THE Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) said yesterday that it will respond, within 30 days, to the issues raised in the “Save Cockpit Country” petition championed by the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET).

The Save Cockpit Country petition was launched by JET, using the OPM’s online petition portal on August 21, targeting 15,000 signatures by the September 30 deadline set by the site.

The signatures surpassed the required number by 1,258 a full week before the deadline.

“The Office of the Prime Minister wishes to congratulate the Jamaica Environment Trust and other Jamaicans who worked together to ensure the success of the ‘Save Cockpit Country’ petition,” the OPM said in a release yesterday.

“The Office of the Prime Minister wishes to advise that, as was committed, the Government will officially respond to the petition,” the release added.

“… The Office of the Prime Minister also wishes to emphasise its support for initiatives aimed at protecting the environment, and encourages citizens to be more caring of their surroundings and to adopt sustainable environmental practices,” the release said.

However, there was one hiccup during the process when, at approximately 3.30 pm on Thursday, September 21, the OPM petition portal went offline. A statement made by a representative of the OPM implied that the site was taken offline because “automatic signing” had been detected.

The representative also indicated that the signatures in question were going to be removed.

The OPM portal was brought back online at approximately 9:00 am on Friday, September 22.

JET said it had run an organised, legitimate save Cockpit Country campaign, up to that time, and had not participated in, nor encouraged, any hacking or automatic signing.

However, the environmental body said it was not surprised by the increase in pace of signing during the week because of several campaign efforts carried out on September 18, including Facebook advertising paid for by a supporter of the campaign; Whatsapp messaging; and other social media posts from Jamaicans.com.

JET admitted that since launching the Save Cockpit Country petition on the OPM site, there have been several problems reported to them by people who wished to sign.

“There was lack of clarity, as to what constituted a Jamaican citizen on the OPM petition portal site. JET does not agree that Jamaican residents or Jamaicans outside of Jamaica should be excluded from signing the petition using the OPM portal,” JET stated.

JET’s petition outlined that the Cockpit Country is the largest remaining natural forest in Jamaica, and that the fresh water it stores and releases via almost 40 rivers, streams, springs, glades and ponds supplies about 40 per cent of western Jamaica’s water needs.