Adrian Frater, News Editor

Chairman of the Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency, Hugh Dixon.-File

WESTERN BUREAU:

Declaring the Cockpit Country a potential pharmaceutical gold mine, Chairman of the South Trelawny Environmental Agency (STEA), Hugh Dixon, believes turning over the area to bauxite mining without first determining its true economic value could be a costly and short-sighted error.

"I can take you to people in Alps (near Ulster Spring) who can give you a full medicinal course on every plant in the area," said Mr. Dixon. "The people have been using these plants to heal themselves over time and research done by local scientists has validated these claims."

Based on the results of studies being carried out by researchers from the University of West Indies, Mr. Dixon said there was tremendous potential for new products as a number of plants that nobody knew existed and others that were believed to be extinct, have been found.

royalties

As a result of the exciting pharmaceutical possibilities, the STEA chairman believes Government should be developing a policy, which will create the scope for the collection of royalties from whatever new medicines are developed.

"We want to get to a point where the protection of the Cockpit Country comes with a policy that says if you go into the designated area you are required to report what you are going to research and define what you are taking out," said Mr. Dixon. "That information should be logged so that once the inventions are used, royalties can be collected."

He also stressed that the even- tual economic benefit would be sustainable.

"There is a lack of local knowledge as to what the Cockpit Country has to offer in terms of untapped pharmaceutical wealth," he commented. "If we should give up the land to bauxite, we could be giving up vast amounts of wealth in the process."

From a scholarly perspective, he stated that the Cockpit Country is tailor-made for research, and presents a wonderful opportunity for local researchers to tap into and utilise the local knowledge about the various folk medicines in coming up with new products.

"The residents of the Cockpit Country know a number of plants and their medicinal use. Folk medicine is amazing in this area," said Mr. Dixon.

New Tourism Offering

He noted that there is also scope to develop a tourism market out of the Cockpit Country, as in addition to its scenic terrain featuring rugged karstic depressions and underground streams, its ecological potential and the folk knowledge of the residents could create a new tourism offering.

"An industry could be created around the local knowledge of the residents which could prove interesting to visitors with an ecological interest," said Dixon. "We could create and sell various local brews, such as hemp wine, which has already received the stamp of approval from local researchers."

Beside its potential for causing dislocation, Mr. Dixon said that contrary to popular belief, bauxite mining does not generate much employment for the residents in the areas where mining is being done and negatively impacts other developments.

"At any given time in a 50-acre mining area, there are no more than 10 workers and they are usually not locals," said Mr. Dixon. "These workers are usually machine operators."