ONE local environmental lobby has called on the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) to make better use of non-government organisations (NGOs) in order to shore up its policing of the natural environment.

“They (NEPA) are not utilising the NGOs on the ground. That shows a lack of interest. If they really wanted to get information related to (environmental) destruction, they would utilise the NGOs more,” complained Barrington Nesbeth, president of the environmental lobby group World Africa Re-unification Association (WARSA).

Nesbeth added that one way to do this was through the provision of equipment such as cameras to NGOs, who have people on the ground daily.

“Little cameras or binoculars would be to your (NEPA’s) interest,” he said.

But Zadie Neufville, NEPA’s acting communications manager, said it is not the agency’s responsibility to procure and or distribute such equipment.

“We are a regulatory agency. We are not outfitted with money to give people. But they can take that up with the EFJ (Environmental Foundation of Jamaica),” she said.

She did, however, make allowances for WARSA and other NGOs’ involvement in policing the environment, saying that there had been occasions when NGOs like the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) and the Northern Jamaica Conservation Association (NCJA) alerted them to environmental breaches.

“I don’t have any problem with NCJA who calls us about things. We work with JET when possible. We work together,” she said.

But Neufville’s statement comes at a time when there appears to be increased animosity between NEPA, the NCJA and JET over a variety of issues – most notably the Bahia Principe Hotel in St Ann.

The greenies, in fact, took NEPA and the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) to court last year over the hotel’s construction. Their argument was that NEPA and the NRCA had failed to observe due process – including hosting a proper consultation – before awarding the hotel developers, the Pinero Group, a permit for the construction. Construction was eventually allowed to proceed but the greenies’ point had been made: they were dissatisfied with

the way NEPA and the NRCA operated.

But Neufville maintained that NEPA would never hold past disagreements against any NGO.

“We are not there to malice people because of what they want to say about the agency because a lot of things they are saying are beyond us in that a lot of the things they want us to do we can’t do legally because the chain of evidence is not there.

So you can’t prosecute,” she said.

It is with this lack of a chain of evidence in mind that Neufville said there was now a concerted effort on NEPA’s part to educate community-based groups on new legislations, to have them actively involved in countering environmental breaches.

“Right now we are involved in a series of workshops, where we train them on the Acts and what they need to know,” she said. “The workshops are designed to equip the NGOs with what they need. telling them what to look for to aid them in monitoring, and how to gather evidence.”

The workshops began in January and up to the end of last month, Neufville said they had been to St Catherine, Clarendon, St Ann, Westmoreland and St Elizabeth. As part of their effort, she said NEPA also had copies of the legislation on CDs for distribution in the parishes they visit, while encouraging people to read about the permits granted for one development or other.

Beyond that, she said the workshops had given people a chance to get themselves acquainted with various individuals, including enforcement inspectors, which she admitted NEPA did not have enough of.

“We don’t have enough of these officers, which is why we are working with the communities to see where the problems are. Normally, our officers patrol and see what is happening, but when we have the communities, they can be our eyes and ears. It makes it a lot easier. And in many instances, the evidence is fresh,” the NEPA officer told the Observer.

Meanwhile, she said the agency was willing to support any application for funds by NGOs, who would want to secure equipment to aid in environmental monitoring.

“We can’t apply for funding, as a government entity. But we can support your efforts because in some instances, people will call us and say ‘can you support our application to the EFJ’ to get funding for various things. If it’s something that we believe in, that benefits the community, we will,” she said.

“We are always willing where public education is concerned to support any agency and entity that is willing to work to that end. Our goal at the end of the day is to have Jamaica aware of the environmental issues so that people can police themselves,” Neufville added.