My essay on the environmental impacts of tourism in the Caribbean :D?

BooNaaNaa =]

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I study Tourism in school :)
Tell me what you think :)
I need to tweek
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Tourism in the Caribbean has grown rapidly since 1978, when families from all over the world enjoy traveling to the beautiful, tranquil Caribbean islands for a warm, fun holiday. Many Caribbean islands experienced a boom in tourism ‘by accident’ meaning that many Caribbean countries were not prepared for a rapid increase in food, water, electricity and land consumption.

Tourism in the Caribbean had began to damage local ecosystems, the increased demand for electricity, seafood and water had caused prices for these resources to reach record high levels of price. The countries of Antigua, St. Kitts, Barbuda, St. Nevis and Barbados have been listed as “water scarce” due to the large consumptions due mainly to tourist resorts, which use approximately five to ten times more water than the Caribbean’s residential areas.
Tourism has also caused a large increase in pollution, hotels in Jamaica and The Bahamas have recently been fined by Uebersax due to producing ‘high fecal pollution’ and now, as a result of this, the countries are being encouraged to discourage tourism for a short while until pollution levels decrease.

‘Power tourism’ in the Caribbean has caused hotel groups to have a higher authority than councils and environmental organizations in some Caribbean countries. For example, Urban Development Corporation wished to build a new 500 rooms complex in Negril, Jamaica, and although several organizations including the local Chamber of Commerce and the Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society wished to delay the construction; until the local sewage plant was upgraded, and the marine area was protected and given park status, work went ahead promptly ignoring these organizations concerns.

Caribbean countries are now finding ways to help preserve there environments. Barbados now has began using a ‘reverse osmosis’ technique which produces freshwater from seawater which ultimately should drop the demand on wells and natural coral freshwater resources. Other countries are now using solar, wind, and biomass energy to reduce their there levels of imported oils from abroad

‘Caribbean Action For Sustainable Tourism’ has created a plan of action for the tourism industry which contains ten important areas, waste minimization, energy efficiency, conservation and management, management of fresh water resources, waste water management, hazardous substances transport, land-use planning and management, design for sustainable tourism. It is the organizations hope that this plan will be applied to all resorts in the Caribbean and will help preserve the delicate ecosystem that has been destroyed by tourists.

Tourism in the Caribbean has also affected, and destroyed wildlife. Mainly due to new creatures being introduced to the countries and competing for food and habitat. Jamaica has the largest number of endangered animals in the Caribbean at 254, in
1872 Indian mongoose where imported to Jamaica to help control the number of rats in local sugarcane fields, the mongoose is now accountable for the extinction of five species. Soon after the mongoose’s arrival to Jamaica, it spread to other Caribbean islands and has also affected and endangered the wildlife in these countries.

A major part of the Caribbean tourism industry is through cruise ships. Cruise ships leave large amounts of pollution in the Caribbean ecosystem every year, ships also dump large amounts a waste, sometimes illegally, into the Caribbean Sea to which has damaging effects to coral reefs and marine wildlife.

The Caribbean had made several lawsuits towards cruise lines for ‘illegal, environmentally unsafe actions’, for example, Princess Cruises was fined millions of dollars in the 1990’s when passengers videotaped ‘plastic garbage bags being dumped into the sea’ and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines was fined $27 million when a Coast Guard took videotapes of oil pouring out of a Sovereign of the Seas ship in Puerto Rico.
Cruise ship pollution is now currently being monitored and regulated by the MARPOL to ensure all waste is disposed of properly; thereby protecting the local environment.
 
tourism is good, they depenately destroy the ecosystem ofcourse when unregulated. i feel we should develop a stratagy: fix number of people should be allowed as much as the place can sustain, to raise the revenu we can auction these fixed number of beds.
 
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