The Editor, Sir:

Today we are finding that more and more hotels are constructed in areas that may not be suitable for such superstructures. Hotels are being constructed everywhere there is space and these hotel owners are taking advantage of this without even considering what it is doing to the environment. Some resort towns have exceeded the level of development recommended by the Tourism Ministry, raising fears among environmentalists that the environment is coming under strain.

Hotels are destroying the environment in several ways like deforestation, disposal of the wastes that are generated from these hotels into the sea that ends up harming coral reefs and the modification of these properties causing beach erosion that ends up killing the ecosystem.

Many of these massive hotels are just being constructed on areas like wetlands and are destroying the habitat for marine life. An example is the controversial Sandals Whitehouse that is still being talked about because of how it has depleted different species of animals.

Many of these hotels, especially on the coast, are destroying the habitat for many species of fish, as well as destroying our wetlands, which are our second line of defence against hurricanes, especially in a place like Portland Cottage in Clarendon.

Jamaica is a small island with a delicate eco-system which is already under pressure. The dramatic increase in the development of these superstructures means having to cope with more solid waste and providing proper sewage disposal.

I am, etc.,

Jodi-Ann Benjamin

Excelsior Community College