The Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) has welcomed the recent release of Vice News’ new documentary, Jamaica for Sale, which shows how a sovereign group in Jamaica is fighting a US mining company.

According to JET, the film gives voice to many residents, including farmers, who describe the negative environmental and social impacts of bauxite mining is allowed in Cockpit Country.

As today (August 9), almost two weeks after its release on July 29, the 35-minute long film has had more than one million views on YouTube and is trending at #29. The over 5,000 comments are largely in support of continuing the fight to protect this important area.

Dr Susan Koenig of Windsor Research Centre in Trelawny said about the video, “The VICE investigative reporting was invaluable for showing so clearly how communities are impacted by mining activities, especially where dust is generated during mining, along haul roads, and at the factories with the bauxite-alumina residues – the ‘red mud’.  We certainly have to ask whether Jamaica’s ambient air quality standards are adequate for protecting the public from cumulative exposure given what VICE showed us.  It’s time to stop this polluting of our environment and take proper care of our life-giving ecosystems.”

On November 21, 2017, Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared that more than 74,000 hectares of land were to be designated as the Cockpit Country Protected Area (CCPA) and closed to mining under the Mining Act. However, almost three years later, the ground-truthing of the boundary by the Forestry Department appears to be just about completed.

JET and other stakeholders have previously raised concerns that the CCPA boundary excluded areas of Cockpit Country that were of hydrological, biological, and historical importance but were also areas where prospecting licenses and mining leases had already been issued. For the mining leases, these were issued without requisite environmental permits or any evaluations of the impacts of mining. 

An EIA remains under review for Special Mining Lease (SML) 173 which adjoins the boundary of the proposed CCPA.

“Science has shown the importance of buffer zones for protected areas,” said JET CEO Dr Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie.

“The 2013 study by Webber and Noel made suggestions on what this buffer zone should look like, stating that the official boundary for the Cockpit Country should comprise a Core, a Transition Zone and an Outer Boundary. JET intends to continue its work to see that this happens.”

Cockpit Country is the largest remaining natural forest in Jamaica, supplies about 40 per cent of  Jamaica’s water needs and is home to many endemic plants and animals.

The area is also an important cultural and historical site for Jamaicans, particularly the Maroons. Protection of Cockpit Country also promotes climate resilience in the face of Global Climate Change. Bauxite mining in Cockpit Country would remove the deep soils for which forests and agricultural livelihoods depend, compromise air quality, harm the health and wellbeing of thousands of Jamaican citizens and will irreversibly alter water resources.

JET said it was hopeful that this documentary will be used to continue to raise awareness of the costs of bauxite mining.