The Natural Advantage of Dominica

The key strength of Dominica is its beautiful natural environment. Dominica has very rich flora and fauna tightly packed on a picturesque terrain on a relatively small island. Mountain terrain has made it very difficult to develop the island in the past and for the most part it remains untouched. And what was considered Dominica’s weakness, in fact is now its most valuable asset. The Dominica has been named “The Nature Island of the Caribbean”. I support the proposal to go one step further and rename Dominica “The Nature Island of the World”. It is a very bold statement and probably a lot of other islands will challenge it, but the challenge in itself is a good thing, because it will bring attention and publicity to the island.

It is hard for Dominica to compete in the eco-tourism market with Costa Rica, which has already established itself as the eco-tourism capital of the Caribbean. Getting more attention and publicity will help put the island on the map for many people, and bring eco-tourists to Dominica, who might normally go to Costa Rica.

The idea behind eco-tourism is to preserve a nation's natural resources while profiting from them. At the same time the goal is not to allow the ecotourism industry to become ecologically damaging. If too many people are allowed to visit at the same time it might become overcrowded and damaging for the environment. The Dominican government would have to set up some limitations on how many people may visit the island at any given time.

In order to make eco-tourism possible, Dominica must also invest in developing basic infrastructure of the island such as airport, roads, and hotels without destroying surrounding natural