It is easy to talk glibly about the bauxite industry’s community contributions and to dismiss them as obligatory donations towards education, health, agriculture, youth development, and others.

In doing so we overlook some of the behind-the-scenes social responsibility stories that are overshadowed by the more catchy news items on blocked roads and community demonstrations.

The environmental effects of the industry have long been a matter of public attention, as the inevitable incidents of dust escape or other waste management issues, whether in Jamaica or in other countries are tangible and visible and are always matters of mutual concern.

Having been on the front line of environmental differences between bauxite companies and the public I can speak first hand of the various elements that come into play whenever such incidents take place.

For example, not all claims are legitimate and, indeed, some have to do with the pursuit of cash compensation in lieu of other what is loosely termed the right to ‘dust benefits’, such as employment or the provision of public amenities that should correctly be the responsibility of government agencies. Then there is, too, the mistaken perception that companies would rather pay up and avoid embarrassing stories in the media.

What is less known are the efforts and programmes implemented over the years by an industry that has not only spent millions on environmental design and control, but have also successfully integrated environmental codes and behaviours into practices and programmes.

Those of us who have been in the trenches know, however, that despite state-of-the-art environmental controls, it is the face-to-face dialogue with people on the ground, and most of all the empathy and respect displayed when dealing with controversial community issues, that make the difference between finding solutions or protracting difficult problems.

Meeting with people is an everyday experience as the nature of the bauxite mining exercise has brought the companies into intimate contact with and opened the door to close relationships during the process of extensive surveying, land purchasing, surveying, mining, and land rehabilitation.

A little known story is that it was out of this intense community contact and experience that Dr Jim Lee, member of the early survey crew for Kaiser Bauxite in the 1950s, was able to present The University of the West Indies with one of the world’s largest and detailed collection of pre-Columbian Taino artifacts comprising pottery, stone implements, and skeletal remains collected through his 50 years of survey and field research around the bauxite landscape.

The collection has been catalogued and meticulously coded and was financed by a $5-millon grant from Kaiser and Alpart to the university.

There are, of course, other close ties cultivated between the university families and the industry. A lesser-known story is that in the early days of the University College of the West Indies, Kaiser Bauxite was one of the first companies to respond to an appeal for funding led by Her Royal Highness the Princess Alice, who was the aunt of Queen Elizabeth II, and who was the first chancellor of the university. In 1955 Kaiser made a grant of £15,000 directed to the “setting up of facilities for courses leading to an engineering degree”.

Large educational grants also led to the establishment of St Elizabeth Technical High School, while the engineering library at the College of Arts, Science and Technology, (now the University of Technology, Jamaica) benefited from a substantial contribution and is still known as “the Kaiser Library”.

The Brown’s Town Community College’s Discovery Bay campus is housed in the former Kaiser administrative building, which itself was the former Columbus Inn Hotel. The building was granted to the community college in 1999, and expanded with an Industrial Skills Training Centre built by Noranda Bauxite in 2014.

The industry’s close ties with higher education encouraged Alcan and Alpart to establish two chairs atThe UWI in 1999, a chair of professorship in hydrogeology and a chair for water management. A chair for the West Indies Centre for Environment and Development was sponsored by Alcan in 1992.

And, in 1968 Princess Alice herself graced Kaiser’s doors in Discovery Bay when she visited the company and was formerly presented with the title to the lands for the building of the well-known The University of the West Indies Marine Laboratory on the western side of the harbour.

The connection between mining and agriculture is noteworthy.

As far back as the 1950s the industry’s land policies assumed special importance as the companies sought to add to the agricultural output of their mining areas.

The programmes were so effective that, by 1957, Norman Manley, then chief minister, was prompted to say, “All will agree that the companies have done an impressive job in the agricultural field. It is clear that the policy in regard to tenants has been an enlightened one, and that the resettlement programmes have been well conceived.”

The companies went on to develop, in partnership with the Jamaica Bauxite Institutue, Rural Agricultural Development Authority, and other related agencies, viable and lasting agricultural projects, including the present greenhouse technology expansion, several livestock upgrade projects, large and small dairy and beef industry farms, the Lime Tree Gardens Peanut Processing factory in St Ann, thousands of small farmer cultivation projects partnerships, and the Noranda Community Council’s business start-up programmes, to name a few.

These have provided a wide network of responsible land management development and practices that has kept the industry fully committed towards agricultural improvement.

Jamaica has also benefited from development of safety programmes as introduced by the bauxite industry. In the early days of bauxite mining no occupational health and safety programmes or legal framework existed to guide the workers in the industry. This changed gradually over the years as new programmes altered the attitude, work discipline, and alertness of workers.

This prompted the Government to start the implementation of well-structured industrial safety programmes covering all industry in Jamaica, so that the hard hats and safety boots common to the industry of the 1940s and 50s are now common standards among the national commercial and industrial sectors.

This review covers only a small portion of the major social programmes undertaken by the industry

For example, the industry’s support of sports is legendary. Jamaica has benefited from the sports training and promotion offered by the companies at their sports centres. The companies all invested heavily in developing state-of-the-art facilities that replaced the sugar industry clubs as venues for national and international football, cricket, athletics, tennis, netball, and badminton.

What is probably less known is the contribution made to helping Jamaica develop its reputation as a major contender in international sports. Jamalco’s present football and netball high-level performances, Noranda Bauxite’s sports competitions and mini league training camps, Alpart’s Essex Valley sports programmes, and Alcan’s development programmes still carried on by Windalco, have all helped Jamaica to mine gold.

I close by returning to the controversial arguments that always arise when a discussion on bauxite takes place.

“Every country faces the problem of balancing some amount of discomfort with an activity like mining and the economic good which comes from it,” said Dr Carlton Davis in a paper published in 2007.

Yes, it is all a matter of balance. Poverty can have a much greater adverse impact on the environment than economic activities like mining and tourism. A country has to think about how to balance the situation in which you can get economic development and hope by that you are in a better position to preserve your environment.

Davis continued to point out that some argue that it is better that the bauxite industry be closed down, but “this is where you have to do some hard thinking as to how the earnings from the industry would be replaced”.

Davis also pointed out in his 2007 statement that an interesting point often overlooked by those who maintain that the industry does all this damage is that of the just over one million hectares of land area in Jamaica, since 1952 only about 7,400 hectares, or less than 0.75 per cent, has been disturbed for bauxite mining.

“We have restored a little over 4,000 hectares. The important thing is to try to accelerate the process of restoration, so that the lands can be put to use,” Dr Davis said.

Lance Neita is a public and community relations writer and consultant. Send comments to the Observer or lanceneita@hotmail.com.