They did their duty

The Auditor General's Department has released its "Performance Audit Report of the National Environment and Planning Agency's (NEPA) Role in Protecting the Environment and Promoting Sustainable Development" - and it is damning! NEPA has failed both in its development planning function and in its conservation function.

This was predictable. In fact, I predicted it. In 1997, when it was first proposed to merge the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) with the Land Development and Utilisation Commission (LDUC), the Rural Physical Planning Unit and the Town Planning Department, to form NEPA, I opposed it vociferously in a series of columns. I bluntly said that the merger of these disparate entities made no sense. Here is what I wrote in September 1997:

"Maybe the intention is not to make sense, but to achieve some other end - like to force environmental approval for so-called 'development' projects? Let me explain what I mean. This merger is similar to a suggestion that the Church has a merger with the tobacco companies, the rum companies and the gambling houses, into one, single entity with one board. Every time it comes to a vote, the Church would be outvoted - easy. The NRCA has a special mandate to protect the environment, which will get lost if it cannot issue a separate permit (or refusal) by virtue of a vote by its separate board. Under the new arrangements, environmental imperatives can be neutralised by the dominant 'development' interests on the new combined board".

Both the previous government and this one are hostage to their political donors in the private sector who want their construction projects approved in record time, with little or no environmental constraints. Before the merger, the NRCA under Franklin McDonald - haltingly inefficient as it was - did some enforcement, and did force some concession to environmental concerns. Bah! Humbug! said the 'developers' as they reached for their chequebooks; and they pressured the Government to curb those pesky environmentalists by merging the NRCA out of effectiveness.

Disturb the environment

The trouble is, as I then wrote: "The NRCA does more than process applications for permits to disturb the environment. The NRCA's mandate includes: the detection and monitoring of air and water pollution; the protection of animal and plant wildlife; the monitoring and protection of Jamaica's coastal zone; the promotion of public awareness about the natural environment; and the establishment and monitoring of national parks, marine parks and environmental protection areas".

I was afraid that in the rush to enhance the permitting process, the real business of natural-resource management would be sidelined.

"I suppose the wetland-fillers, forest-miners and tree-choppers are rejoicing and wringing their hands, waiting for the day when they can more easily get permits to wreck Jamaica's last natural areas. Clearly in this election year, the Government is more interested in the support (and campaign contributions) from that quarter, and is not afraid of pro-environment public opinion".

With the merger my worst fears came to pass, as since then, Jamaica's environment has gone downhill.

I wrote this in November 1998: "It appears that Minister Easton Douglas is determined to merge the NRCA with the Town Planning Department, in an effort to speed up the processing of applications for 'development' projects. Perhaps applications need to be processed more expeditiously, but in my view, this merger is not the solution. What will result will be a muting of the voice of the one government agency dedicated to protecting the interests of our environment, and an acceleration of environmental destruction. Let us be frank. There is very little interest among cabinet ministers to protect the little natural forest we have left, or the few mangrove trees still left, or the five per cent of our coral reefs still alive. They want economic activity so badly that they will destroy our natural heritage in the process and not bat an eyelid!"

My voice, the voice of the late, great John Maxwell, and the voices of so many others, have been ignored by successive governments, and the leaders of civil society; money talks loudly! But can they as easily ignore the voice of the auditor general? I think so. This report will be another nine-day wonder, and then it will be forgotten as we lurch towards another damning revelation.

NEPA has done exactly as its creators intended it to do. They did their duty.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and former head of an environment and development NGO. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com