On 22 June 2021, a group of UN experts sent a letter to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, expressing “deep concerns” about the impacts of the Barbuda Ocean Club and PLH’s supporting airport. 

To date, the Government has declined to respond.  The Letter included concerns for the citizens of Barbuda’s human rights being violated.  Including Barbudan’s Right to a clean, healthy, safe, and sustainable environment; Right to non-discrimination in economic, social, and cultural rights; the Right to and adequate standard of living, food, clothing, and housing; the Right to Life; the Right to non-interference with privacy, home, family or correspondence; and the Freedom of Expression.  

“We would like to express our deep concerns regarding the potential impacts of the Barbuda Ocean Club Project on human rights, including the rights to food, water and sanitation, housing, and a healthy environment, as well as cultural rights.” 

— UN Special Rapporteurs’ Joint Statement to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda

Palmetto Point (where the resort development is starting as we type) is home to one of the most perfect barrelling righthand point-breaks in the world.   The surf break exists as it is because of numerous precise factors, such as: sand dunes, ocean currents at that exact spot, size and shape of sediment, movement of underwater sand, wind, flora, fauna, and mangrove wetlands.  The proposed construction in Palmetto point threatens the fragile coastal morphology which could destroy the wave forever.  The construction of the Barbuda Ocean Club on top of Palmetto Point will destroy the ecosystem, which could destabilise the rest of the island and jeopardise human settlements.   The construction of Barbuda Ocean Club also presents challenges for access to the surf break- there are currently fences and guards declaring ‘private property’, even though the PLH LLC’s right to privately own the land is still highly contested.  

The new construction proposes building hundreds rooms in resorts and private villas on top of a sand dune, on an island with very little infrastructure.  This means the massive amount of waste that will be generated has nowhere to end up but the beaches, local wetlands, and the ocean.  

The development in Barbuda is occurring directly in a LEGALLY PROTECTED wetland.  The Codrington Lagoon National Park is a Category II Protected Area under the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and a designated Wetland of International Importance under the Rasmar Convention since 2005.  Antigua and Barbuda, and the United States are 2 of the 171 countries who have signed the Rasmar Convention treaty protecting the wetlands.  As such, the American companies such as PLH and Discovery Land Company are both responsible for complying with the national legal system in the country of development (Antigua and Barbuda) and the country of incorporation (United States).  Both the foreign corporations and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda have legal obligations to conserve the wetlands and the flora and fauna.