Welcome to the site of the British Virgin Islands Conservation Group
Dedicated to providing information on the history of our beloved British Virgin Islands and encouraging responsible development
BVIHCG provides these links for information purposes only, and does not take any responsiblity, nor necessarily endorse the content on them
INFORMATIVE LINKS ABOUT CURRENT CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS:
SMUGGLERS COVE DEVELOPMENT:
Smugglers cove history at Escape-bvi Read about the recent history of Smugglers Cove
Escape BVI Blog Entry on Smugglers Cove
Tribute to Bob Denniston by ARRL
BEEF ISLAND DEVELOPMENT:
Beef Island Golf and Country Club. One of the few golf courses in the world where you can dodge the landing airplanes!
Applied Development Holdings. Another site for The Beef Island Golf and Country Club
Beef Island Deveopment Island Sun article on Beef Island Development
Forbes article on approval of Beef Island Project
SCRUB ISLAND DEVELOPMENT:
Mainsail British Virgin Islands The official Mainsail site for the SCRUB Island development. This gives you the construction progress
Mainsail Resort, Spa and Marina Project development site
Scrub Island Deveopment Ark BVI's information on The Scrub Island Development
Diamond Cay Marina Development. Jost Van Dyke
Diamond Cay Marina Development
INTERESTING THREADS AND TIDBITS worth reading ... we have done the searching for you!
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS IN THE BVI'S:
Preserving Natures Secrets. Association of Reef Keepers and Conservation and Fisheries excellent documentry on development in the BVI. Once on this link, it is # 81
The British Virgin Islands Agency Report Dept of Disaster Management
Is the water clean? Cruise ship pollution in the BVI
Are developers going too far in the British Virgin Islands? Ed Hamiltons Charter Connection article Dec 2006
Those amazing mangroves! BVI Welcome Tourist guide article on the mangroves
http://www.irf.org/guanareefdamage.html Mega Yacht severely damages coral reef in Muskmelon Bay, Guana island
http://www.islandsun.com/2003-November/29112003/local2-v12i06.html Island Sun article re: Nov 03 flood
Leatherback turtles disappearing from the BVI. Way back in 1990 Conservation and Fisheries were concerned about turtles disappearing from around Beef Island and the BVI!
Cousteau calls for better management of BVI environment. Article in the Island Sun
Variable hydrology and salinity of salt ponds in the British Virgin Islands A FEW EXCERPTS:
Salt ponds are enclosed or mostly enclosed water bodies that occur within coastal mangrove wetlands. They are typically hypersaline, as defined by Hammer, 1986 [1], with water salinities typically in excess of 50 parts per thousand (ppt) [2]. Salt ponds and their surrounding mangrove forests, together known as "basin mangrove forests" [3], are the predominant type of coastal wetland in the Caribbean [4]. These wetlands provide important ecological services, including storm protection and flood mitigation, shoreline stabilization, erosion control, and retention of nutrients and sediments [5-7]. They also provide critical habitat and food resources for resident and migratory birds in the Caribbean [8].
Mangrove wetlands throughout the Caribbean are being replaced by coastal developments, and they are now considered to be one of the most threatened habitats on Earth [9]. Despite their ecological importance, salt ponds have received little scientific attention and remain poorly understood [10,11]. A thorough description of salt ponds is urgently needed to provide baseline information for wetland conservation efforts in the Caribbean and to establish frameworks for conservation and management protocols.
Anthropogenic activities greatly accelerate the evolutionary processes in salt ponds, thereby rapidly degrading the ecological benefits of salt ponds. Advantages for flood alleviation, sediment retention, shore-line stability, migratory bird populations and others are reduced as salt ponds become sites for landfill, dumping or building (all observed recently in the BVI). The consequent pressures on neighbouring ecosystems, such as silting of bays and reefs, justify further detailed analysis, monitoring and management of salt ponds.
GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE BVI'S:
British Virgin Islands National Parks
B-V-I.com. Cultural life in the British Virgin Islands
BVI Press office. Geared towards journalists, this site still features many pictures, information and all the latest press releases from the Tourist Board
http://www.irf.org/ Great BVI info
http:// www.jvdps.org jost van dyke preservation society
http:// www.fao.org/docrep/004/y1717e/y1717e09.htm Land Resources information in the Caribbean, Tortola
Wikipedia's history of the BVI
Jost Van Dyke Preservation Society
Developer for Villa Paradiso Smugglers Cove OTHER development in Nevis and the problems it is currently under
Village Paradiso Nevis. This is the site for the developers resort in Nevis
...and this is the link for the sale by Christies of the Nevis developmet
...and this is a link to Fodor's discussion of the Nevis property being closed
More informaiton on Villa Paradiso Nevis
GENERAL CARIBBEAN:
http://www.ccanet.net/ Caribbean Conservation Association
http://www.unitedcaribbean.com/ccc.html United Caribbean Conservation Corporation
UNEP/Caribbean Environment Programme: Coral Reef Management
Odds and Ends
