PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI) Patrice Gumbs outlined plans to expand marine protection, strengthen environmental enforcement and update nature legislation during a continuation meeting of Parliament on the Nature Policy Plan.
The minister identified priority projects for the current and coming year, distinguishing between initiatives with funding already secured and measures for which the government is still seeking financial support.
The targets include protecting 15 percent of Sint Maarten’s national waters by 2027, increasing to 30 percent by 2030.
According to Gumbs, the Nature Foundation has secured funding from the Blue Marine Foundation to identify additional marine areas for protection. The same initiative is supporting the drafting of legislation intended to give the identified areas formal legal protection.
The proposed legislation forms part of a broader effort to establish a national legal framework for protected areas.
Gumbs also informed Parliament that a lawyer has been contracted to review and amend the existing Nature Ordinance. The VROMI Policy Department’s budget for legal and expert advice is financing that work.
Separately, the Nature Foundation has secured funding to develop legislation protecting Sint Maarten’s red and black mangroves. The minister presented this initiative as part of the policy objective to introduce additional measures strengthening nature protection.
Environmental enforcement was another priority identified during the presentation. Gumbs said the VROMI Policy Department is advancing legislation and administrative enforcement, with external funding, to strengthen enforcement of nature and environmental rules.
The minister also outlined efforts to improve access to information about the country’s natural assets. These include work under a memorandum of understanding between VROMI and Kadaster, along with continued maintenance and updates to the publicly accessible Climate Impact Atlas.
According to Gumbs, improving the collection and accessibility of geospatial data will support better planning and decision-making.
However, funding remains outstanding for an initiative to make environmental impact assessments mandatory for selected development activities.
The minister said the government is seeking financing to develop an environmental impact assessment policy, prioritizing external funding opportunities before drawing on internal resources. His presentation described mandatory assessments as a policy objective still being pursued.
Gumbs also reported progress on strengthening hindrance permit procedures. He said environmental norms have already been updated and approved, with preparations now underway for their formal implementation.
Those preparations include training for officials who evaluate permit applications.
Financing remains central to implementing the Nature Policy Plan more broadly. Gumbs said the ministry continues to advocate for a larger national budget allocation for nature protection and management, while pursuing additional funding sources to complement government resources.
The presentation did not specify an overall implementation budget or the amount of additional national funding being sought.
On climate adaptation, Gumbs said funding from the International Panel on Deltas and Coastal Areas (IPDC) supported the development of Sint Maarten’s National Adaptation Strategy.
The government is now seeking financing to build on that strategy by developing a National Adaptation Plan. The policy objective, he explained, is to improve understanding of climate change’s effects on Sint Maarten and incorporate that knowledge into the ministry’s planning and decisions.
During the presentation, Gumbs also referred to an implementation visualization showing the status of the overarching objectives of the previous Nature Policy Plan for 2021–2025, assessed as of December 2025.
At the conclusion of his presentation, the minister invited questions and requests for clarification. The chair then opened the opportunity for Members of Parliament to register to speak on the plan.