Food & Sustainability in the US Virgin Islands

For my place, I chose the US Virgin Islands. Due to insufficient agricultural area on the islands, most of the food is imported. When slavery was popular in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, the US Virgin Islands profited from cash crops, but since then, tourism has become the main basis for the economy, resulting in imported food. Most food is also imported due to the insufficient agricultural land on the islands.

Sustainability of the US Virgin Islands has been an issue in recent years due to the increasing amount of tourism in the area. Of the three major islands, Saint John has done the most to sustain its environment and resources by protecting over 65% of the island as part of the Virgin Islands National Park. Additionally, the underwater Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument safeguards the submerged lands and marine ecosystem within a three-mile belt off the island of Saint John. The island of Saint Croix features a Green Globe certified Sustainable Farm Institute with a 200-acre conservation forest farm. Saint Croix’s Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve provides a safe haven for threatened or endangered species. North of Saint Croix is the Buck Island Reef National Monument, a small, uninhabited island teaming with marine flora and fauna. Saint Thomas, the third island, is in the process of building a gas-to-energy facility that will convert the collected methane gas into electricity. Additionally, Saint Thomas is home to the Mangrove Lagoon Wildlife Sanctuary and Marine Preserve, a healthy nursery habitat for endangered brown pelicans, nesting egrets, and herons. The nearby small, uninhabited island of Cas Cay holds a 15-acre wildlife preserve, home to numerous tropical birds.

However, even with all these measures taken to sustain the bioregion, there are also many practices taking place that counteract these actions. Human consumerism took a toll on the environment of the US Virgin Islands after colonization, much of which is still evident today. The impacts of human consumerism include afflictions such as toxic fertilizers and pesticides, mining pollution, sewage and solid waste disposal, and oil spill contamination. Disposal of the high volume of waste materials generated as a result of tourism traffic continues to pose serious problems. The Susannaberg Landfill on Saint John was closed after prolonged fires in the nineties and is now a transfer station, transporting the waste off of the island. The Anguilla Landfill on Saint Croix was forced to temporarily close earlier this summer after a dump fire released toxic fumes. Landfill fires can occur when methane gas accumulates deep beneath the landfill's surface causing the disposed waste to spontaneously combust. The Anguilla Landfill is estimated to exceed its threshold capacity in only a year, and the Bovoni Landfill on Saint Thomas is expected to reach its carrying capacity within the next few years. Constant tourism continues to add to the coastal degradation.