Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Puerto Rico has long suffered from a number of serious environmental problems, including
population growth and rapid urbanization, deforestation, erosion of soil, water pollution and
mangrove destruction. While Puerto Ricans still have a long way to go toward undoing gen-
erations of damage and preserving their natural resources, the past few decades have seen an
increase in the level of awareness, resources and action dedicated to conservation efforts.
CONSTRUCTION VERSUS CONSERVATION
Unchecked development has long been Puerto Rico's biggest environmental threat.
Big developers and hotel companies regularly eye the country's lush coastline and
pristine beaches in search of their next site. As economically beneficial as tourism
might be, its continued expansion could lead to a law of diminishing returns. If the
Enchanted Island suffers many more reconfigured coastlines or bulldozed palm
groves, it will no longer be worthy of its nickname.
Many argue that development - particularly in the tourism sector - has already gone
too far. Puerto Rico currently has a higher population density than any of the 50 US
states, with an average 1000 people per sq mile. It also supports one of the highest
concentrations of roads in the world. Outside of the central mountains, it's rare to
drive for more than a mile or two without coming across a housing complex or shop-
ping mall, and the island's peripheral coast road is often more like a parking lot than a
highway.
One perennial worry for environmentalists is the flouting of property laws, an oc-
curance that regularly sees buildings going up on protected land. Side-stepping protec-
tion laws, large hotel properties often merely act as a cover for future subdivisions and
within a couple of years a comparatively new resort will be shuttered up to make way
for a housing estate.
Grassroots pressure from conservations has already yielded results, though. In
2007, a proposed condo development was indefinitely blocked by community groups
in Loíza Aldea, near San Juan. If realized, this project would have erected an 880-unit
gated community, a casino, tennis courts and a beach club at Piñones on one of Puerto
Rico's last undeveloped beaches.
Another contentious and resurrected battle is brewing near Luquillo over the
pristine land known as the Northeast Ecological Corridor. It is the second most im-
