THE inability to attract funding has led in recent years to the gradual silencing of local environmental lobbyists, many of whom are locked in a struggle to justify their continued existence, faced as they are with a lack of personnel to support their operations.

This is even as fatigue sets in, pushing some ever closer to the brink of throwing in the towel, as environmental degradation persists.

“I have been around since 1989 and we had a much stronger, more unified, more vibrant, more outspoken environmental lobby than we do now,” noted Diana McCaulay, chief executive officer for the Jamaican Environment Trust (JET) and arguably the most vocal environment advocate on the island.

“At the time, what was responsible for a sort of insurgence was that there was a lot of funding around. So in response to the funding, many groups were formed. We also had our new law — the Natural Resources Conservation Act — so it was a time when everybody was very hopeful that new legislation and these mostly new vibrant groups would result in the environment being protected,” she added.

The formulation of the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica in the mid-1990s also helped the cause of environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at the time who could apply to them for funding.

Counted among the active groups of the period were the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT); the Montego Bay Marine Park; the Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society; the Negril Environment Protection Trust; the Portland Environment Protection Association; the St Elizabeth Group Environmental Association; the Natural History Society of Jamaica; the Gosse Bird Club, now Birdlife Jamaica; Northern Jamaica Conservation Association (NJCA); and Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation.

But two decades on, many groups appear to have faded into the woodwork, remaining mum on critical environmental issues, including in recent times, the proposed development of Pellew Island, the further development of the Long Mountain area of St Andrew, the establishment of a beach at Blue Lagoon, the sale of Booby Cay, and the ongoing debate over Winnifred Beach where the Urban Development Corporation proposes to set up a residential and commercial development.

“A lot depends on the capacity of the organisation to actually spend the time and the effort to write well-researched letters and to gather all the facts and put them in the media. Our ability to mount effective advocacy campaigns depends on the time and resources and the people-power that is available in an organisation,” said Wendy Lee, president and founding member of NJCA.

“I know that for NJCA we’ve been rather quiet lately because we have not got the financial support. We have no major project funding. It (the debate on environmental issues) has been carried by individuals in terms of their resources,” added the woman who also runs the Seven Oaks Sanctuary for Wildlife in St Ann with much of her own money.

“We can’t compete with some of the other organisations. Some of the stronger organisations have the capacity to draw on the people around them and there is lots more resource in Kingston. So the urban NGOs have been more successful in mobilising resources. And they have the staff. I am executive director (and) I don’t get a salary. I write letters and they don’t get published,” Lee said further.

John Fletcher, former head of Birdlife Jamaica, agreed, noting that the ability of entities like JET to stay alive, vibrant and vocal could be credited, at least in part, to their ability to attract funding.

“What JET has been able to do is to raise money from donors so it can have a permanent staff of maybe a half a dozen people, including a lawyer — and a very good environmental lawyer (Danielle Andrade) — who is obviously not working for as much as she could in another organisation. With that base and with a lawyer, they have been able to challenge, in the court, Government or non-action. There aren’t a lot of environmental people with that amount of power… We don’t take on the Government because we don’t have the money to do it,” he told Environment Watch.

Still, despite the silence among some groups, he said the local lobby still breathes, as groups do what they can in line with their mandate.

Fletcher said that Birdlife, for example, continues to put out a paper annually that provides information on birdlife on the island. At the same time, he said they are engaged in some level of public education, sharing information and opinions on the various issues as they arise — even if outside the news media.

Dr Byron Wilson, head of the Jamaica Iguana Recovery Group and a lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of the West Indies, said there are people in the local environmental sector who are afraid of losing contracts such that they remain mum on certain issues.

“There are a lot of people who are working in the field of the environment who are not vocal because it could hurt their prospects for getting work. One obvious one is the process of environmental impact assessments (EIA). So, for example, if a company is hired and recommends that a project not go through then it is less likely to get another contract. So the EIA process is rubber-stamping the destruction of the natural environment of the country,” he said.

“There is another good example: NEPA (National Environment and Planning Agency) receive reports and information on things pertaining to them, but the people at NEPA, some of the time, are not going to report that information because it could compromise their jobs. Another major problem is that the country needs an independent environmental regulatory ministry, not people who are tied up with development or housing… The point is, the group should be able to say this is bad for themselves, to argue whether their environmental mandate is more important than the housing mandate,” Wilson added, referencing the pegging of environment with the housing and water ministry.

Apart from the lack of funds currently available, one reason for the silence, some theorise, is a healthy dose of fear — and not just the fear of losing the funding support they have in the event that they upset their funders, including, in some instances, the Government of Jamaica. There is also a healthy fear of coming under attack and being seen as anti-development.

“When an issue comes up in an area where there is another group and I ask well why are they not saying anything? They say people are afraid. They are afraid that advocacy could compromise their funding, which it can. Some environmental groups have contracts with Government and they are afraid that if they criticise Government then their contracts might be in jeopardy,” noted McCaulay.

