The Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), says it has noted the article in the Jamaica Observer “No mining will be allowed in Cockpit Country protected area, Ministry insists” published on Tuesday, November 9.

In a statement on Thursday, JET contended that while it is relieved that the revised boundary presented by the Mines and Geology Division (MGD) no longer encroaches on the boundary of the Cockpit Country Area Proposed for Protection (CCAPP), the environmental watchdog remains concerned, however, “that no consideration has been given for a buffer zone for further protection to Cockpit Country and the communities that live there”.

Additionally, JET asked the MGD to offer the following clarifications:

“On October 26, 2021 JET wrote to the MGD indicating that the notice was not presented in a manner that was easy for the general public to understand. We suggested that the notice be reproduced with a sketch plan or the map for SEPL 643,” the non-governmental organisation wrote.

“Due to the urgency of our concerns, JET requested a copy of the sketch plan/ map from MGD’s Public Registry on November 1, 2021, in accordance with the provisions of the Mining Act. We were advised that it was not available as it was not yet uploaded to the system, one month after the application was announced in the newspaper. We were further advised to submit an Access to Information (ATI) request and this was done on November 2, 2021. We, therefore, used the only data available to the public to create the map we disseminated,” JET argued further.

Continuing, JET remarked that the November 9, 2021 article makes reference to a ‘numerical discrepancy’ which resulted in the incorrect positioning of the First Corner northwest of Accompong.

“However, this does not explain what continues to be discrepancies between the original September 29, 2021 notice and MGD’s map.  In the Notice, distances between Corner-points were provided in metres.  The distance presented to travel from the Starting Point to the First Corner (now Raheen) and to travel from the First Corner to the Second Corner (Wallingford) along MGD’s curvy lines cannot have been derived from a position located anywhere in the Raheen area:  Raheen is situated too close to the Starting Point if we use the distances printed in the Notice. If Raheen is/was always the intended First Corner, it is not clear how the MGD could have presented incorrect distances in the descriptions of both the First Corner and the Second Corner,” JET said.

Dr. Susan Koenig of Windsor Research Centre (WRC) further noted, “Jamaica signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use. We would therefore expect the Nassau Mountains and, indeed, all forested areas to be removed from all SEPLs.”

Cockpit Country is of extreme national importance and interest.

Therefore, when preparing new licences for the exploration or extraction of mining, the process should be done with extreme caution and accuracy because the public is entitled to rely on, and trust the information published.