SALT MARSH, Trelawny — Coordinator of The University of the West Indies (UWI) Marine Laboratory Camilo Trench has given municipal corporations a failing grade for the environmental monitoring of protected areas.

He was speaking to reporters last Friday during the planting of 200 mangrove saplings in Salt Marsh by stakeholders including Sandals Foundation, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), and The UWI Marine Laboratory.

“Our municipal corporations do not have environmental officers. So when they approve a building permit, that person isn’t checking whether or not it’s a protected area. And that’s one of the big shortcomings we have,” Trench claimed.

“But the reality is when it comes to your general population, most of the time people are not going to be environmentally minded. So it’s the responsibility of the Government agencies, and of course, the contribution from other corporate entities and academia like myself, to do our part. So we have been doing our part.”

Trench noted that one of the issues with mangrove accountability in Jamaica is, “it’s the small developments that get away with murder”. He revealed that, for instance, in Trelawny, the majority of developments are informal, and small settlements sprawled on over 50 acres which are not under the purview of NEPA, but are small developments that should be under the purview of the municipal corporation”.

“Where the large hotels have to do a permit and they have to do mitigation, and they have to do replanting, and they have to do restoration; the small man with a shop doesn’t have to do that. And when you check up the numbers, there are 200 small men with shops versus the hotels. That’s not to say that the hotels not doing damage,” he argued.

But mayor of Falmouth and chairman of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation (TMC) Councillor C Junior Gager, citing examples, claimed that the municipality has been working overtime to monitor informal settlements in wetlands in the parish.

He made reference to the serving of notices and the eventual demolition of structures put up in a wetlands in close proximity to the Falmouth Market and a “village” that was established in wetlands by itinerant workers who were employed on a hotel construction site.

“We had to demolish all the structures and they were served notices,” Gager noted, adding that the TMC works closely with NEPA.

“We have been monitoring, I can tell you, whether it’s a small shop or otherwise. We don’t give approval for any buildings unless you can show your proof of ownership. People living on wetlands, they wouldn’t be able to get it. So we are not only monitoring big projects and ignoring the small ones,” he added.

Gager, however, noted that at times it is a cat and mouse game between the municipal corporation and small developers who put up structures overnight.

“They seem to be hiding the plyboards and other building materials because you will pass an empty spot in the night and by the next morning you see a building go up. But we don’t hesitate to serve them notices and carry out demolitions,” the mayor said.

The planting of the mangroves in Salt Marsh forms part of the North Coast Mangrove Conservation project, a partnership between UWI, Sandals Foundation and NEPA.

Andrea Donaldson, senior manager at NEPA, said Friday’s event also coincided with the celebration of World Oceans Day, observed on Saturday, June 8.

Meanwhile, Trench explained that originally there was a little over 50 acres of mangrove land in the Salt Marsh area, but about 12 acres of it has been utilised by citizens for the purposes of houses and shops.

“So the plan with this project is to not have any more construction but to have the 30 [odd] acres which are remaining to be mangroves in perpetuity,” he said.