Matthew Samuda is the minister in charge of environmental matters in the gargantuan Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

He seems to be acutely aware of the need to protect the environment, especially in the context of the existential problems presented by climate change. He also seems aware, as did his predecessor Daryl Vaz, that there is a delicate balancing act between economic development and the preservation of the environment; that there need not be any conflict or adversarial relationship between the two; and that orderly development can proceed without serious harm being done to the country’s natural resources. The integrity of the environment does not have to suffer from reckless exploitation of a country’s natural patrimony.

Jamaicans have to be concerned that in a poor, developing country like Jamaica a reasonable balance is struck between orderly development and the protection of our fragile ecosystems which, if lost, in many instances, cannot be recovered. I believe a similar dilemma confronts the Government in its push to offer housing solutions in the midst of a chronic housing shortage while being mindful of the agricultural imperative that faces the nation.

The urban development of Bernard Lodge estates springs to mind.

This area was once thriving cane land but had gone defunct since sugar lost its lustre as a viable agricultural product for Jamaica. What has not lost its potency is the land on which sugar cane was grown. This areas are still among some of the most arable land in the country. So to what extent can a Government allow the degradation of this land for concrete? Once the lands is cleared and houses built, it is lost forever, except some compelling reason in the future calls for the dismantling of the houses — which would be foolhardy. For all intents and purposes it has to be considered forever lost once housing solutions are engaged.

The imperative is not just about the environmental integrity of this and similar lands that may be suggested in the future. As far as agriculture goes, we are talking about food security, economic survival, our ability to feed ourselves, and what these decisions can do to cauterise agricultural posterity.

One is not saying that these lands cannot be looked at for housing. Less arable areas are good game. There are thousands of acres of marginal or non-arable lands across Jamaica which are eminently suitable for housing development. The churches combined have a great deal of this land, but that is another story.

If the Government is as serious about agriculture and housing as it seems to be, it must do the hard work of identifying these lands and placing them in a land bank for easy access to housing developers. Agricultural lands must be excluded and clearly demarcated.

In my view, the present approach seems eclectic and haphazard. The danger we face is that, if development is not carefully scrutinised, we run the risk of good arable lands being caught up with less arable ones.

THE JAMAICA TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION (JTA) CONUNDRUM

There have been a slew of responses to the question I asked in my last piece: ‘Is the JTA becoming an intellectual ghetto?’.

Careful readers will note that I asked a question and did not make a statement that the JTA is an intellectual ghetto. More importantly, the gravamen of my concern about the JTA as a union is that there is absent an intellectual rigour to address some of the most glaring problems in the educational sector and that it ought to graduate from being a mere union which represents teachers to being a vanguard for change and transformation of the teaching profession and the whole business of education in the country.

Its inward-looking and often self-centred posture must be changed to one that is more outward and forward-looking. As long as it remains a union whose greatest obsession is monetary, it will continue to be a disservice to the country because it will only seek to chart a path toward a non-viable future. If anyone can accuse me of having any beef with the JTA, then this is it.

Until there is meaningful change I will not resile from these concerns. The association cannot be on the periphery of the change for which it often trumpets.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator, and author of the books Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storm, Your Self-esteem Guide to a Better Life, and Beyond Petulance: Republican Politics and the Future of America. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.