Caribbean communities resist foreign developers taking beachfront land

The battle over land rights and beach access is intensifying across several Caribbean islands as residents challenge tourism developments they say threaten ancestral communities and public coastlines.

In Antigua and Barbuda, campaigners on Barbuda are disputing coastal projects backed by foreign developers. Among them is former business owner Miranda Beazer, whose beachfront gathering spot, the Pink Sands Beach Bar, was destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017.

The bar had operated for more than two decades and served as a meeting place for residents after church services and during evenings by the sea. Irma devastated the island, forcing the evacuation of about 2,000 people to neighbouring Antigua.

“There’s nobody that was unscathed,” Beazer recalled. “It was devastating. I cried for two weeks.”

Beazer said she later rejected repeated offers from overseas investors seeking to buy her land. She alleges demolition crews eventually cleared what remained of the property after the hurricane.

“It’s not the money that I’m after,” she said. “I actually want to retain my land.”

The dispute is tied to Barbuda’s communal land ownership system. Under the Barbuda Land Act of 2007, land is collectively owned by Barbudans rather than privately held. Residents may lease plots, but major developments require consultation and community approval.

Beazer says she holds a lease for 30 acres of coastline but currently has access to only eight acres. The Global Legal Action Network alleges that developers Murbee Resorts and Peace Love and Happiness are unlawfully occupying parts of the land. Both companies deny wrongdoing and say their activities comply with legal agreements.

Criticism has also focused on The Beach Club Barbuda, a 400-acre luxury resort linked to actor Robert De Niro and businessman James Packer. The project is expected to include the Nobu Beach Inn hotel and 25 beachfront homes, with prices reportedly starting at US$7 million.

Opponents argue that government legal changes allowed the project to bypass protections in the 2007 legislation. In 2022, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled in favour of the Antiguan and Barbudan government, finding that collective rights granted to Barbudans did not amount to property ownership interests.

Similar tensions are emerging elsewhere in the Caribbean. In Jamaica, campaigners say fewer than 1 per cent of beaches remain freely accessible to residents. Environmental advocate Devon Taylor warned that tourism policies risk excluding locals from their own coastlines.

“You’re selling back the access to the people,” he said.

Regional activists warn that accelerating tourism investment could increasingly displace communities from lands they have occupied for generations.

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