of yesteryear off to isolated stretches and calmer seas elsewhere.

"There aren't a lot of those beach shacks left, although the Caribbean's small hotels and inns are a tough lot with fiercely protective clientele who balk at change and want few people to know where they go 'limin' - a West Indies word for kicking back and checking out."

And then Ms Myers goes on to look at precisely what kind of mega-buildings we are getting instead of those that attracted the quality tourists to the region in the first place. Tourists who loved the quiet, the wildlife, the diving, the solitude - everything you don't get in Miami! "Investors and developers are tramping sea grasses all over the region, funneling huge amounts of money, jump-starting island economies for a time by hiring lots of local labor, promising post-construction jobs in the hospitality industry and altering skylines with structures much higher than the palm trees," the story continues.

Does this sound at all familiar, folks?

Ms Myers continues: "New designs are emerging. These days, very few of the big hotel projects are just hotels. The catchphrase seems to be 'multipurpose destination resorts' that contain structures called condotels, (condominium hotels) along with all-suite properties and a growing list of must-have facilities: casinos, marinas, golf courses, shopping villages, private residences, villas and infinity pools galore.

Most condo owners, who benefit from the services and facilities of an on-site hotel, are more than happy to drop their fractional-ownership or timeshare units from time to time into hotel inventories to generate their own revenue streams."

Goodness me, look at what she notices next: "Not everybody is happy about this construction boom. In fact, the relationship between developer and islander often is fractious. A recent full-page ad in the New York Times by a group called the Waterkeeper Alliance hammered Marriott and Four Seasons for their planned 3,000-room developments along Puerto Rico's northeast coast.

Habitat destroyed

"The watchdog group claimed the projects would strip leatherback sea turtles, as well as 40 native and rare species of plants and animals, of their natural coastal habitats."

Then there are the mega-developments which are destroying much of Bimini and Guana Cay in the Bahamas. The hotel in Bimini will be run by Hilton but the big hotel operators point out - as did the Marriott in Puerto Rico: "We just manage the hotel, we're not the developer." Something we in Cayman know well enough from our recent experiences with Michael Ryan and the Ritz-Carlton.

There is public opposition to many of these projects - both local and international. The Privy Council in the UK will rule on the Guana Cay project this fall.

Ms Myers reports a typical example of such opposition in her story: "More than 300 people crammed into the East End Long Look community center on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands one night this summer to grill Hong Kong investor Raymond Hung about plans for an $80 million resort on Beef Island, a smudge off Tortola's east end and the site of the BVI's main airport."

She says that although the government first gave its stamp of approval to the project 12 years ago, reviewed it last year and signed a good-to-go agreement in December, "some islanders sensed paradise lost". Many residents are voicing serious concerns about the environmental impact of Beef Island Golf & Country Club Resort, which will be the largest development ever built in Tortola, with a five-star resort, an 18-hole golf course, a marina, residences, villas and a retail center.

Big developers never turned away

And so it goes throughout the region, because, although big development is a touchy issue on several fronts, investors, bankers, developers and owners are rarely turned away by island governments. And one of the reasons for this is the inability to see beyond the almighty dollar.

Some other developments causing friction mentioned in the article include:

Turks and Caicos, where there now are seven-story buildings and traffic jams, and where it was recently announced that Vienna-based Property Collection will launch (on uninhabited Dellis Cay) a $1.5 billion hotel and villa project, which the firm modestly describes as "the largest development in the hemisphere"

The Bahamas: "When it burst upon the scene 12 years ago, Atlantis was the biggest game in town. Today, it has 2,317 rooms, but that's nothing compared to what lies ahead for Atlantis." Next year Kerzner International will complete a billion-dollar expansion of his Paradise Island playground, complete with the addition of Waterscape, which will reportedly be the largest water park in the Caribbean. (Why do we need a water park when we have the ocean? I wonder.) The park will have water slides and rides that "will transport guests through tropical jungles, whitewater rapids and underground waterways".

Expansion of the facilities includes the 600-suite Cove Hotel, a 21-storey tower, a 495-unit condotel, two pools, access to two beaches, a fitness facility, many restaurants, the Caribbean's largest casino, the 30,000-square-foot Spa, a "Dolphin Education Center" and a 65,000-square-foot Bahamian marketplace.

