Map of the British Virgin Islands (click to view full-size)
Background information
Legislation regarding biodiversity and impact assessment
International
The British Virgin Islands are included in the following Conventions under the UK's ratification:
- World Heritage Convention
- Ramsar Convention
- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
- Convention on Migratory Species
- Convention on Biological Diversity
- International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling
- Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (Cartagena Convention) Protocol on Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife
These Conventions are implemented through various national laws and policies, and through a number of protected areas: under the Ramsar Convention the salt ponds on the island of Anegada are a designated protected area, and the CITES Convention is implemented through the Endangered Animals and Plants Ordinance of 1976.
National
The national legislation for protected areas in the BVI is as follows:
- The National Parks Ordinance No. 29 1961 as amended by No. 3 1978
- The Marine Parks and Protected Areas Ordinance No. 8 1979
- The Protection of Trees and Conservation of Soil Ordinance Cap. 86, 1954
- The Wild Birds Protection Ordinance Cap. 98 1959 as amended 1980
In addition, the following legislation deals with protection of species and sites to some degree:
- The Fisheries Ordinance No. 18 1979
- The Beach Protection Ordinance 1985
- The Bird Sanctuary (Flamingo Pond, Anegada) Order 1977
Since a report for the OECS in 1986, the following two laws have been drafted: Protected Areas and Wildlife Act 1987, and a Coastal Conservation and Management Act 1991. These two laws are expected to make a major contribution to improving the capacity of the Territory in sound environmental planning
Key development areas and issues
The key economic sector in the BVI is now tourism, which has had significant impacts on coral and mangrove resources. The importance of marine-based tourism has, however, led to the creation of a number of marine protected areas.
Biodiversity interest
The vast majority of the BVI's 40-odd islands are rocky, steep islands emerging from submarine volcanoes - the exception being the island of Anegada, which is a flat emergent coral platform, reaching a maximum 8m a.s.l. The marine component of the territory is approximately five times greater than the land area. Many of the islands are surrounded by coral reefs, with rocky beach shorelines dominating the north coasts, and mangrove fringes and lagoons the south coasts. The mangroves of the BVI are considered a critical natural resource (this designation reached during a 1986 coastal zone management workshop), and are currently (?) the subject of a Mangrove Management Programme assisted by the OECS-NRMU.
A GIS-based habitat atlas of the BVI coastal and marine resources shows coastal development, marinas, jetties, beaches, dunes, mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs for the entire Territory.
Much of the work on species appears to be based on work covering the British and US Virgin Islands, as well as Puerto Rico - the nearest major island in the Caribbean. Within this work, over 20 plant species are recorded as endemic to this area, some of which are globally threatened (see table?). Two endemic butterfly species are recorded for Anegada. Of the 24 species of herptile recorded for the BVI, seven are endemic and several species which are globally threatened also occur, namely the critically endangered Roosevelt's giant anole Anolis roosevelti and the endangered Virgin Islands tree boa Epicrates monensis granti. Three of the four marine turtle species that occur round the islands are known to breed, although their populations are all declining.
Birds of importance in the BVI include: White-cheeked (Bahama) Pintail Anas bahamensis bahamensis, Black-necked Stilt Himantopus mexicanus, Bridled Quail-dove Geotrygon mystacea, White-crowned Pigeon Patagiaoenas leucocephala and Puerto Rican Screech-owl Megascops [Scops] nudipes. The most significant mammals around the islands are cetaceans, with Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae reported to migrate through Territorial waters on a regular basis.
Invertebrate pests are the main concern, particularly Hibiscus mealybug (Macronellicoccus hirsutus) and the papaya mealybug (Paracoccus marginatus), with - potentially - the agave weevil (Scyphophorus acupunctatus) to add to this list. Anegada Island suffering also through introduced mammals affecting the endemic and critically-endangered Anegada rock iguana (Cyclura pinguis). Mammal control and eradication has been carried out on several islands (Varnham 2006).
Protected Areas
A number of designated protected area types are found on the BVI, summarised below.
| Type | Number of sites |
|---|---|
| Bird Sanctuary | 20 |
| Forest Park | 2 |
| Marine Park | 1 |
| National Historic Site | 1 |
| National Park | 4 |
| Natural Monument | 3 |
Other area | 6 |
| Park | 5 |
Protected Area | 4 |
A single Ramsar site is also designated: the Western Salt Ponds of Anegada, covering 1,071ha. Two further sites are also proposed, though as yet undesignated: Anegada Eastern Ponds and the Horseshoe Reef, and Fat Hogs and Bar Bays, covering a total of 30,029ha.
Further information about the protected areas of the British Virgin Islands can be found here.