Why Nature Matters
It becomes very easy to not notice nature as we go about our busy lives. We become complacent, either to the outstanding beauty of a banana quit bathing in a fresh rain puddle, or the infuriating fear of a termite infestation, or the narrow focus of an ant crossing our path unconcerned about the world of giants it passes through. We’re so accustomed to these types of experiences, that we put very little thought into our reactions to them. Yet when we truly see something that moves us personally, we can’t unsee it. We can’t unfeel it. We are shifted ever so slightly in a new direction.
When I came to work at the DoE, I considered myself an environmentalist. Looking back, I now realise that I had no idea what that word even meant. Since working with this fascinating team of scientists, biologists, administrators, conservation officers, engineers, divers, and everything in between, I’ve come to better understand why nature matters, both from a scientific perspective as well as a personal one.
“Biodiversity loss” for example, may seem like just a description for losing a few birds here or there, but it’s actually a global crisis. Biodiversity is crucial for maintaining the stability and resilience of global ecosystems because all of the ways in which all living things interact with each other and their environment is intrinsically complex. When biodiversity declines, ecosystems become more vulnerable to disturbances such as diseases, invasive species, and climate change – the effects of which are all evident today in Cayman. Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) and a disease ravaging long-spined urchins have both emerged from unconfirmed origins and are decimating marine ecosystems throughout the region. Invasive species like green iguanas, roaming cats and dogs, and even feral chickens, destroy native species and habitats while reproducing at rates our native iguanas, birds, snakes, frogs and insects can’t keep up with, throwing the entire food chain off balance. Just this past February, a Nor’wester pummeled our west shore causing extensive damage to coastal properties generally expected to withstand such sub-hurricane weather.
With all this doom and gloom, it’s easy to tune out. But I have hope because I know there are warriors trekking in the bush for hours to assess how many Sister Islands Rock Iguanas we have left, diving 4 times a day to apply antibiotic paste to infected corals, analyzing building plans to see what advice we can give to make them more sustainable, guarding sea turtle nests all night from poachers, installing and repairing all of the buoys and moorings around the islands to keep boaters, divers and our reefs safe, monitoring our Brown Booby nests to better understand how to save them from local extinction, dropping cameras into the deep sea to learn from what’s down there, surveying the largest active Nassau Grouper spawning site in the world as it continues to recover from historic overfishing, monitoring our sea turtle nests which are slowly but steadily increasing thanks to Cayman’s long term protections and releases, and going out to talk to the public about all of this incredible work that is being done to better understand and protect our uniquely Caymanian species and natural habitats. All of these things, and so much more of what the many dynamic teams across our Civil Service do for our land and people, give me hope.
I hope that we will continue to see and feel all of the wonder and awe in our natural world. I hope that we will learn how to adapt to change, even if it feels uncomfortable at first. I hope that we will harness the prosperity of prioritizing nature for our community and country. Because nature matters. Even more now than ever before.
