Crisis-hit Negril morass rehab ‘not dead’, says NEPA

In the wake of criticism over last week’s fire at the Negril Great Morass, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has disclosed that costing and recruitment woes have stalled the rehydration project for the ecologically sensitive wetlands.

The Gleaner had published on Monday that the Integrated Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (IWEco) programme was yet to be implemented years after US$3.1 million was granted under the imprimatur of the United Nations Environment Programme.

Much of the funds have been expended though core elements of the actual project have not been activated.

But Peter Knight, chief executive officer of NEPA, insisted Thursday that IWEco had not been scrapped.

“The project is not dead. The project is ongoing. There’s a pause because of certain issues which we need to resolve,” Knight said at a mid-afternoon press conference.

The CEO said that the initiative – which was conceptualised in 2013, with work commencing six years later – had encountered pitfalls.

“We have had many other challenges with this project, one being the 2013 costing, not realistic in 2020 or 2022. We have had challenges in recruiting consultants to undertake the project activities that are required,” said Knight.

“We have had challenges in procuring services, and, of course, we have had challenges with completing ... the studies included in the project document.”

Knight said that many interventions had been undertaken to cauterise the environmental woes affecting the morass, including collaborations with the Negril Green Island local area planning authority fisheries division, NGOs, the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, the chamber of commerce, and municipal officials.

“Fires in the Negril Morass are a historical challenge. The fires present environmental and public-health challenges,” he said, adding that NEPA records show that there have been eight major blazes there since 2008.

Knight accused developers, farmers, and squatters of encroaching on the morass to build structures without approval, “aggravating the already challenging conditions”.

But the Natural Resources Conservation Authority, the Town and Country Planning Authority, and NEPA, he said, have decided not to support any encroachment on to the wetlands and refused development proposals that could have negative environmental impacts.