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Two Decades of Change By Chris Harris Change in the Falkland Islands As in most places in the Western world, change in the Falkland Islands has been rapid in the last 20 years. But it has been especially rapid in the Falklands. Background The speed of change is mainly a result of the certainty and security that resulted from the war with Argentina in 1982. The British victory gave the Islanders and their government the confidence to push for changes in legislation that gave them more control of the economic environment, taking control away from the absentee landlords of the colonial past. This control, along with the secure political situation, gave companies and individuals the confidence to invest in the new fisheries created by the economic zone. The revenue from these fisheries revived the stagnant economy that had been dependant on wool production for years. So what are these changes? Roads - Where there were only dirt tracks, or nothing at all, now there are roads. Sure, they are not highways of a European standard, but they allow speedy travel all over the islands for all. There are no scheduled ferry services, so travel between the islands is still mainly by FIGAS (Falkland Islands Government Air Service) aircraft, an air taxi service. Vehicle ownership - The rapid expansion of the road network has provoked an equally rapid expansion of vehicle ownership. Stanley has now become a much more crowded place during the rush ten minutes that occurs in the morning, each side of lunch time, and in the evening at knock-off time. Telecommunications - Twenty five years ago the Islands were connected to the outside world by a couple of radio circuits that were available for only a few hours a day. Now we have one of the highest telephone, fax and Internet penetrations in the world. In short everyone has it! There is no mobile phone service here, it is not economical viable for such a small population Housing - With the economy surging many people who left the islands in the depressed decades of the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies have returned. These people, along with a steady trickle of immigrants, have produced a housing boom. Stanley has doubled in size over the last 10 years. Shopping - The improved economy has driven an explosion of retail opportunities. Twenty five years ago there were only a couple of reasonable sized grocery stores in Stanley. Almost everything else was ordered from overseas catalogues. Now those stores have turned into mini super-markets and one company has a chain of all-day and late evening stores carrying groceries and household goods. Specialist shops are also appearing, the most recent that I have noticed being a store selling tropical fish and offering aquarium maintenance services. Tourism - Many tourists now visit the islands. This is probably the one change that is not a result of the war, but simply a result of the growing trend for eco-tourism. On many days during the Summer months Stanley is host to one or two large cruise ships. On the busier days there are many more tourists in Stanley than there are residents. Various support industries have appeared to support the tourists; coach and taxi companies, restaurants and gift shops to name a few. There is even a winter evening class for aspiring tour guides. The Garden Centre - The garden centre was the inspiration for this article. I was there buying some fresh fruit when it occurred to me that most of the items in the shop were not available here 25 years ago. Of course, people had wheel barrows and garden sheds, but they would probably have built them themselves. Wooden wheelbarrows with old motorcycle wheels were the norm in most gardens. The point that really struck me was that while people had all of these things 25 years ago they were simply much harder to obtain. Everything had to planned in advance, exactly the right quantity of materials ordered, arriving in three months time if you were lucky! While living on an island hasn't completely changed as bigger projects still have to be planned in the same way as the past, most day to day items are now available just down the road. This article can be found on Chris Harris' website www.viking-house.com. Our thanks to Chris for allowing us to reproduce this article.
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