Cockpit Country defenders to march on Parliament

Western Bureau:

As concerns linger over the prospect of bauxite mining in or near the Cockpit Country, stakeholders are gearing up to stage a protest outside Gordon House, the seat of the nation’s Parliament, next week.

Residents and environmentalists say they have been moved to register their opposition to any such venture next Tuesday, September 3, as they step up their protest over the contentious issue.

At a meeting of stakeholders representing independently owned and operated micro and small enterprises in western Jamaica on Sunday, concerns were raised about disturbing the Cockpit Country, a biological treasure trove and a key source of domestic water.

Environmentalist Hugh Dixon, who heads the South Trelawny Environmental Agency, used a PowerPoint presentation to paint a picture of the history, heritage and socio-economic importance of the Cockpit Country. He highlighted indigenous flora and fauna, some of which have scientists and researchers excited about their potential medicinal value.

“The Cockpit Country is comprised of contiguous and non-contiguous parishes of St James, Trelawny, St Ann, Manchester and St Elizabeth. Within the transition zone, 70,000 residents will be impacted,” stated Dixon, who is one of several stakeholders taking issue with the boundary set by the Government.

He contends that the Cockpit Country is much larger than the area that the Government declared as the official Cockpit Country Protected Area in 2017.

“It did not include a large section of the northeast Cockpit Country, which is a bird and ecotourism hotspot and sits over critical underground water resources that feed the Rio Bueno,” said Dixon.

The environmentalist, who has become one of the public faces of the movement to have the entire Cockpit Country declared a protected area, said many experts and stakeholders agree that the northeast Cockpit Country – which is about 67 per cent of the area originally proposed by the Cockpit Country Stakeholder Group (CCSG) – should also be protected.

A number of community tourism interests – including the Blue and John Crow Mountains, Rastafari Indigenous Village, Bunkers Hill, and Cockpit Country Tours & Country-style Community Tourism Network – expressed concern that mining in the areas recognised by the CCSG could negatively impact their operations.

The planned march on Parliament follows in the wake of demonstrations in Falmouth, Trelawny; and Discovery Bay, St Ann, last week.

adrian.frater@gleanerjm.com