measures52. This oversight has put Trinidad at the forefront of criticism in performing more than
the minimum duties towards their environmental legislation. Joining these international treaties
is not enough to be considered a good global citizen, not when gross oversight is making these
promises seem hollow.
As a global citizen, Trinidad has done its duty by joining these international conventions and
enacting domestic legislation. Trinidad has signed on to CITES, SPAW and The United Nations
Convention on Biological Diversity 1996. The Commonwealth Caribbean is under the common
law which means that it adheres to the dualist doctrine. This doctrine only allows international
legislation to be enforced if it has been enacted into domestic law. These three treaties have not
been enacted into domestic law. In the case of Natural Resources Conservation Authority
v.Seafood and Ting International Ltd,53 the Court of Appeal of Jamaica had to determine
whether the provision of CITES was applicable to local exporters of Queen Conch. CITES aim
was to debar exporters without export permits to sell Queen Conch. The Court of Appeal held
that the absence of local legislation incorporating CITES into domestic law robbed the permit
system of all validity.
In the case of Talisman (Trinidad) Petroleum Ltd. v The Environmental Management
Authority,54 the Environmental Commission had to determine whether a particular wetland was a
designated protected area under the Ramsar Convention. Trinidad and Tobago was a signatory
of this convention. Talisman, the appellant, wished to do seismic research in an area, which
included part of the Nariva Swamp, which was a designated wetland site under the Ramsar
Convention. The EMA refused to grant a Certificate of Environmental Clearance; one of the
facts they relied on was that the area in question consisted of part of a protected wetland under
the Ramsar Convention. The Commission held that although the site was designated a Ramsar
site, there was no local legislation to give legal protection to the designation. These are two
instances in the Caribbean, where being signatory to international conventions without enacting
52
Kim LaCapria ’Baby Turtles, Eggs Destroyed by Accident in Trinidad, Conservationists Want Answers’ (The
Inquisitr 21 July 2012)
53
Natural Resources Conservation Authority v. Seafood and Ting International Ltd., (Suit No. C.L. 1999/S‐134; dated
July 1 1999)
54
Talisman (Trinidad) Petroleum Ltd. v. The Environmental Management Authority, EA 3 of 2002.
36