Economy

Introduction to the sixth edition of the UAUCU Student Research Exchange Collected Papers

This volume presents research reports and personal reflections written by the 2020 participants of the UAUCU student research exchange program. This program, now in its sixth year, is founded on the principle that education should challenge students to engage actively not only with the content of their studies, but with the world at large.

As in previous years, students from the University of Aruba (UA) and from University College Utrecht (UCU) of Utrecht University carried out empirical research in and about Aruba, and supported each other in that process. Like the students of cohorts before them, they defined their own guiding principles and goals for their participation in the project during the orientation period. These ideas reflect their hopes of working in ways that could be meaningful to others as well as to themselves.

As in previous years, the topics of the students’ research are wide-ranging, drawing on the diverse backgrounds of their study programs, and yet all related to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 agenda. The works included here deal with issues of culture, employment, equality, leadership, media, policy and the rights of the state and of its people. The type of research ranges from studies on governance to studies on anthropology, economy and sociology. We think that the papers also show how participation in a diverse team influenced the authors’ approach to their work. The students provided each other with feedback on approaches to their research, and on the content, style, language and structure of their papers. The papers appear for the most part as submitted by the authors, including the occasional raw opinion or as yet underdeveloped conclusion. Some of the contributions reflect completed studies, some of the contributions are preparatory explorations. Most of the student-researchers are still working on interpretation and presentation of their findings and will finalize these soon in bachelor theses based on the results of the projects presented here.

This year’s research cycle, though, was anything but typical: 2020 brought COVID19 to Aruba along with the rest of the world. The extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic created an extra set of challenges for the students participating, beyond the challenges usually faced by students in their first serious efforts in empirical research. As of mid March, Aruba went in lock down, and the participants from UCU had to leave Aruba by the end of that month. These challenges, and the rewards of meeting them, are reflected in the personal reflections that all the contributors to this volume have written as a preface to the summary of their own research.

As in previous years, a range of people have also made crucial contributions to the students’ success. We, and our students, appreciate the importance and power of their input to this project as a whole. Among those, we especially want to thank UA’s Carlos Rodriguez-Iglesias for his help in proofreading the papers in preparing them for publication here. And to the many others who have had roles as guides, lecturers, mentors, advisors, facilitators, respondents, interview participants, and engaged citizens, thank you! We hope that you are as excited about the work presented in this volume as we are.

Keti Kapanadze

Beyond Opinion Polls: Multiple Voices of (non)sovereignty from Aruban People

Jairzinho Croes

Leadership and Good Governance in Public Organizations in Aruba

Charlotte Mehlhart

The Ocean Paradox: Values Held by Resource Users in Aruba’s Fisheries

Mikayla Quijada

Treating education as a business

Michele Li

Adolescent Health Issues on Aruba: A Children’s Rights-Based Approach

Hannah Mayr

The Condition of ‘Illegality’: Deconstructing the ‘Illegalization’ of Undocumented Venezuelans on Aruba

Introduction to the seventh edition of the UAUCU Student Research Exchange Collected Papers

This volume includes research reports and personal reflections written by the 2022 participants of the UAUCU student research exchange program. This year’s studentresearchers are 17 students from the University of Aruba and Utrecht University, six from UA’s Sustainable Islands through STEM (SISSTEM) program and 11 from UU’s University College Utrecht. They have been working on research in and about Aruba, and supporting each other in that process. Their texts reflect the fundamental aims that the program has had since its inception in 2015: to challenge students to engage actively not only with the content of research, but with each other and the world at large. These challenges, and the rewards of meeting them, are reflected in the personal reflections that contributors to this volume have written as a preface to the summary of their own research.

As in previous editions, the topics of the students’ research are wide-ranging, drawing on the diverse backgrounds of their study programs, and yet all related to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 agenda. The works included here treat, for example, issues of sustainability in tourism and in transportation, coastal ecologies, public participation, food security & food sovereignty, science communication, biodiversity, vertical farming, circularity and waste. The type of research ranges from studies on governance to studies on technology and engineering, anthropology, geology and sociology. We think that the papers also show how participation in a diverse team influenced the authors’ approach to their work. The students provided each other with feedback on approaches to their research, and on the content, style, language and structure of their papers. The papers appear as submitted by the authors, including the occasional raw opinion or as yet underdeveloped conclusion. Some of the contributions reflect completed studies, others are preparatory explorations. Most of the student-researchers are still working on interpretation and presentation of their findings and will finalize these soon in bachelor theses based on the results of the projects presented here.