Still in the Bahamas, Baha Mar Development is planning a 1,000-acre, mixed-use resort of 3,550 rooms in four Starwood-branded hotels and the debut of the first Caesars hotel in the Caribbean since Caesars was acquired by Harrah's in June 2005. The first phase of the behemoth undertaking represents an investment of $1.6 billion. A huge casino will follow in 2010.

"Even the best-kept 'secret' locations are not safe," says Ms Myers. Consider remote Rum Cay, an island nine miles long by five miles wide, 40 miles east of Great Exuma in the Bahamas Out Islands, population 100. In May, ground was broken there for a $700 million mixed-use resort development project that will include a 200-slip marina for mega-yachts, a luxury hotel, residences, restaurants and shops, a spa and fitness facilities.

The Dominican Republic: The 11,000-acre, multibillion-dollar Costa Bayana project west of Puerto Plata on the island's north coast will consist of three luxury resort communities called Atlantica, Bayana and Oceana. The complex will have a total of 28 boutique hotels, 900 marina slips, six signature golf courses, three cruise ship piers and 11,000 residential units priced from $306,000 for a one-bedroom loft up to $5.2 million for a 7,750-square-foot oceanfront estate.  Two airports are also being built, one for private jets and an international airport near Montecristi, a 10-minute drive from Oceana.

"The 30,000-acre Cap Cana project now under construction south of Punta Cana is destined to lead the Dominican Republic pack in sheer size," says Ms Myers. The $1.5 billion project runs along 3.5 miles of beach and includes golf courses, condos, several hotels, thousands of private homes, marinas and a marina village with guests ferried to and from yachts by Venice-style vaporetto water taxis.

"Roco Ki, a Taino Indian phrase meaning 'honoring the land,' promises to be another seaside jaw-dropper," she adds. Situated on four miles of beach in the Punta Cana area and totalling 2,700 acres, it will feature signature golf courses, a residential community, a marina and a Westin resort with a spa, five pools and a marina.

Anguilla: A St Regis Resort at Temenos will debut its Greg Norman-designed golf course, the first on Anguilla, in November. The rest of the $500 million project will open in winter 2008, including the first 120-room St Regis hotel and spa on the island, estate homes, villas and 64 St Regis Residences, priced from $1.4 million to $4.5 million each.

"Another biggie on the small island is the Kor Hotel Group's Viceroy Anguilla Resort & Residences project, which has garnered more than $250 million in residential sales since its groundbreaking last year," the article goes on. Also in the works is Antigua's first new condotel in 20 years, a 200-room project of villas and bungalows.

And the list goes on ...

In its first-ever report on the Caribbean hotel industry, Atlanta-based PKF Hospitality Research found that Caribbean hotels continued to be profitable for owners and operators due to increasing rates of travel to the region. From 2003 through 2005, stayover visitors to the Caribbean grew by 19 per cent, to 22.5 million.

"In a new era of Caribbean tourism, the bar has been raised again, with demands for even higher standards of leisure and luxury. This has presented hotels with opportunities to create new streams of revenue," according to Scott Smith, vice president of PKF Consulting.

So, that's what it all boils down to, folks. We're just new streams of revenue for the rich. And while investor/developers like John Mittens, chairman of the Bahamas' Montana Holdings Ltd., pledge to have "the utmost sensitivity to Rum Cay's environmental harmony and ecological balance", we know that simply isn't possible.

When the ecology of any small island - in itself limited by its mere size - is severely damaged by these kinds of mega-developments, there is no going back. When the social fabric of a small island is disrupted by the kind of massive construction projects we in Cayman are host to, there is also no going back.

This overwhelming trend does not bode well for the islands, their wildlife and their people. It seems that nobody has the guts to stand up and say "no" to the destruction of our homes and our culture.

Thank you for your e-mails. I would encourage everyone who feels strongly enough to contact the Hornet to send their opinions to the local news media as well. If you wish to contact the Green Hornet directly, you can e-mail me at: caymanhornet@yahoo.com. All messages will be treated confidentially.