Please save Asa Wright, Minister

THE EDITOR: Sometime in January we would have read the terrible news about our beautiful Asa Wright Nature Centre closing down or the eco-lodge permanently closing.

I wanted to cry after reading the news. Later on I read that the people from centre had requested proposals for a concession to operate the eco-lodge for the next ten years.

I today plead with the Minister of Tourism and Culture and all other relevant personnel to please treat this matter with the centre urgently. With all the discussions from the COP26 Climate Summit and wanting to protect the environment there is an urgent need to save the centre and every other wildlife conservation location.

Please don't tell me the Government does not have the money to ensure that this gem of a place reopens and encourages international tourists to visit. We citizens don’t want to hear any old talk, we are not in the mood; find the money, check the treasury, etc. Eco-tourism and eco-protection and/or sustainability are huge priorities now.

Environmental preservation should be part of the secondary school curriculum among many other things, but let us get serious about eco-tourism and eco-protection or sustainability.

Come on Minister Randall Mitchell, Carnival 2022 cannot be the only thing people are concerned with. Yes, we have noted that Altanta, Orlando, Miami and the Cayman Islands have had successful carnivals this year and now the Bahamians are going to have a Carnival bubble, but we need to preserve Asa Wright and the other wildlife conservation locations urgently.

J ALI

via e-mail