The 2022 program nevertheless differs from the earlier cycles. The student-researchers taking part find themselves on an island, and in a world, changed by the COVID19 pandemic. We program coordinators have also re-booted the research exchange in a new form, after a year of hiatus forced by lockdowns around the world. The students from Utrecht prepared in November and December for their participation in a renewed preparatory module (Community-engaged research in the Caribbean), and joined the UA students in a new bachelor course at SISSTEM (Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to sustainable development in small island states). Together in a classroom at UA, they defined their guiding principles and goals for their participation in the project. These ideas reflect their hopes of working in ways that could be meaningful to others as well as to themselves.

A range of people have also made crucial contributions to the students’ success, this year as in 2020 and earlier. We, and our students, appreciate the importance and power of their input to this project as a whole. We especially want to thank UA’s Carlos Rodriguez-Iglesias for his help in proofreading the papers in preparing them for publication here and for, together with Tobia de Scisciolo, fostering the collaboration between the UAUCU students and the Academic Foundation Year students in the Research Aruba Program. There are, in addition, many others who have had roles as guides, lecturers, mentors, advisors, facilitators, respondents, interview participants, and engaged citizens: thank you! We hope that you have anticipated work presented in this volume as eagerly as we.

Milena Stoilova

Sustainable tourism in Aruba: a myth or reality? A case study from the Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort

Klara Röhrs

Remembering the Coast: Assessing the coastline and coastal changes on Aruba by using volunteered geographic information (VGI)

Carlotta M. Henning

Learning to play it by ear: Understanding barriers to public participation in urban planning on Aruba

Karlijn van der Loo

If the Ship Stops Sailing: How can food sovereignty in Aruba be protected in public policy and developed as a notion in international human rights law?

Lynn Smeets

Impacting the island’s future: an insight into the effect of perceived efficacy of young Arubans on their civic and political engagement in environmental action

Maro A. Savvides

Communicating the Geologic History of Aruba: Contextualizing Gold and Incorporating Human Activity as a Geologic Force

Joao Wendrich Teixeira

Winds of change in Aruba: a Push For The Return of higher Biodiversity

Tracy van der Biezen

How citizen science can contribute to Aruba’s SDG indicators: Creating a framework for meta-analysis

Endy Brooks

SIDS vertical farming: water- and energy assessment on Albion strawberry production in Aruba

Nigel de Cuba

The challenges of implementing circularity in the flow of waste tyres on Aruba

Alejandra Moreno

Food security perceived by Aruban households

Armand Kelly

Electrification of airside equipment at Aruba Airport Authority

Rachel Nel

Fostering community stewardship: The role of sense of place in participation in environmental initiatives

Sophia Klaußner

Water = Water, right? Comparing wetlands on the island of Aruba to determine influences of wastewater effluents on the water quality of a wetland area

Laura Mathieu

Breathing Unevenly: Community Response to Environmental Injustice. A case study of Aruba’s Landfill and the Parkietenbos community

Michel Frank

Citizen science, a tool to fill the plastic waste data gap in Aruba

Daniel Balutowski

Brown Tides: Assessing the Past, Present, & Future State of Sargassum in Aruba

Tourism in Bonaire should develop in a planned and orderly manner so as to provide the maximum benefit to the island and its residents and to ensure that any adverse effects on the social, economic, cultural and general quality of life of the people of Bonaire and the environment are minimized. The objective should be to achieve a managed growth path and a sustainable level of tourism development. This necessitates finding and striking the fine balance between the facilitation of tourism growth and the control of associated developments, bearing in mind that without careful conservation of Bonaire’s primary tourism resources, it may cease to have a viable tourism product. A comprehensive national tourism policy is therefore essential if tourism is to grow in an orderly way.

