size of its sister island, Barbuda has a mere fourteen hundred inhabi-
tants, most of whom live in the town of Codrington. The town is
named after Christopher Codrington, a colonial governor of the
Leewards who once signed a 200-year lease with the British govern-
ment for Barbuda—with the price limited to “one fat sheep.” The
island is almost completely surrounded by reefs, on which more than
two hundred shipwrecks have occurred. It is also very flat. So flat that,
as Daven Joseph put it, “If the sea-level rise prediction comes true, we
are going to lose more than half of Barbuda in the next 50 to 60 years.”
As a limestone island, Barbuda has extensive underground water
supplies. But here is what the UNDP’s Climate Change Project has to
say about the situation: “Most of the main aquifers, wells, sinkholes
and water bodies in Barbuda are located relatively close to the coast.
The depth of the water table is generally less than 1.5 meters in the low-
lands. Any increase in sea level can affect the level and salinity of the
groundwater supplies. With the projected sea-level rise, the main
aquifers and wells may be fully or partially inundated and the ground-
water supplies could become permanently lost. This will threaten the
entire economy of the Island of Barbuda.”
There are two propeller-driven flights a day from Antigua onto
Barbuda’s little airstrip. Upon a morning arrival, I phone a fellow who
rents four-wheel-drive vehicles for $50 a day out of his home. Getting
around Barbuda is challenging. None of the streets, or buildings, are
identified with names or numbers. The island’s main road poses an
obstacle course of tremendous potholes, along with wild donkeys and
wild goats. The gentleman who has agreed to show me around, I am
told, lives in the only residence on a bumpy dirt road to the left at the
local hospital.
John Mussington, wearing glasses and a baseball cap, emerges
from his modest white wood-frame house with a welcoming smile. He
is in his late 30s and has five children. Principal of the 350-student
Holy Trinity School, Mussington holds a degree in marine biology
from the University of the West Indies, and is also the Environmental
Awareness Group’s representative on Barbuda.
The first thing Mussington tells me about is his house, which he
finished constructing in 1994, the year before Hurricane Luis struck.
Antigua and Barbuda 71