Barbados faces legacy of colonialism and debt in its soil

The climate emergency started with the development of plantation economies and the deforestation of the lands of the Caribbean and the Americas. The industrial revolution, at the root of the climate crisis, was funded by the exploitation of monoculture economies such as sugar, cotton and rice.

As a coconut farmer in Barbados, I can see the legacy in the actual soil and topography that we work. Coco Hill Forest, a regenerative agroforestry farm and forest, is beautiful to look at but when you scratch the surface you can see the history of trauma, how this land has been exploited and sterilised. The land is scarred by hundreds of years of colonial monoculture extraction, which has continued to this day, leading to loss of topsoil, soil infertility, mud flows and land abandonment. Barbados once had primeval forests that produced everything that the indigenous inhabitants needed. But now we grow little and depend on imports for 70%  of our food.

The Spanish, English, French and Dutch built their empires through the exploitation of resources and people, starting with the Caribbean and the Americas, then Africa and Asia. The sugar cane and plantation economy it spawned generated so much wealth in Barbados that the model was copied and replicated in the Carolinas and North America.
Huge wealth was generated by dedicating Barbados to producing sugar for export, wealth that funded the industrial development of the British Empire. 

Barbados is one of the few places in the world where the entire land space was commercialised for sugar cane. However, a lucrative sugar economy came at the expense of diverse production for domestic food requirements. It also led to huge loss of both flora and fauna biodiversity. One can also argue that 400 years of monocrop has also created a dependency culture for imported foods and solutions. Barbados therefore lacks food security – 48% of residents are estimated to be food insecure.

Now the climate crisis brings changing rainfall patterns, droughts and devastating hurricanes. The costs mount and the result is that we get deeper and deeper in debt to the countries that colonised and exploited us in the first place.

Coco Hill Forest

We use regenerative agroforestry methodologies at Coco Hill, an area in central Barbados that still retains remnants of a pre-Columbus forest, despite its history as a sugar plantation. Although the land has been abandoned since the middle of the 20th century, the old sugar cane planting beds are still there, right to the ridge edges,  every available square inch was used to plant sugar cane. The soil was tilled in furrows, all planted downhill, so when the rains came, huge amounts of topsoil were washed away, eventually leading to mudslides and then later to abandoned gullies. It was abandoned, but the erosion and soil sterility continues. It is estimated that 50% of the topsoil in the Scotland District area has been eroded.

For us at Coco Hill, this is an opportunity to take this abandoned land and return it to a food forest. We must attempt to address the soil erosion and infertility and find a way to transform an area that represents 17% of our landmass into a sustainable and resilient food system.

Coco Hill Forest practices regenerative agroforestry. We go back to the idea of mimicking the forest and intercropping many different species of trees. Coco Hill is a space that deconstructs monocrops and monoculture agriculture. The coconut is our symbol of climate change adaptation as the coconut is considered the “Tree of Life”,  it gives you water, milk, oil, sugar, flour and many other products. Its roots help keep soil and it can grow in sand or clay. It is also hurricane resistant.

If Coco Hill can thrive, it will demonstrate the potential of regenerative agriculture, linked with the tourism, creative arts and energy sectors, to revitalize long-abandoned spaces. Regenerative economics could be an inspiration for other people to follow at least. But that would need investment and commitment to agriculture.

Drought and the climate emergency

However, climate change, including prolonged periods of drought, is having a serious impact on Barbados and driving people away from farming. Our contribution to the fossil fuel emissions that have caused climate change has been negligible, but we live the results every day. This brings substantial and long-term costs.

Rural communities are having to go without consistent water supply for long periods. The drying up of aquifers and volatile rainfall patterns are having a disastrous impact on farmers, affecting yields and raising the cost of water required for crops.  Barbados  is among the ten most water-stressed countries in the world, with only 350 cubic metres per capita of renewable water resources a year, around a third of the UN threshold for water scarcity. This ultimately impacts national food security, as the country is far away from producing the food it needs. 

Our water distribution system is also a huge challenge, as parts of it dates to the 1860s, with the result that as much as 60% of our domestic water supply leaks back. The government lacks resources to invest in replacing ageing water infrastructure, as well as for water conservation and seed banks. This means that water is too expensive for farmers. 

Debt

As a result, Barbados is in a serious debt crisis. The British colonial authorities did not  invest in infrastructure until eleven years prior to independence. This sudden rush of investment left us with debts of over $25 million. The subsequent collapse of the sugar industry meant that we were never able to get out of debt.

 We are not considered poor enough to have access to cheap loans and grants from international institutions, so we have to borrow at high interest from private lenders on the international finance market. When we are hit by drought, or the pandemic, or rising food and fuel prices, it becomes difficult to keep making the repayments.

Our public debt was over 140% of GDP in 2020, the highest level in the Caribbean and amongst the highest in the world. This means that the country has to spend a large part of our revenue on paying creditors. Our debt payments are higher than our spending on healthcare. This alongside an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme that has imposed significant cuts to public services, hitting hard the most vulnerable people and communities.

 The Covid pandemic worsened our debt levels, so we have had to suffer the austerity policies without solving the debt problem. The Caribbean as a whole is experiencing a silent debt crisis, as well as being on the frontline of the climate emergency.

The IMF austerity programme means that we do not  have wiggle room to spend on development projects or developing our infrastructure. The government simply does not  have resources to invest in development projects, including upgrading our ageing water infrastructure and addressing food insecurity through regenerative agriculture projects such as Coco Hill. 

Conclusion

Before Barbados’ independence, there was no real development to create a sustainable economy,  so now we have to borrow funds to try to do that. We are stuck in a climate debt trap, in which we have to borrow to pay for the damage caused by the climate emergency, as well as the inadequate infrastructure that is the legacy of colonialism, but the repayments and high interest rates drain resources and prevent us from investing sufficiently to prevent further harm. At independence we inherited a broken system. We are not going to be able to feed our people if we do not  fix our soil fertility and erosion challenges. This is a direct result of empire and wealth extraction to the colonial centre.

The legacy of debt is a threat to our sovereignty. Instead of inheriting transgenerational wealth, our children are inheriting transgenerational debt. We do not  owe a debt, we have  already paid in blood, sweat and tears over centuries of pilfered resources. 

To break free from this cycle of debt and exploitation, we must advocate for climate justice and support initiatives like the Caribbean Policy Development Centre’s (CPDC) Regional Debt Relief Campaign. Together, we can build a more resilient and sustainable future for Barbados and the Caribbean region.