Impressively, since the 1970’s Bonaire has championed efforts to protect its natural environment and resources. There is no doubt that these efforts have interlaced themselves with the resident’s everyday life and are a fiber in the fabric of Bonaire’s culture. Bonaire is a global gem that has received recognition for its natural areas and enjoys an international reputation for some of the world’s best ocean activities thus leading to a potent economic sector for the island – the tourism industry.

Currently, the tourism industry underperforms for the economic welfare of the majority of Bonaire’s residents. Although the tourism industry could provide Bonaire with economic opportunities for the majority of residents, the professional opportunities linked to tourism have not transpired. This is largely due to two main reasons. The first reason being that natural conservation efforts have displaced development that could provide professional and educational opportunities for Bonairians. This has resulted in a dilution of Bonairian culture where nearly 60% of the island’s population was not born in Bonaire. Bonairians have transplanted to other countries to seek opportunities. The second reason is that the tourism sector does not contribute to the economic wellbeing of the majority of residents but rather contributes to a select few.

With the lack of educational and professional opportunities available on the island, Bonairians have developed a relatively low perception of their quality of life and their satisfaction with their lives. In the last year, about 50% of Bonairians have observed a decrease in their income. Many residents and industry stakeholders feel that the tourism industry can direct and improve the future of the island. In order for this to occur, there must be changes in the distribution of the economic benefits to increase their reach to local households; as well as the industry must be capable of stimulating changes in Bonairians’ quality of life. Thus, this strategic tourism master plan (STMP) was designed to ensure that the tourism industry is capable of generating money, creating

jobs, and stimulating sustainable economic linkages to other sectors on the island.

Bonairean ecosystems support touristic activities that depend on the quality of the natural environment, such as diving, snorkelling, kayaking, boating, enjoying beaches, and participating in land activities. The tourism sector is an industry with substantial size and financial contribution to the economy of Bonaire. However, the economic value of the contribution of nature to Bonaire’s tourism has never been quantified, nor have the most important aspects of Bonairean nature for tourism been identified. It is essential that the economic value of the ecosystem service to tourism and the dependence of tourism on Bonairean ecosystems while impacting these same ecosystems be determined in order to further assist policy-makers in understanding this crucial relationship and support them in wise long-term decision-making.

To determine the value of Bonairean ecosystems for the tourism industry a survey among tourists visiting Bonaire is conducted. This study estimates the average expenditures of these visitors, as well as their Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) for protection of Bonairean nature. The result of this survey also elucidates tourists’ perceived value of different aspects of Bonairean nature. The socio-economic value of the ecosystem services for tourism is combined with spatial data to determine which ecosystems are the most economically valuable with regards to tourism.

The expenditure by tourists on Bonaire is found to be around $125 million annually. An estimated welfare of around $50 million dollars is contributed by Bonaire’s nature to tourism. Stay-over tourists are found to contribute more to the tourism industry than cruise tourists, and marine ecosystems are found to be more economically significant than terrestrial ecosystems on the island. The high WTP of tourists for additional nature protection in Bonaire provides opportunities for the local government to increase the current user fees of visitors to Bonaire. 

IVM Institute for Environmental Studies 

This Initiative draws attention to the economic benefits of biodiversity and highlights the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. Insight in the value of ecosystems and biodiversity can support decision makers to make wise and inclusive decisions for long-term sustainable economic development.

Information on the Total Economic Value (TEV) of Bonaire’s nature is used to build a strategy to advocate for the effective conservation measures on Bonaire. The TEV is the sum of the ecosystem services provided by the marine and terrestrial ecosystems of Bonaire. In total, more than 10 different services have been valued on monetary terms. The most relevant services that were estimated in extensive sub-studies include the following:

• Local cultural and recreational values
• International tourism value 
• Fisheries values 
• Non-use value 
• Coastal protection value 
• Functional Valuation of Ecosystem Services on Bonaire 

Through the use of simulation models, scenario development and cost & benefit analysis the efficacy of various interventions is determined. Cost-benefit analysis of different scenarios provides an objective means of deciding which interventions produces the highest yield. Such an integral approach ultimately ensures the betterment of Bonaire’s environment while at the same time warranting sustainable economic development.