Re-define the territory of SVG

24.JULY.09

Editor: The preamble to the draft defines St. Vincent and the Grenadines as being comprised of islands “inhabited and uninhabited” and gives the names of the major ones.{{more}}

We should instead define the territory of SVG as comprising a regional space in the East Caribbean archipelago including all the waters bounded by lines of latitude to the north and south and lines of longitude to the east and west, and including whatever islands lie within those waters; and these lines should include the extended boundary that comprises our economic zone. Lines of latitude and longitude are given in the preamble, but it is not clear whether they refer to land boundaries or maritime boundaries.

I advise this for two reasons. The first is the land grab that Venezuela demonstrated with respect to an islet that appeared off Dominica. The second is the effect that global warming will have on low lying places around the world. Over the next two or three centuries, our land space will diminish and we will have to plan, like people in other parts of the world, to live at sea. Our constitution should leave no doubt as to the boundaries of SVG under those circumstances.

It will be argued that this is not the customary way of delineating boundaries, but then the consequences that we are about to experience from global warming are not customary either. We may need to lead the world in this matter.

C.B. Harold