Private Sector, NGO and Stakeholder Participation

While this JANEAP is a document outlining Government's commitment to the environment, it is evident that Government alone cannot take sole management and stewardship, responsibility for Jamaica's natural resources. Environmental concerns are pervasive, affecting the quality of life of every Jamaican and reaching into areas as diverse as public health and economic growth. In addition, destruction or degradation of Jamaica's natural assets may reduce the opportunities and choices available for future generations. Government has established the environment as a national priority, and as such it requires that all Jamaicans, whether as individuals or in community groups, parish organizations, service clubs or private sector firms, act as good environmental citizens. The Government also recognizes that many aspects of environmental management are more appropriately decentralized manage by Local Government handled by the private sector or by community groups, with a coordinating role of central and local government.

The Government has already begun to work with the active community of environmental organizations and associations in Jamaica. At the NRCA, a NGO liaison desk within the Environmental Education Public Information and Outreach Branch is being responsible for providing better communications with these groups. This effort will be expanded to enable NRCA to collorabrate with all elements of the civil society, to coordinate its programmes with them and facilitate efforts at strengthening community action by groups interested in environmental protection. While Jamaica's NGOs represent a broad set of concerns within the country, they are particularly active in the much needed area of raising public environmental awareness. Some have also identified a need to move beyond educational efforts to local projects and co-management of natural systems such as mangroves and forests. The NRCA is continue to take a leading role - along with the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica - in supporting, informing and facilitating the many Jamaican citizens and organizations that are willing to assist in environmental protection particularly at the local and parish level.

NGOs have also become an integral component of Jamaica's system for national parks and protected areas, with the management of Blue Mountain/John Crow Mountain National Park and Montego Bay Marine Park scheduled to be delegated in 1995 to the Jamaica Conservation Development Trust (JCDT) and the Monetgo Bay Marine Park Trust (MBMPT). This delegation will be done by the NRCA which has the legal mandate for establishment and management of national parks and the authority to delegate parts of its functions to other entities, based on established criteria. Plans for future parks and protected areas (Port Royal Cays and Palisadoes, Hellshire Hills, Portland Bight, Canoe Valley, Black River Morass, Cockpit Country, Negril Watershed and Marine Park, Martha Brea Marshland, Discovery Bay Scientific Reserve, St. Ann Coast marine Parks, Port Antonio - San San Marine Park, Yallahs Ponds and environs, etc.) will also allow for management delegation contracts with national community or parish-based NGOs or other entities.

The Government, through NRCA and other agencies, is working with the private sector in support of the Environment. For example, the NRCA is represented on the board or grants committees of organizations such as the Canada Green Fund and the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) which provide grants for NGOs and other civil society groups to carry out environmental projects. In addition, strong consultative relationships exists on a formal and informal basis with the premier environmental management consulting firms in the island. The government is also working with traditional private sector interests on environmental issues, though this effort needs much improvement. At present there is strong private sector representation on the NRCA, and the Executive Director of NRCA is a member of the environmental committee of the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ). However, there remains a need for more structured and regular communication and better integration between NRCA and the private sector in order to keep the private sector informed of correct environmental management procedures, and for Government to benefit from private sector ideas and initiatives. A review of proposals for the development of a "Sustainable Development Council" type organization is underway as this function may be capable of being integrated into an existing body.