IT took five years, but a new plan is emerging for the policing of Jamaica’s 26 watersheds, now in varying stages of decline from squatting, unapproved development and tree cutters. The national watershed policy for Jamaica is to be submitted, within two months, to Cabinet for its consideration, the land and environment ministry has advised.

But Diana McCaulay, executive director of Jamaica Environment Trust, is unimpressed with the news.

“A watershed policy? Just give me a break. We have any number of policies that have been drafted for 10 years. Some have been finalised. But they are not enforced. What is the point?” said McCaulay.

“I am not impressed with any plan because I have heard of many plans before, but they are not enforced.”

The problems besetting the ecosystems are diverse and devastating, manifested in eroding hillsides and infrastructure that worsen with each new rainy season.

The policy’s near finalisation comes with an admission from the National Integrated Watershed Management Council (NIWMC) that five watersheds are in serious decline – Rio Minho, the Rio Cobre, the Hope River, The Pencar/Buff Bay and Yallahs watersheds – from deforestation and poor solid waste management.

But there are added problems, according to Vivian Blake, NIWMC coordinator, from soil erosion, some naturally ocurring but some resulting from human activity.

“The enforcement of legislation tends to be reactive rather than proactive,” said Blake.

In Negril, whose coastal wetlands are considered key to the resort town’s main economic activity, tourism, environmentalists have long decried the largely unregulated activities in the hilly watersheds and the resultant pollution of the coast and marine life, from deposits of human waste, garbage and farming debris that travel via the waterways.

The town’s environmental advocacy, led by groups such as the Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society (NCRPS) and the Negril Environmental Area Protection Trust (NEPT), has helped to mitigate, but not halt the practices.

The clearest sign of the degradation is the declining coral cover and with it the continued erosion of Negril’s famous seven miles of white sand beach.

“The watershed policy is a critical instrument that is long overdue in our opinion,” said Nadia Ferguson, acting executive director of NEPT.

“We are just anxiously awaiting the finishing touches on it to come through. We have close to 30 watersheds and so this instrument would greatly assist the whole movement of conservation of watersheds as a unit.”

Once it passes Cabinet scrutiny, the policy goes to Parliament for discussion and debate, before it is finally formalised into law.

“A sub-committee of the National Integrated Watershed Management Committee is mandated to finalise the policy before April 2006,” the ministry told the Sunday Observer.

“The document requires final amendments before submission again to Cabinet for approval for tabling in the Houses as a white paper: A Watershed Policy for Jamaica.”

Ferguson, though happy there was progress, said the policy should be written to enhance community and personal knowledge of how watersheds directly benefit households, and argued in favour of input from groups like NEPT.

“A lot of people probably hear what a watershed is, but they probably can’t make the connection to everyday life,” she said.

But such plans exist, even if not captured within the policy. The watershed management council, for example, is hoping to lead research that will demonstrate to households the connection between healthy wetlands and the supply of water to the taps in their homes.

The ministry, meanwhile, says there were consultations over the five years that informed the new policy. But McCauley said those efforts were sketchy and done so long ago that she had to exercise her mind to recall them.

The ministry presented a different view saying so keen were the drafters of the document for sector input that a request for a final consultative round was granted.

“This was done in February 2005. After several months, most of the key stakeholders returned some feedback,” the ministry said.

The policy is to be a guide for private and public sector interests, as well as lending agencies.

To this end, it details existing domestic, legislative, institutional and policy frameworks within which local watersheds are managed, including the National Resources Conservation Authority Act (1991) and the more recent National Solid Waste Management Act of 2001.

The policy has sought synergy with the existing National Land Policy of 1996, and the 2001 Forestry Policy; and internationally, it conforms to conventions such as the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Area and Wildlife (SPAW) of 1990, which protects rare and fragile ecosystems and the endangered species that inhabit them.

Broadly, the national watershed policy, which builds on the existing National Integrated Watershed Management Programmatic Framework, establishes that management of watersheds is a permanent process, requiring investment and coordination among agencies and groups; and that community buy-in is key to halt the degradation.

The policy is to be policed by the National Environment and Planning Agency, which will be responsible for its adjustment over time to reflect contemporary environmental needs and ensure its continued “relevance and usefulness as a management tool”.

williamsp@jamaicaobserver.com