Two divers rotate pieces of coral back to their original position after an accident caused by the Dutch construction company BAM International on the island of Curaçao in 2017. / OCEAN ENCOUNTERS
With the worst of the pandemic over, this summer the cruise ships have returned to Curaçao. Tourists arrive on the Caribbean island, an overseas territory of the Netherlands, via two large piers, the second of which, Tula, was built in 2017 to attract around a million passengers a year. But its construction by the Dutch companies BAM International, a subsidiary of Royal BAM Group, has left serious injuries - equivalent to seven football fields - in one of the most valuable assets that this territory has: its fringe reef - which surrounds almost the entire coast of the country - which will take two decades to recover. The government of the colony, which has not responded to this newspaper, has not requested compensation from the company.Several experts point out that the absence of a common European law for these cases makes it difficult to demand redress from subsidiaries by lengthening the time and increasing the cost of litigation. Company sources explain that the damage occurred only in the established area and that the Port Authorities of Curaçao agreed to finance the construction and management of a marine park in it.
The European Commission wants to change the rules of the game with the future directive on Sustainable Corporate Governance, which aims to hold companies that commit environmental damage legally responsible.
However, the European body has postponed until the autumn, at least, the approval of the draft directive due to the objections of countries that fear that it is too invasive in the management of their companies,
reports Bernardo de Miguel
.
The delay came despite the fact that the European Parliament approved in March - by an overwhelming majority - a resolution urging the Commission to adopt such regulations as soon as possible.
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The Dutch Social Democratic MEP Lara Wolters, who presented the text of the resolution and has publicly denounced the impunity of BAM, explains that, had there been common European legislation, accidents like the one in Curaçao could have been avoided. “It is an example of incredible irresponsibility. We need a cultural change and, when the worst happens, demand legal responsibility from companies, ”he says by phone from Brussels. When the rule is passed, it will be easier to prosecute companies and obtain reparations.
Marine biologist Didier de Bakker maintains that there are between 60 and 70 species of coral in the Caribbean and their protection is essential for Curaçao. Corals are essential for fishing, because they maintain the biodiversity of the area, and also for tourism - which enters the public coffers of the island about 373.5 million dollars a year, 18% of the national GDP, according to the NGO Waitt—, since many divers choose this destination for their dives. Both sectors are the basis of the island's economy.
Professional diver Ândhiela van Hoof-Buso was teaching underwater at the end of April 2017 when she suddenly heard the roar of an engine.
Once on the surface, she saw a tugboat that was a short distance from the shore located four kilometers west of Santa Ana Bay. The woman tells by phone from the capital, Willemstad, that when she finally returned to the water she saw different corals lying down, some up to 5,000 years old, and with dents caused by the movement of the cables that supported the work platform.
Work to restore damaged corals in Curaçao.
Estimates from the Carmabi research center indicate that as a result of the damage caused by BAM, 33.2% of the coral colonies have suffered damage - among them, four species that are in danger of extinction - and the losses have amounted to more than half a million euros. Species affected include rock star coral, elkhorn, and staghorn. The scientific director of the entity, Mark Vermeij, describes by telephone the affected area as a "plowed field" and estimates that the reef will take about 20 years to recover. For its part, the Dutch construction company has confirmed in an email that it does not face any litigation over the episode in relation to corals.
Curaçao's fringe reefs are found along the coast and are more abundant than barrier or atoll reefs. Although the low incidence of hurricanes in the southern Caribbean has made the island's reef one of the best preserved in the area, coral cover has been reduced in some areas from 34% to 16% in four decades. De Bakker says that tourism and population growth has created an unfavorable environment for corals with the overabundance of nutrients in the water.
Spanish diver Pol Bosch, who is dedicated to restoring corals in a marine park in Curaçao, believes that what needs to change is water treatment and fishing practices.
"The loss of coral is going to be unsustainable for the planet because that is where there is more oxygen exchange and a source of nutrients for us," he says.
After the damage to the reef was discovered, Bosch and around 50 volunteers helped to place the lying specimens.
“The tissue damage looked good.
It took us two days to clean them to prevent dirt from preventing the capture of nutrients ”, he says.
Legal mess
Over the years, corporate giants have taken advantage of the weakness of third country legal systems due to the high cost and length of litigation.
This was the case with the Nigerian subsidiary of the British-Dutch oil company Shell, which took 13 years to convict a Dutch court in The Hague for the oil spills in Nigeria's Niger Delta between 2004 and 2007.
Alejandro García Esteban from the European Coalition for Corporate Justice explains that, unlike what is proposed by the recently approved Transparency Law by Germany, future European regulations want employers to also monitor the value chains “of other entities that are not necessarily direct suppliers ”.
This would also include subsidiaries, which are more difficult to control.
A diver with a coral on the island.
Some European companies have put in place such a control mechanism, but a Commission report last year concluded that they constitute only a third of the total and that voluntary measures have not had the desired effect. Esteban comments that the aspect of civil liability, contemplated by the French due vigilance law, must be taken into account when constructing a harmonized European legislation. Since 2017, France can impose fines on both the parent companies, of 5,000 employees in its territory and 10,000 worldwide, as well as subcontractors and suppliers. "Civil liability is the main element fought by the employers for fear of frivolous and abusive lawsuits, but it is the last resort for potential victims to have access to justice and reparation," says Esteban.The Netherlands has followed in the footsteps of the Gallic country and in its bill, adopted in March, provides for prison sentences for damage caused to people and the environment.
National limitations
Carmen Márquez Carrasco, from the Department of Public International Law and International Relations at the University of Seville, believes that this "normative cascade" is positive because it "encourages resolving national limitations."
In this way, he argues, pressure increases for the Commission to go ahead with common legislation.
For his part, Saskia Pepping, whose company MVO Nederland has studied the relationship between the value chains of the Dutch textile sector and forced child labor in the cotton fields in Turkey, believes that “it is no longer worth looking the other way”.
The Dutch Executive ruled on the possible environmental repair and said that it should be the autonomous government of the island that requested it. Despite the fact that the coral reef is protected by the Cartagena Protocol, which provides for the right to restore environmental damage, so far the island's Executive has not requested compensation. BAM sources assure that in the phase prior to the construction of the pier, the island government required the public company Port Authorities of Curaçao to disburse 1.8 million euros for the construction and management of a 20-kilometer marine park because "it was known in advance that the damage was inevitable ”.
In February, the Dutch news portal Follow the Money revealed, however, that the area of damage was greater than allowed and accused the Dutch government of inaction.
The director of the Carmabi center, Mark Vermeij, laments the negligence with which BAM has carried out the construction of the second pier: "We understand its importance for tourism, but it could have been done more intelligently."
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