Editorial | Waiting to cheer Cockpit Country, Bengal moves

The Andrew Holness administration, it appears, may be worthy of commendation for having heard the complaints of Jamaicans and pulled back from the damage it intended to permit to the environment in pursuit of economic development. But the devil, as the old cliché goes, is always in the details. This newspaper, therefore, even as it remains hopeful in the outcomes, stays any celebration until there are further and better particulars, including analyses by independent experts.

The matters of attention are the two hugely controversial licences the Government granted over the past two years for the extraction of minerals in ecologically sensitive areas. One of these was to Noranda Bauxite for the mining of ore in an area the administration insists was outside, though on the periphery, of the Cockpit Country, a mountainous region of karsts on the island’s north. Campaigners insist that, official boundaries notwithstanding, the area, Special Mining Lease (SML) 173, is, geologically and ecologically, part of the Cockpit Country.

The second was for the mining of limestone (calcium carbonate) in the Dry Harbour Mountain, at Bengal, near Rio Bueno, on the island’s north coast. Prime Minister Andrew Holness overturned, on appeal, the initial decision by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) to turn down the application, and the Government, thereafter, appeared willing to jump hoops to accommodate the prospective miners, a company called Jamaica World, a dry forest area with unique flora.

HIGH-END REAL ESTATE

The company owns 572 acres (231.5 acres) of land in the area, but wanted, initially, to mine 50 acres, or approximately 20 hectares. Mr Holness also dangled the prospect of high-end real estate development on the property, but that wasn’t officially part of the deal. Residents of the area have filed court action hoping to derail the mining plan.

To be fair to Mr Holness, after decades of discussion, debate and draft maps of what constituted the Cockpit Country, as well as unlegislated cross-party declarations that no mining would be allowed in the area, it was his administration that, in 2017, formally delineated the boundaries for the protected area, a region of 74,000 hectares or nearly 183,000 acres. That’s over 280 square miles or six per cent of Jamaica’s land mass.

The effort initially won commendation, if not the uncritical embrace, of environmentalists. Things, however, started to turn in 2019 when it emerged that SML 173 was under consideration and likely to be approved. Despite the environmental impact assessment (EIA) requested by NEPA, but paid for by the company, saying that environmental damage from mining could be substantially mitigated, campaigners spoke out against the plan and the damage that it might cause to the unique ecosystem and cultural heritage. Some activists staged demonstrations, including at Parliament.

The crux of the argument is that not only is the Cockpit Country home to scores of endemic species of plants and fauna, its sinkholes and aquifers are the source of around 40 per cent of Jamaica’s water. Cockpit Country water feeds six of the island’s rivers. The boundaries of the protected area should, in the circumstances, be expanded.

NO UNDERTAKING

Robert Montague, minister of transport and mining, in a parliamentary report on his ministry’s work, gave no such undertaking. He, however, announced that having met with Cockpit Country residents in their own communities, and after discussions with political leaders and Government technocrats, 6,000 hectares (14,820 acres or around 23 square miles) has been removed from SML 173. That’s the equivalent of 72 per cent of the original allocation of 8,335 hectares (20,587 acres).

This, though, is not the end of the matter. Noranda, Mr Montague explained, will be compensated with additional lands to the east, in an adjacent mining lease. What wasn’t made clear was whether the exchange was on a one-to-one basis and if the area removed from SML 173 will be locked off from mining in perpetuity. As important will be campaigners’ assessment of the action, including what it means for the delineation of the Cockpit Country Protected Area.

With respect to the Bengal project, Mr Montague said, while there was no agreement, the Government on the instruction of Prime Minister Holness had begun discussions with the developers to identify “suitable lands with the same or better-quality limestone”.

This, on the face of it, sounds like a responsive government attuned to the concerns of the people and capable of being swayed by rational arguments. This, though, is the preliminary assessment. Many people will want assurance that they aren’t being treated to smokes and mirrors or the fast hands of illusionists. That’s why details are important.