King Charles is planting trees. But here in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, we are cutting down life — hacking away at the last of our sustaining forests. The monarch has changed, but the descendants are keeping on, chopping away in the new world.

What's happening at Canash Bay is not development. It is the destruction of a legally protected ecosystem — in broad daylight, with almost no institutional response. The colonial extraction never ended. It just changed hands.

The South Coast Marine Conservation Area (SCMCA) is the only marine conservation area on mainland St. Vincent. It stretches 2.2 square kilometres from Indian Bay to Johnson Point, encompassing five bays — White Sands, Canash, Calliaqua, Villa, and Indian Bay, inclusive of Young Island. It was designated under Section 22 of SVG's own Fisheries Act No. 8 of 1986, which gives the responsible Minister authority to declare any area of fishery waters and adjacent land a marine reserve where special measures are necessary.

Two major private developments are now underway inside that designated zone. One developer alone has cleared more than 70 percent of the Blue Lagoon mangrove forest. Canash Bay holds three of the five remaining mangrove forests on mainland St. Vincent — Blue Lagoon, Canash, and White Sands. The island's only other remaining mangroves are Brighton and the nearly extinct Sinhill. On September 17, 2018, the National Parks, Rivers and Beaches Authority planted over 280 mangrove seedlings — Red Mangrove, White Mangrove, and Buttonwood — at Canash Beach and Great Head Bay, through the South Coast Marine and Coastal Rehabilitation Adaptation Project. Those seedlings have been bulldozed. The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) has formally designated this site as containing vital nearshore habitats — coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangrove ecosystems that support sea turtles and shorebirds.

This land was not given to us to sell. It was given to us to protect — for the people who came before us, and the children who will come after.

This is not a legal grey area. The protections exist at three levels.

LOCALLY: The Fisheries Act (1986) designates the SCMCA. The Forest Resources Conservation Act (1992) governs mangrove clearing. The Wildlife Protection Act (1987) protects species within the area. SVG has 35 designated protected areas established under these Acts. Destruction inside a designated marine reserve without ministerial authorisation is a violation of the law that created the reserve.

REGIONALLY: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a Contracting Party to the Cartagena Convention — the only legally binding regional environmental treaty for the Wider Caribbean — and is one of 19 signatory nations to its SPAW Protocol (Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife), which entered into force in 2000. The SPAW Protocol legally requires each Party to prohibit activities with adverse effects on designated protected areas. The Fisheries Act itself is part of the OECS harmonised legislation, giving the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States standing to engage on enforcement. A formal complaint can be filed with the UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme secretariat.

INTERNATIONALLY: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ratified the UNFCCC on September 5, 1996 and submitted its first Nationally Determined Contribution in June 2016. SVG is also a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework commits nations to protecting 30% of terrestrial, marine, and coastal lands by 2030 and restoring at least 30% of degraded ecosystems. Clearing one of five remaining mainland mangrove forests, inside a designated protected area, is a direct contradiction of commitments SVG made to the world.

The failure here is not legislative. The law is clear at every level. The failure is enforcement — and the political will to treat a legally protected zone as though the law actually applies inside it.

We have seen this cycle before. Ashton Lagoon on Union Island was a designated Conservation Area when a marina was approved and destroyed four mangrove species, wiped out seagrass beds, and collapsed local fisheries in the mid-1990s. Thirteen years of sustained restoration work by Sustainable Grenadines brought it partially back. Hurricane Beryl took most of that restoration in a single day on July 1, 2024.

King Charles plants trees for the cameras. Here in the Caribbean, we are still waiting for someone in authority to protect the ones we have left.

What remains of Canash Bay's mangroves is disappearing now. The time to act — legally, publicly, and formally — is now.

— Akley Olton | Island Rebel Media | Cultural Ambassador, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

And I believe one of the greatest battles of our generation is learning how to redirect our time and resources toward protecting the systems that ultimately protect us. Cool video akley

My son , thank you for standing up for land of our birth. It brings tears to my eyes ❤ thank you my son . Stay blessed ❤🙏

Your passion is appreciated.

Thanks for your good work and for raising awareness about this very important matter. We seem to be ignorant about worth and value of our future in the Caribbean islands. Keep up the good work.

This would always be the case in this world where ever we go.

Unbelievable 😮 thank you for highlighting 🙏

We are surprise, to see such destruction, of the cost,
politicians are opportunists

Keep the fight brother, with you all the way.

It is about time Vincentians for  support groups to save ti protection of rhe areas of conservation

Humans like to learn the hard way..When the sea take back the land… tears will flow. Protect sweet Vincy. Politicians are all the same…some take a little and some take a lot.     Selfishness.

First one of your video I see. You got sense. Awareness is everything! At same time them man working to feed their families. They are not the problem. Man right is politics. 🙏🏽🇻🇨🇬🇧

i was shocked when i was passing by and realize they were destroying the mangrove

On point. It is not right is true. This is happening all across the Caribbean, beaches are slowly been exclusive for foreigners developers

Support

What? did they cut the mangrove and build a wall?

Wow! was there couple years back.  Thank you for the video it was hard to watch
Environmental cost is unimaginable with climate predications set to get worse. Hurricane Marie just decimated the coastline of Southern California,  reclaiming the beach and destroying homes. Man-made sea defences need to be continually maintained who will take on the cost, once the road is built and the mangrove removed.
Tourists need to be re-educated understanding the beauty of a place isn't the white washed aesthetically designed hotels, but the natural beauty of what already exists. Until this happens no where is safe from financial gain to please a few individuals.

very sad. same done in Trinidad to put concrete and ppl. Destruction of animals and nature

The government in SVG urgently needs to change the law regarding high water mark. In Grenada, the law strictly prohibits private development within 165 feet (50 meters) of the high water mark to keep coastal areas and beaches open to the public. In Bequia people are trying to fence areas close to the beach. It’s sad!

woww why did they destroy the mangroves ,they built a road on the beach 💔