Editorial | Does Charles have authority on environment?

THIS NEWSPAPER owes, and hereby delivers, an apology to Pearnel Charles Jr. We have made demands on him for matters for which he appeared to be accountable, but over which he lacks real authority. Hopefully, that is the result of oversight, rather than a deliberate fiddle by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, in which event it will be fixed and a rational allocation of agencies done.

After last September’s election, Mr Charles was given what seemed to be a super ministry: housing, urban renewal, the environment and climate change. It is the latter two portfolios we would expect to command most of Mr Charles time in the current situation. With a fortnight still to go before it ends, 2020 is already the most active Atlantic hurricane season. There have been 29 named storms thus far.

Jamaica has been spared a hit, but not the entire consequences of the storms. For several weeks, the island has been pounded incessantly by rain from passing systems. There have been floods and landslides, destroyed homes and damaged infrastructure. These will cost several billion dollars to repair, which is bad for an economy reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic.

EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

This year, unfortunately, will not be an aberration. Large amounts of hurricanes and other unpredictable or violent weather events remain on the horizon for Jamaica and the world. That is the upshot of a warming earth, caused by human activity since the industrial period.

If things are not reversed, climate experts predict that in three decades Jamaica’s annual average temperature could be hotter by 0.7 degree Celsius or more. Over the next half a century, the increase could be as much as three degrees. Annual average rainfall could decline by up to 40 per cent by the 2030s, but the climate might be so unpredictable and variable that there could actually be 18 per cent more rain. If the world merely plods along, by the end of the century the sea levels will be more than half a metre higher than they are now. That poses grave threats to coastal towns and cities, the primary economic centres.

Mr Charles, in the circumstances, must make environmental protection and actions to mitigate climate change the policy priorities. That includes enforcing laws against developments in fragile and protected areas and a focus on inner-city/urban renewal, rather than greenfield/suburban housing projects. The damage from the recent weather events reinforces the logic of this position. Except that we are not certain that Mr Charles has real authority as minister for the environment and climate change.

The most critical organisation in managing the environment is the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), among whose functions, according to the law establishing it, is “to take such steps as are necessary for the effective management of the physical environment of Jamaica so as to ensure the conservation, protection and proper use of the natural resources”. NEPA also has the role of advising “the minister on matters of general policy relating to the management, development, conservation and care of the environment”. Further, agencies with responsibility for specific areas of the environment, natural resources and physical planning cannot act on their decisions without NEPA’s green light.

STRONG TENSION

NEPA, however, does not report to Mr Charles. According to the website of the Cabinet Office, it is in the portfolio of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, of which Prime Minister Holness is the substantive minister, supported by two ministers without portfolio.

While the tensions between the housing and climate sides of Mr Charles’ ministry will be strong, given the administration’s promise to deliver 70,000 new homes in its current term, the tug against the environment will be greater when its competitor is growth and jobs. It is this tension, we believe, that played out in June when Leslie Campbell, then a minister in the growth and job creation ministry, overturned – as is allowed on appeal – NEPA’s refusal of a permit to mine and quarry limestone aggregates in the Dry Harbour Mountains in St Ann.

Apart from determining which is the correct portfolio for NEPA, the matter highlights two pertinent issues. One is the need for transparency when such reversals are done. The other is what ought to be the applicable standard when politicians overturn decisions by the technicians of specialised agencies. The bar for that cannot be arbitrary, and should be high. And the process has to be transparent.