| Jamaica | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Caribbean | ||||||||||||||||||
| National websites | NRCA | ||||||||||||||||||
| Embassy / Chancery in U.S. | chief of mission:
Ambassador Richard Leighton BERNAL chancery: 1520 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036 telephone: [1] (202) 452-0660 FAX: [1] (202) 452-0081 |
||||||||||||||||||
| Agencies responsible for biological inventory and conservation | NRCA John McIntosh Building in Cross Roads, 10 Caledonia Avenue, Kingston 5 |
||||||||||||||||||
| Non-governmental organizations concerned with conservation | Report on the Status of Jamaican Biodiversity Home Page of The Nature Conservancy - Help Protect Endangered Species |
||||||||||||||||||
| Major Natural Resources | Jamaica’s main natural resource is the country itself. Tourism is the basis for the Jamaican economy. The country is also rich in bauxite, gypsum, and limestone, and has to deal with the effects of intensive mining. As an island Jamaica has a high level endemism, which makes it very important to protect the islands flora and fauna. It also has many unique ecosystems like mangroves and coral reefs, which have both aesthetic and economic value for increased tourism. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Major Environmental and Conservation Issues | Jamaica has to deal with the environment very seriously, because the maintenance of the island’s beauty is vital to the tourist economy. Mining for bauxite has polluted the rivers and decimated parts of the countryside. Agricultural expansion on to the hills of Jamaica has increased erosion and loss of both habitat and topsoil. Farms have also contributed to the pollution and silting of Jamaican rivers. Pollution and development is also effecting the fragile coral reefs of Jamaica. These problems also effect the endangered Mangrove ecosystem. The capital city of Kingston has to deal with air pollution, an unusual problem on a small island. A government organized effort to protect the environment is a rather new concept for Jamaica, which started the NRCA (the equivalent of the EPA) in 1993. Most of the regulation it has contributed to Jamaican law has only come into effect since 1997 or later. One of the big efforts of the government is to educate the people on how to better use Jamaica’s natural resources. Balancing economic concerns with the environment, is a difficult task for this developing nation. |
||||||||||||||||||
| Statistics | Information Sources | ||||||||||||||||||
| Land area | 10,830 km2 | CIA | |||||||||||||||||
| Area of forest | 175,000 ha (17% of land) | CIA | |||||||||||||||||
| Area of wetlands | 5,700 ha protected under Ramsar Convention | ||||||||||||||||||
| Area of territorial waters | 2,400,000 km2 | NRCA | |||||||||||||||||
| Population: | 2,634,678 (July 1998 est.) | Density: | 228 per km2 |
|
|||||||||||||||
| Area protected (ha) (only areas >1000ha) at all IUCN levels: | About 80,000 ha | Fraction of land area protected (%): | 8% of land is protected | ||||||||||||||||
| Major Protected Areas | List of Protected and Candidate Areas Paper on Jamaican Protected Areas Jamaica becomes 104th Contracting Party to the Ramsar Convention and add Black River Lower Morass to the list of protected areas |
Information Center for the Environment | |||||||||||||||||
| Endemic Species |
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Endangered, Threatened and Vulnerable Species |
|
World Conservation Monitoring Centre - Animal | |||||||||||||||||
| Extinct Species |
|
World Conservation Monitoring Centre - Animal | |||||||||||||||||
| Species listed on CITES Appendices | CITES-listed Species Database | ||||||||||||||||||
| Legislation | |||||||||||||||||||
| Laws protecting endangered or threatened species | National Environmental Education Plan National Environmental Action Plan All coral reefs are now protected and the sale of both black and white coral is banned. Also forbidden is the hunting of the American crocodile, the yellow- and black-billed parrot and all species of sea turtle. |
||||||||||||||||||
| Laws protecting endangered ecosystems | Beach Policy | ||||||||||||||||||
| Signatory to CITES | 6/22/1997 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Signatory to Ramsar Wetlands Convention | 2/7/1998 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Signatory to Convention on Biological Diversity | 6/11/1992 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Signatory to Migratory Bird Treaty | 6/20/1980 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Member of International Whaling Commission | 7/15/1991 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Signatory to other international treaties designed to protect or manage biological resources | Complete list of treaties Jamaica is a party to | ||||||||||||||||||
| Natural Resource Use | Information Sources | ||||||||||||||||||
| Fisheries | Report on the marine environment UNDER DEVELOPMENT | NRCA | |||||||||||||||||
| Forestry / deforestation | Deforestation for agricultural and mining development is a huge problem. Forestry is very small industry worth less than $1 million yearly. Forestry Production table | FAO.org | |||||||||||||||||
| Ecotourism | Tourism is worth about 8 billion dollars, but the value of ecotourism is difficult to obtain, because tourists often come for both the environment and resorts. The link on the right has tons of information on bird watching in Jamaica. Lots of good pictures and interesting reading. |
Where do you want to go birding in Jamaica today? | |||||||||||||||||
| Trade in wildlife products | Corals are an export, but attempts are being made to preserve them for tourism. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hunting | Not a significant problem | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other uses of natural resources | 11,571,326 tonnes of bauxite mined in 1995 Extensive article on the evironmental destruction bauxite mining causes: BAUXITE- Bauxite and Jamaica |
NRCA | |||||||||||||||||
| Human Impacts on Natural Resources | Information Sources | ||||||||||||||||||
| Air pollution | Overview of Jamaican air pollution | NRCA | |||||||||||||||||
| Land pollution | Overview of Jamaican land pollution | NRCA | |||||||||||||||||
| Water pollution | NRCA | ||||||||||||||||||
| Development activities |
Environmental problems that effect tourism and that tourism causes: JAMTOUR- Jamaica Tourism and Environment |
NRCA | |||||||||||||||||
| Introduced species | Deer were introduced when they flew out of a zoo during Hurrican Gilbert in 1989. Mongoose were brought in by Europeans early in the country's history | ||||||||||||||||||
| Legislation addressing these issues | Link to the government education program to protect the environment. | NEEP homepage | |||||||||||||||||
| Restoration and Reintroduction | Information Sources | ||||||||||||||||||
| Programs for restoration of damaged habitat | Article on the Protection of Corals Article #2 on the Protection of Corals Jamaica is still at that stage in its environmental legislation where protecting habitat must be done before damaged habitat can be restored. This is because the staff of the NRCA is small and faces many problems that are critical to the survival of Jamaicans before it can deal with restoration. |
Article on the delay of resoration efforts in Jamaica: jambyple.txt | |||||||||||||||||
| Programs for ex situ conservation (captive breeding and reintroduction) of endangered species | Captive bird breeding, with cool music: Prorgam for Iguana breeding: |
||||||||||||||||||
Return to Endangered Species Protection around the World
Page compiled by Paul Williamson as part of a class project in h90 "The Science of Biodiversity and Conservation" (Peter J. Bryant, Instructor), University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA