What considerations are being put in place to secure sustainability? Is there such a thing as ‘sustainable mining’? How will mining improve the livelihoods of community members in a sustainable way? How will mining protect and preserve the endemic and endangered species in a sustainable manner? Lauren Creary, programme director of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), said recently on the podcast IMPACT 360°, “It’s interesting to note that St Ann with a history of bauxite, the areas are not benefiting from mining and is one of the poorest communities.” What difference does it make if mining takes place at 8,335 hectares versus 1,324 hectares when in fact either way results in health hazards, displacements and disruption to our ecosystem? NOT BENEFITING FOR BAUXITE Mining has devastating catastrophic impacts and will inhibit people’s health and livelihoods. The entire notion of mining ought to be admonished 100 per cent. This approval should not be considered in the slightest as “progress”. Sign up for The Gleaner’s morning and evening newsletters. The Government, meanwhile, is seeking financial reprieve from other countries in the Global North to help mitigate impacts of climate change, while in the same breath, aiding the destruction of its own island’s hills and valleys that buffer and protect Jamaicans from the natural progression of storms and hurricanes.
Psychological, emotional and financial impacts on these community members may oftentimes precipitate displacements of those members and, by extension, leaving communities that much more impoverished.
What are the implications of this? Massive health hazards, respiratory diseases, noise pollution, air pollution, contamination of drinking water, extraction of valuable minerals, infringements on livelihoods – where communities may experience radical shifts in their socio-economic conditions, etc. Jamaicans are presently contending with a recent approval of a Special Mining Lease (SML) 173 by the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) for bauxite mining in the Cockpit Country. The Amazon Rainforest produces 20 per cent of the world’s oxygen, and in comparison, the Cockpit Country aquifers contain 40 per cent of Jamaica’s exploitable groundwater resources.
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