Peter Espeut | Three new environmental scandals

You expect portfolio ministers to go to bat for their portfolios; in fact, you might even expect them to overdo it; a tourism minister might so want to open up the sector that he might be prepared to risk the health of the rest of the country in the process; such a tourism minister would have to be restrained by the health minister.

An agriculture minister who didn’t fight tooth and nail against a plan to put prime agricultural land into housing would certainly be a traitor to his portfolio; but if he didn’t stand to benefit personally from the project then it would be bad, but not so bad.

We who struggle to conserve Jamaica’s natural environment have grown accustomed to ministers of the environment either not understanding their responsibilities, or actively taking steps to damage natural ecosystems. The serious consideration given to turn the ecologically valuable Goat Islands and part of the Hellshire Hills over to Chinese interests to construct a port and logistics hub by People’s National Party (PNP) environment minister Bobby Pickersgill may be an egregious example; even more extreme is the plan to turn over part of the Cockpit Country – a biodiversity hot spot – to mining interests by the present environment minister, Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

History will not forgive the series of PNP and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) environment ministers who have betrayed Jamaica’s natural heritage over the years.

An important part of environmental management is the operation of a system of national parks and protected areas which place valuable and sensitive ecosystems under special protection. Under threat are Jamaica’s last remaining natural forests with rare and valuable animals and plants, some found nowhere else in the world.

In the past, Jamaica had one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world; we no longer have that honour, as we have very little forest left to chop down. Yet, Jamaica’s dry limestone forests (e.g., the Hellshire Hills) are under threat from housing construction (e.g., by the Urban Development Corporation); Jamaica’s wet limestone forests (e.g., the Cockpit Country) are under threat from the Ministry of Mining; and Jamaica’s broadleaf montane forests (e.g., the Blue Mountains) are under threat from agricultural interests, (e.g. the coffee industry).

SERIOUS THREATS

Government agencies and interests are some of the most serious threats to Jamaica’s natural environment.

Even though he is the de jure environment minister, PM Holness has placed the day-to-day running of the environment portfolio in the hands of Minister without Portfolio Daryl Vaz. For some reason, the National Land Agency (NLA), which falls under his portfolio, has offered to lease 7.7 acres of land at Holywell in the buffer zone of the Blue and John Crow Mountain National Park without consultation with the park managers. Minister Daryl Vaz had applied to lease the land, which was going for J$10,000 per month. What a deal!

The land is covered with natural forest. Minister Vaz has announced that he planned to plant coffee on the land, and to build a cabin for rental, which means that he will have to indulge in a bit of deforestation.

Needless to say, the park management has objected to the land being offered for lease. The country is up in arms that the proposed lessee would have been the de jure minister of environment.

In the face of public backlash, the NLA has withdrawn the offer to lease. The first scandal is the fact that the offer was made in the first place. The second scandal is that the minister was the one going to get the lease. The third scandal is Minister Vaz’s ignorant response to the park managers’ objections.

FLAWED REASONING

Minister Vaz has called the park managers hypocrites for objecting to his plans because they recently built a museum, a visitor’s lodge and a café at Holywell within the park. It is a scandal that Minister Vaz sees no difference between what the park authorities did and what he planned to do.

The Holywell Recreation Area has been in existence for over 50 years; no forest cover was cut down to build the new park facilities. Minister Vaz would have to destroy natural forest to plant coffee, which will contribute to soil erosion.

He clearly is not competent to hold any responsibility for environmental conservation.

Peter Espeut is an environmentalist and development scientist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.