Jamaica mangroves

For the first time, Jamaica’s nationally determined climate contributions include specific coastal ecosystem targets for mangroves and seagrass. It is a quiet but potentially consequential shift in how the island manages its most threatened natural barriers.

The first quarter of 2017 marked the JLP government’s first full year managing Jamaica’s coastal development agenda. Tourism investment was the dominant priority. Beach access reform, mangrove protection, and the accumulated backlog of environmental enforcement issues were moving more slowly. The pattern of the coming years was already visible.

The first quarter of 2013 saw the publication of a national mangrove assessment that documented losses totalling hundreds of hectares over the preceding two decades. The report gave formal expression to what coastal communities had been observing informally: the mangrove forests that had once fringed much of Jamaica’s coastline were disappearing, and with them the storm protection, fisheries nursery habitat, and shoreline stability they had provided.

The spring of 2006 brought a focused debate about the relationship between Jamaica’s coastal wetland systems — mangroves, seagrass beds, and freshwater-saline transition zones — and the resort developments that were being approved along the north coast. The debate had scientific, legal, and moral dimensions, and none of them was being adequately addressed in the approvals process.

The first quarter of 2003 brought renewed focus on the role of mangrove forests in coastal protection, as several resort development applications in the pre-approval phase proposed construction on or adjacent to mangrove systems.

The fourth quarter of 1996 brought Jamaica’s Ramsar Convention obligations into focus as development proposals in wetland areas raised questions about whether the country was meeting its international commitments to protect wetlands of international significance.