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THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2025
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Bahamas suffers ‘massive losses’ on flawed natural resource regime • Scientists say legitimate research ‘stifled’ by bureaucracy • AG: Few want to share commercial benefits with Bahamas • Permits taking 4-16 months, with fines of $7m for breaches By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A REGULATORY regime designed to protect Bahamian natural resources from foreign exploitation has instead sparked “massive losses in biodiversity” and “stifled” legitimate research vital to building the ‘blue economy’. Five scientists, including Dr Krista Sherman; Dr Craig Dahlgren of the Perry Institute for Marine Science; and Dr Nick Higgs, head of research and innovation at Cape Eleuthera Institute, in a paper published last week warned that failure to reform the Biological Resources and Traditional Knowledge Act and its accompanying regulations have undermined multiple initiatives including protection of this nation’s coral reefs. In a paper published by the environmental journal, MDPI, they asserted that the Act and its accompanying Access and Benefits Sharing (ABS) regime - which were passed into law and brought into effect under the Minnis administration - have created an “ineffective and excessively bureaucratic permitting system” for vital conservation research that has also resulted in “economic losses” for The Bahamas. Pointing out that it was critical for the Bahamian authorities to distinguish between pure research projects and those with a commercial element, the five wrote that “researchers have routinely waited between four to 16 months (and counting)” for their permit applications to be vetted and approved compared to the promised “streamlined process” of two to four weeks.
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Bahamas in $1bn boost via climate resilient investment By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas will boost its long-term economic output by over $1bn if it starts investing in climate-resilient infrastructure and protecting natural assets such as beaches and mangroves, the IMF is urging. The Washington D.C. based Fund, in a paper on climate change risks facing this nation, argued that heavy spending on mitigation and adaptation measures now could reverse what is forecast to be an up to 11 percent decline in Bahamian gross domestic product (GDP) by 2100 if no action is taken. Investing in climate-resilient airports, roads, schools and hospitals, as well as seawalls, artificial reefs and other flood and storm surge barriers, will help increase annual Bahamian economic output by between 5.5-6.8 percent “once physical assets are secured”, the IMF projected. And, to guard against the threat posed to a low-lying archipelago by sea level rise as a result of global warming,
When combined, the IMF said the increased output from climate-resilient infrastructure coupled with reduced losses from protection against sea level rise will raise The Bahamas’ long-term GDP by close to 9 percent. With 1 percent of GDP estimated as being $146m, such a boost is equivalent to a $1.314bn economic impact for The Bahamas. “The threat of climate change is here to stay. IMF analysis suggests that rising sea levels could place up to 41 percent of the land in The Bahamas, and 22 percent of its population, below sea level by the end of this century,” IMF economists Zamid Aligishiev, Beatriz GarciaNunes and Shane Lowe wrote yesterday. “Moreover, the country is positioned within the Atlantic hurricane belt, leaving it at high risk of hurricane damage. Left unaddressed, more severe natural disasters and slow-moving impacts from climate change could reduce The Bahamas’ national output by up to 11
• GDP 9% higher on infrastructure, natural assets spend • IMF: Nation’s 11% economic output loss with no action • Faces loss of half hotel beaches through sea level rise
THE AFTERMATH of Hurricane Dorain. the Fund added that investment in dune restoration, reefs and breakwaters could cut projected GDP losses by between 57 percent and 46.5 percent in percentage terms.
Photo:File
This, it projected, would slash the fall in economic output to just 1-2-2.3 percent as opposed to between 2.8-4.3 percent.
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Bahamas ‘proceeds’ on 15% corporate tax despite Trump By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
RYAN PINDER KC
THE Government will “proceed” with implementing The Bahamas’ own 15 percent corporate income tax and is not worried “at this point” that the move will place this nation at a competitive disadvantage. Ryan Pinder KC, the attorney general, in response to messaged Tribune Business inquiries told this newspaper yesterday that the Davis
administration has no plans to review the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT) in response to Donald Trump pulling the US out of the very same initiative that drove The Bahamas to make this tax reform. “The Bahamas is not going to review its commitment to DMTT as a result of the pronouncement by the Trump administration,” Mr Pinder asserted. “We have international obligations to implement. Our plan is to
proceed with the implementation of the DMTT regime passed by Parliament. “We do not have any concerns at this point that the pronouncement by the Trump administration puts The Bahamas in any competitive disadvantaged situation.” The Attorney General added that the new US president’s move will also have no consequences for the push by The Bahamas and other states for the United
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Applebee’s targets two more venues after Fusion opening By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net APPLEBEE’S yesterday said it has hired 165 persons as it celebrated the formal opening of its first location at Fusion Superplex with more outlets expected in the coming months. “In the next eight months, we should have two more locations,” director of operations Rayford Rahming revealed yesterday. “But they’ll be dual brands with IHOP.” Mr Rahming said they have employed around 165 people and are “looking
for more”, adding that their customer turnout is unprecedented. “Because our volumes are unprecedented, they’re second only to the Applebee’s in Times Square, New York, in the world, our complement of staff needs to be expanded- needs to be increased. We’re looking for bartenders. We’re looking for waitresses. We’re looking for runners… We’re looking for hostesses. We’re even looking for managers right now. “Business is great. We expected [it] because we know how Bahamians go.
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National Trust, activist on different sides over Park tenant’s eviction By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas National Trust (BNT) and a prominent environmental activist found themselves on opposing sides over the former’s termination of a water sports vendor’s lease at the Lucayan National Park. Joseph Darville, chair of Waterkeepers Bahamas and Save the Bays, swore a September 24, 2024, affidavit in support of Corey Valentino Cooper, proprietor of Lucayan Beach Spot and Gold Rock Beach Water Sports, who asserting that he “be allowed to continue his operation” and that
there was no sign he represented “a hazard to the area”. His witness statement formed part of the evidence supporting Mr Cooper’s bid for a Supreme Court injunction to prevent the BNT from “interfering” with his business operation at Gold Rock Beach in the Lucayan National Park. The vendor also sought the court’s intervention to allegedly prevent the Trust from obstructing his access to the beach; “making threatening telephone calls” to him; and “harassing and attempting to intimidate” him by
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