How are the islands’ built-up areas changing over time?
There has been significant population growth and an expansion of tourism on Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba over the years. Homes have been built to house the islands’ residents and more hotels, bars and restaurants have been developed to accommodate the growing number of tourists.
Most people live and work in built-up areas. These consist of homes, shops and offices, as well as traffic infrastructure and construction sites. But built-up areas have an adverse effect on the natural environment because of the destruction of habitats, reduced ground permeability, higher volumes of traffic, and the increased consumption of natural resources.
A global built-up area dataset was used to calculate the proportion of the islands that is covered by built-up areas based on satellite imaging. This is done every five years. The bar graph below shows the percentage of built-up area relative to the total area of each island.
| Jaartal | Bonaire | St Eustatius | Saba |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 1.7 | 10.7 | 6.2 |
| 1980 | 2.6 | 13.0 | 6.2 |
| 1985 | 3.3 | 11.2 | 6.2 |
| 1990 | 4.3 | 17.9 | 9.3 |
| 1995 | 4.8 | 18.3 | 9.3 |
| 2000 | 5.2 | 18.9 | 9.6 |
| 2005 | 5.8 | 19.2 | 9.6 |
| 2010 | 6.3 | 19.5 | 9.6 |
| 2015 | 7.1 | 22.5 | 9.6 |
| 2020 | 7.8 | 23.7 | 13.6 |
| Source: Dutch Caribbean Biodiversity Database | |||
St Eustatius has the most built-up area relative to its size
Although Bonaire has the largest population of the three islands, followed by St Eustatius, and then Saba, this is not reflected in the percentage of built-up area on the islands. St Eustatius has consistently had the highest proportion of built-up area, followed by Saba. Bonaire has the least built-up area relative to its size. Bonaire has also experienced the steadiest rate of increase in built-up area over the decades, while the trend on both Saba and St Eustatius has fluctuated more over the years.
Between 1975 and 2020, Bonaire and Saba saw a similar overall increase in the amount of built-up area: 6.1 percent, and 7.5 percent respectively. St Eustatius, by contrast, experienced a higher increase of 13.0 percent.