Aubyn Hill
AS A child I always loved to visit the Dunn's River Falls. As an adult I take many of my friends from overseas to the falls year after year and I still love the feel of the cold water that converts into something exhilarating and revitalising as one climbs. Indeed, the coldness is quickly left behind.
Sadly, Dunn's River Falls and related water sources and other environmental assets are at grave risk. Unauthorised road building and digging of marl pits in places like Parrytown and the effect on places like Spring Piece, Milford and Beecher Town are quite negative and will encourage continuing deterioration of our valuable natural national resources if corrective action and good planning are not put in place quite quickly.
A GOOD HISTORY AND A GREAT ASSET
The Government made a wise decision in 1978 when the Ministry of Housing acquired 471 acres of Shaw Park lands in three separate transfers for a combined sum of J$197,000. In the 1980s a 10 acre plot of land at Lime Bottom was donated by Colonel Robin Stuart and lots of 4,000 square feet have been sold to past and present workers of Shaw Park typically for about J$15,000. In the 1990s NHDC got involved with lands to the east of Lime Bottom and from here the history becomes somewhat sullied. Spring Piece which falls directly between the Russell Hall and Turtle Rivers is settled by squatters from the mid-1990s. This settlement is within about a metre of Shaw Park Gardens. Substantial sums of IDB loan funds have been spent at the Parrytown Primary School to put in a trans-evaporation sewage system in 1993 to prevent contamination of the underground water at the Milford Spring. At the same time seven families from the Milford River watershed were relocated.
The Ministry of Housing removed squatters from its lands at Parrytown and the Parrytown settlement on 'capture land' started in 1997. Today an estimated 2,000 persons live at this site. Unfortunately, this settlement surrounds the main aquifer leading into Ocho Rios and is subjected to massive flooding and the discharging of pit latrines down into the Ocho Rios bay. Faecal coliform levels are said to be dangerously high. The great history of this wonderful watershed area - a really classic beauty - is disrespected and we are damaging an outstanding part of our natural asset at a dangerously rapid pace.
MANY SENIOR POLITICIANS INVOLVED
The degradation of the water resources and the general environment of the Ocho Rios area is well known to many politicians and I believe that they are sympathetic to the issue. In August 2003 Ministers Danny Buchanan and Dean Peart visited the Shaw Park area and spoke to many interested stakeholders. Government officials such as Geneefa Hibbert, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Housing and Basil Fernandez, who is managing director of the Water Resources Authority, have been engaged in the effort to find a solution to the growing dilemma that is facing the residents of Ocho Rios concerning the water resources of the area and the general environmental degradation.
Even Minister Pickersgill has been involved, because in December 2003 heavy seasonal rains caused the destruction of the Beecher Town to Milford road which became impassable due to boulders being strewn across the road and water turning it into a riverbed. Waters from the Parrytown 'capture land', which turns into a lake, is discharged into flood waters that collect in the main street of Ocho Rios. In July 2004, Minister Pickersgill announced that a Caribbean Development Bank loan of $40,000,000 had been secured to repair the road between Beecher Town and the Milford road. In July 2004, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller visited the area while she was Minister of Local Government and so all the very important persons who can bring about a solution to this problem know about it, are sympathetic about the growing plight of residents and I suspect want to do something about it.
A GRAND OPPORTUNITY FOR GOVERNMENT TO WORK
The future of Dunn's River Falls, St. Ann is threatened by uncontrolled squatter settlements. - FILE
With all these powerful ministries and ministers, as well as Government officials such as Paul Buchanan of NHDC involved, I see this as a great opportunity for the Government to pull together all the studies (we really don't need another study before we act!) and take the necessary and prudent decision to preserve the watershed area by building decent housing for squatters who have nowhere else to go at the moment and are polluting the valuable watershed areas in the environs of Ocho Rios. This is also an excellent opportunity for the PM who has publicly committed to involve communities in creating a better Jamaica.
Minister Danny Buchanan rightly encouraged interested parties in this Ocho Rios issue to incorporate themselves and they have formed the Ocho Rios Nature Preserve Trust (ORNPT). The Parish Council has a keen interest and the businessmen of the area have both an economic and environmental interest given the benefit that tourists who come to see the falls and other features of nature in the area contribute an enormous sum of money to the local economy.
A study by the Environmental Management Unit of the University of the West Indies in April 2001 (it is comprehensive and informative) which was done to provide "a rapid assessment of the coastal and marine resources and to quantify the economic benefits received from maintaining the marine and coastal resources of Ocho Rios at an acceptable level" found that these key marine and coastal resources such as coral reefs (being degraded to a point where only about 10 per cent live coral cover is in place; fisheries which are presently under threat associated with increased fishing pressure; beaches - some of which are man-made and; reptiles such as the Hawksbill turtles) are the kind of natural assets which tourists come to see and use. The study found however, that these resources are really threatened by the improper solid and sewage waste disposal that are being used, over-fishing, shipping, construction activities and even global warming. Importantly, the study found that "The total economic value of the marine and coastal resources assessed in the Ocho Rios Marine Park was found to be US$180,000,000 per annum".
In November 2005, heavy rains again flooded Main Street in Ocho Rios. Runoff damaged many houses in Lime Bottom which was exacerbated by the work already carried out at Shaw Park Glades. The quantity of water that exited Fern Gully exceeded anything previously witnessed. It was believed that much of the excessive water came out of Harrison Town via Lime Bottom, and Shaw Park Glades.
ACTION NOT STUDY OR TALK
Given all the studies we have and all the important personalities and leaders that have touched this pressing issue, what we really do need now is a plan of action that will involve members of the local community - businessmen, politicians, environmentalists, students, policemen, squatters - to forge a workable and quick solution. All of us in Jamaica have to see ourselves as stakeholders in this prime natural preserve area. We all need to keep our focus on this issue until proper and speedy action is taken to curtail and stop the destruction of this valuable natural asset.
Aubyn Hill is the CEO of Corporate Strategies Ltd., a restructuring and financial advisory firm. Respond to: writerhill@gmail.com.
