The Editor, Sir:

Kindly publish this response to The Gleaner article of December 27, 'Davis suggests management system for Cockpit Country'.

The Cockpit Country Stakeholders' Group (CCSG) is heartened by the interest shown by the media in the campaign to save Cockpit Country. We would like to respond to some of the points raised in the article, quoting both chairman of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI), Dr. Carlton Davis, and Dr. Parris Lyew-Ayee, Jr., of the Mona Geoinformatics Unit at UWI.

Over the past three months, the Jamaica Environmental Advocacy Network (JEAN), on behalf of the CCSG, has written 10 letters to a range of government agencies requesting information on what was planned for Cockpit Country with regard to mining and prospecting. We received no substantive response from anyone. We received one response from the acting Commissioner of Mines, who simply referred us to the JBI or the licensee, and two other letters, one from the JBI and one from Minister Omar Davies, promising a meeting.

We have also made several Access to Information requests, some of which have been granted and others to which we have had no response. On December 14, we heard that despite all this correspondence, three prospecting licences had been granted. This is inconsistent with the Government of Jamaica's stated policy of openness, transparency and public consultation and is what caused the outpouring of objections from Jamaicans from all walks of life, both at home and abroad.

Did we pose a 'gratuitous attack' on the bauxite/ alumina industry, as suggested by Dr. Davis?

We have not attacked the bauxite industry at all. In all our releases, we have called for a proper study of what bauxite/alumina has brought Jamaica - not simply a tally of the revenue side. We ask that the costs imposed by the bauxite/alumina industry also be considered, before an accurate evaluation can be done. These costs include, but are not limited to air quality impact effects on respiratory health, loss of biological diversity, loss of forests, water quality impacts, ineffective disposal of toxic wastes, destruction of landscapes, and the social impact of relocation of people.

Cockpit Country boundaries

The Gleaner article quoted Dr. Parris Lyew-Ayee, Jr. as questioning the basis for the delimitation of Cockpit Country shown on the map CCSG has prepared. Our map shows the boundary of that part of the uplifted limestone plateau from which Cockpit Country has been sculpted by climatic conditions over the past 15 to 20 million years into what is known as a 'cockpit karst' landscape.

We have already presented the science underlying the boundaries to the Minister of Agriculture and Lands, the Hon. Roger Clarke, and his colleagues, and look forward to making a similar presentation to the newly-formed Cabinet subcommittee on minerals policy. We agree that once the Cockpit Country boundaries are agreed, the area should be closed to mining and commercial prospecting under the Mining Act, and we look forward to achieving this as soon as possible in 2007.

We are, etc.,

DIANA McCAULAY et al.

contact@jeanjamaica.org

Jamaica Environmental Advocacy Network (JEAN)

On behalf of the Cockpit Country Stakeholders

Group (CCSG)