The JET boss said she understands the fear.

“As somebody who stands up and speaks, I know it can be a daunting thing because you are generating opposition; you are speaking out against things that people want for whatever reason. And you are going to have people opposing you and calling your motives into question and even attack. People often attack me as opposed to the issue that I am raising,” she told Environment Watch.

Still, McCaulay said that she persists in her efforts given the value to the environment and the people who rely on it.

“The environmental advocate brings the discussion to public attention. It is a formal education and it also prevents decisions about our natural resources that belong to everybody from being taken behind closed doors. After 20 years, it is my opinion that it is not on anybody’s agenda in the Government unless it is in the press,” she said.

“The same thing is true for private sector companies. There is no responsible private sector company that wants to be in the press as a polluter. So if there is a danger of that, then it results in better environmental management from everybody, but if there is no danger of it (publicity)… then you get what we have now: poor environmental stewardship. It comes off the bottom of the to-do list the day it enters the newspaper,” McCaulay added.

There is also no discounting that being ignored saps the energies of many, leading them to question the value of continuing.

“We are tired of being ignored. I put a lot of energy into local government issues and was extremely vocal on the importance of public participation and consultation and you just get tired when time and time again — no matter how much grassroots support you have and community support per se — a (controversial) development goes ahead. You are just ignored and people get tired of it,” Lee said.

Fletcher was of a similar mind, noting that there was no discounting that it is a daunting prospect for many, having to face the possibility of being victimised.

“I have opinions and I have strong opinions, but I am not always prepared to put myself out there so that people can throw bricks at me. And there are many people who are even more cautious than me. So you talk among yourselves because you are not going to achieve anything anyway,” Fletcher said.

“Government’s attitude to the environment does not encourage dialogue on the environment. Their attitude tells you that they don’t care and if there is money involved, then that will take precedent and that again prevents people from speaking out,” he added.

McCaulay shared his view.

“Essentially we had vibrant groups and people who were not afraid to speak out; I think we lost that. I think a part of it is exhaustion because it is difficult to get any kind of NGO going (and) the way the debate has been framed is that if you are for the environment, you are anti-development and anti-people,” McCaulay said.

“Despite the fact that the people that JET most often represents are not high-class people… it (environmental protection) still comes across as this kind of elitist class issue. I do think there is some support for environmental issues, but I think it is largely silent support,” she added.

Meanwhile, JCDT acting executive director Marlon Beale said that contrary to the opinions of others, several organisations function in line with their remit while choosing to engage Government and other stakeholders outside of the media.

“I would say that it is based on the remit of each organisation and how they take their stance on advocacy. I know JET… has been more assertive in terms of their comments towards Government and the actions taken. JCDT, on the other hand, does not take that sort of assertive stance,” he said.

“We would not take that approach. We instead utilised other mechanisms — whether it be participating through committees, commenting on public documents or giving support to other groups. And we have given support to JET in the past on a topic that we feel we have enough expertise and have the ability to comment on,” Beale added.

While he would not rule out funding considerations as a possible source of the silence among some environmental NGOs, he said there were some who had chosen not to fight their battles in the public arena — the JCDT being among them.

“We have a delegation agreement with NEPA for the management of the park (Blue and John Crow National Park). So we do receive some level of financial support as well as technical support from the Government. (But) I wouldn’t say our decision to participate or comment on a Government matter is influenced by the fact that we have a subvention with Government,” the JCDT boss said.

“I would say that all different methods used have their uses. All the methods work hand in hand. Everybody has their own remit as to how they will advocate for the Government to be responsible for the environment,” he added.

He was, however, quick to note that there was no question of the local environmental lobby requiring additional funding to support their work.

“The fact is that (groups) may not have the resources, whether it is the financial or personnel… There needs to be the financial resources for environmental organisations that are working in the field, civil society groups in particular,” he said.

“I also think that there must be a willingness for Government itself to listen a bit more. I know they seek to ensure there is participation from all levels, but a mandate towards the environment has to be very clear. And then there is a meeting of the minds, of everybody on how to protect the environment — whether it is through advocacy by putting (the issues) into the public domain along with a meeting of persons to discuss (them) so that everybody can have an understanding and can chart the way forward for environmental protection,” he added.

Despite the challenges, McCaualy has encouraged other environmental NGOs to soldier on. If they don’t, the battle to save the island’s natural resources could be lost, she insisted.

“If JET wasn’t saying (anything), maybe Pellew Island flatten out already, maybe Cockpit Country would be mined to bedrock and it is not that we have not lost far more than we have won. We have lost far more than we have won,” she said.

“One of the major things we all have to do is we all have to stake a stand. That is why we exist. I would like the see the environmental advocates be more organised, more vocal, more active than they are. But I have been around for 20 years now. Maybe it is time for younger people, young faces and that is what I hope for my organisation,” McCaulay added.