In the words of PM Andrew Holness, “Become a hero for your environment. Let us be able to truly say we did our best to preserve it for generations to come.” We, the citizens of Jamaica, must play our role in standing up and ensuring our country is at the forefront of advocating for and protecting our local environment.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness and the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) has recently overruled and overturned the rejection of applications for permits for quarrying and mining in the Puerto Bueno Mountains in St Ann, by the nation’s environment watch-dog agencies the National Environmental and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Natural Resources Conservation Agency (NRCA).

This decision comes at the direct cost of Jamaica’s biodiverse environment - Puerto Bueno is one of the last pristine dry limestone forests in the Caribbean. With quarrying/mining operations there is expected air and noise pollution, landfalls and erosion, groundwater and seawater pollution, increased traffic, loss of land and habitats for critical species, not just for the direct area but for locations in the vicinity of operations and the greater Jamaica. Substantial reasoning for the rejection of permits from NEPA/NRCA state, “A quarry of this nature, size, scale and intensity will have a deleterious effect on the environment in general and the surrounding uses including impact and loss of biodiversity and natural resources, and impact on underground hydrology.”

Proposals which promise ‘great economic gain’, (about 100 jobs and $635 million in taxes to the GOJ), however would not be worth the expected long-term economic and environmental development losses, devaluing of surrounding lands, ecotourism and potential scientific exploration and tourism attraction of the untouched Jamaican beauty.

This comes as deja vu to many as 10 years ago in 2010, under the NRCA Act and environmentalist consultancy advice for the rejection of permits to the Diamond Property Development LLC for mining and quarrying of the same location based on “high environmental impacts and nuisance to local residents” was granted. Prior to this, an exceptional, one-off, mining permit was granted solely for providing material for the Queen’s Highway, with no other commercial gains. No such exceptional circumstance exists today.

Now, in 2020 the future of our limestone forest’s biodiversity is once again in question. The private company in question, Bengal Development Limited/Jamaica World LLC, has its paused public communication until “further notice,” but, despite being previously rejected for a permit from NEPA& NRCA based on potential environmental destruction,  has diminished, downplayed and disregarded the impacts of their proposals.

Despite outcries from the Jamaica Environmental Trust (JET) NEPA and NRCA, local environmentalists and many residents, disastrous decisions have still been made. In the words of PM Andrew Holness, during his National Heroes Day 2019 message, we should be reminded that “it requires social awareness of the threat and our individual courage to change how we live, to bring our lives in line with environment”.  More recently, on Thursday November 12th 2020, PM Andrew Holness speaking to the project and violation of NEPA-proposed conditions, said, “I’m the first one to shut it down,” well PM, we the undersigned and greater Jamaica urge you to act on your words and to shut down and recall your statements to allow for the betterment of Jamaica.