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Letter from Atwood/Gibson to Mr. Peter Hodgson.
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To: Peter Hodgson, January 11
Dear Peter:
Thank you for your facsimile letter of January 8, which has caught up to us at the Key West Literary Seminar in Florida. I'm afraid the most convenient way of responding to it is by this email.
I gather from the letter that you do not know that the Environmental Impact Report conducted by Dr Valma Jessamy is already circulating on the web. The Report is dated November 2006, which makes it odd that the Government of Grenada has not informed you.
Andrew Dobson, President of the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds, has recently sent you a letter with his assessment of this report, and George Fenwick, President of the American Bird Conservancy has written a similar letter to Mister Sharp. These are only two from a growing number of very experienced professionals who find the work deeply flawed.
BirdLife International is developing its own response to Dr Jessamy's report. We've seen a draft of it and believe that Four Seasons would find it very useful. If you were to write and ask for a copy I'm sure David Wege, who is BirdLife's Caribbean Manager, would forward it to you. His email address is: David Wege David.Wege@birdlife.org
It is clear that FOUR SEASONS AND RESORTS is on the front line here. In his recent budget speech to the House of Representatives (December 15), the Honourable Anthony Boatswain, Minister for Finance in Grenada, specifically refers to the Four Seasons project. Moreover Dr Valma Jessamy's study is entitled Conservation and Development Strategy, Grenada Dove and Four Seasons Resort Project, Mt Hartman Estate, Grenada.
When Michael Rands first wrote to Mister Sharp about this project early in the Fall he suggested there was room for compromise on this matter. Nobody in your company, nor in Pemberton's, nor anyone from the Government in Grenada, deigned to respond to this diplomatic possibility. Indeed yours is one of the very few voices responding to our concerns. I'm sure you'll agree that that alone might be enough to stimulate a growing sense of outrage amongst conservation organizations and their members.
We would all still like to see an amicable resolution, but I'm afraid we don't feel much optimism at the moment.
Sincerely,
Graeme
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