We, the undersigned 65 civil society organisations and concerned citizens, are calling for urgent reform of Jamaica’s environmental and planning governance framework.

Recent public comments by Minister of Environment and Climate Change Matthew Samuda have once again highlighted a long-standing governance issue: the tension between NEPA’s role as Jamaica’s environmental regulator and the ministry under which it is placed, particularly when development control and environmental protection are combined in a single agency.

This tension did not begin recently. Since the promulgation of the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) Act in 2001, Jamaica’s environmental regulator (NEPA) has sat under multiple ministries- often alongside portfolios responsible for economic growth, infrastructure, or development.

Despite multiple studies over the past two decades, including the 2007 modernisation review prepared by Dr Winston McCalla and Associates and the CAPRI study in 2018, structural weaknesses and unresolved legislative reform persist. More than 20 years after NEPA’s creation, there is still no comprehensive NEPA Act to modernise and regularise the agency’s mandate.

What is new, however, is the recent creation of a stand-alone Ministry of Water, Environment and Climate Change, which does not include NEPA, Jamaica’s principal environmental regulator. The establishment of this new ministry presented a clear opportunity to address historic conflicts in mandate and governance. That opportunity was not taken.

Today, NEPA and its regulatory arm, the NRCA, remain under the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), while the prime minister also retains responsibility for the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development. This placement situates environmental regulation within the same executive portfolio responsible for promoting large-scale development, creating a structural tension that limits independent oversight.

Minister Samuda, in his interview, highlighted that agencies often sit within ministries whose broader portfolios differ from their regulatory functions. The issue here, however, is not simply administrative location. It is the inherent tension and conflict of interest between environmental protection and development control.

Development approval and environmental protection serve different purposes. One facilitates economic growth and the creation of jobs, while the other scrutinises, conditions, or, where necessary, restricts activities to prevent harm to ecosystems and communities caused by development. These functions are often in direct conflict. That is precisely why, in most CARICOM jurisdictions—including Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and OECS member states—environmental regulation and land-use planning are handled by separate agencies under distinct legislative frameworks.

This is not comparable to unrelated portfolio groupings. The concern arises when the mandates themselves are structurally conflicting — such as forestry and mining, or environmental protection and large-scale development. In such cases, governance arrangements must be carefully designed to prevent conflicts of interest and ensure that environmental oversight is not subordinated to development priorities.

NEPA continues to face inherited challenges, including outdated and conflicting legislation, limited enforcement capacity, staffing and technical gaps, and unclear institutional roles. These weaknesses affect environmental outcomes, public confidence, and the integrity of the development approval process.

At a time of escalating climate impacts — stronger storms, flooding, sea-level rise, and ecosystem loss — Jamaica cannot afford a governance framework that blurs mandates or weakens oversight.

We therefore call for:

• The transfer of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) to the Ministry of Water, Environment and Climate Change as an immediate step, while the Government undertakes comprehensive legislative reform.
• Comprehensive legislative reform to modernise and harmonise planning and environmental laws, including the enactment of a modern NEPA Act to regularise governance arrangements; 
• The structural separation of environmental regulation from development control functions, including separating the NRCA from the Town and Country Planning Authority (TCPA) and the Land Development and Utilization Commission (LDUC); and
• Independent and transparent oversight mechanisms, including consideration of an environmental commission, to strengthen accountability in environmental decision-making.

This governance issue has remained unresolved for decades. The creation of a stand-alone environment ministry made reform possible. It is time to complete it.

Signed by:
1 Devon Taylor, JaBBEM (Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement)
2 Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie, Jamaica Environment Trust
3 Robert Stephens, Environmental Foundation of Jamaica
4 Anna Perkins, Advocates Network
5 Michael Downer, National Hospitality Workers Union
6 Esther Figueroa, Vagabond Media
7 Diana McCaulay, Founder of Jamaica Environment Trust
8 Lisa Soares, concerned citizen
9 Dr Susan Koenig, Windsor Research Centre
10 Talya Mohammed, Caribbean Philanthropic Alliance
11 Mary Fatta JAD
12 Heidi Savery, Old Tavern Coffee Estate
13 Emma Lewis, freelance writer and environmental advocate
14 Jane Nathan, concerned resident
15 Jennes Anderson, a concerned Jamaican
16 KaBu Ma’at Kheru, IRIE FM
17 Collin Beckford, Blue Lagoon Alliance of Seas
18 Cameron Johnson, Manning’s School.
19 Jeanette Calder, Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal
20 Joan Clarke, OJLDF
21 Silvia Kouwenberg, concerned citizen
22 Charles Hyatt
23 Christine English, concerned citizen
24 Jan Voordouw, independent evaluation consultant
25 Dr Amanda Arbouin, Discovery Bay CDC
26 Molly Walton, retired church worker
27 Hudston Taylor, Ocho Rios Ministers Fraternal
28 Willem Mulder, UWI Mona
29 David Twyman, farmer
30 Johnathan Hemmings, Ocho Rios Baptist church
31 Andreas Oberli, Biodiversity conservation. Ecosystems protection
32 Inilek Wilmot, Jamaica Surfing Association
33 Ann M. Haynes-Sutton
34 Ingrid Parchment, Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation
35 Felix Charnley, Derby Beach Marine Sanctuary
36 Dr. Thomas Goreau, Global Coral Reef Alliance
37 Katrina Coombs, Blaqmango Consultants
38 Vaughan Turland, entomologist
39 Althea Walker, National Environment and Planning Agency
40 Emma Lewis, freelance writer
41 Danielle Goodman, Ageing Well Jamaica
42 Syrece Evans, Derby Bay Marine Sanctuary
43 Camilo Trench, the University of the West Indies
44 Ricardo Hickling, UWI
45 Dr. Karl Aiken, retired marine scientist & UWI Mona academic
46 PAMELA MORDECAI
47 Natalie Reid, Plant Allies and Associates
48 Stephen Walker, biology student at UWI Mona
49 Honor Ford-Smith, senior scholar in environmental and urban change at York University,
50 Gianni Lafayette
51 Hugh Dunbar, resident of Bayview in Bull Bay
52 Mark Martin, Gardenism
53 Mary-Anne, Twyman Landscape Architect HTL, APAC
54 Carol Narcisse, Citizens’ Rights to the City (CRC)
55 Rema Wright, Benson Citizen’s Assiciation
56 John Ricketts, Citizens’ Rights to the City
57 B.. Lee, CITIZENS RIGHTS COMMUNITY (CRC)
58 Teri-Ann Folkes
59 Gregory Chapman Scarlett Hall, Salt March, Half Moon Bay Fishers Association Ltd.
60 Jennifer Jones
61 Coleen Clay, Citizens’ Rights to the City
62 Samyka Chung
63 Paul Roberts, Discovery Bay Community Development Committee
64 Michael Chamunda Williams, Hope Pastures Citizens Association