Page 12 - 10th Annual International Charles Town Maroon Conference and Festival Magazine

June 2018 Charles Town Maroon International Conference Magazine

Most people living within the Cockpit Country should be comprised of a Core, a Transition Zone
would like it to be declared and designated as and an Outer Boundary.
a protected area and a national park, an
ecotourism site and a World Heritage Site. The residents of southwestern St. Ann in commu-
There is vehement opposition to bauxite mining nities such as Gibraltar, Madras, Barnstable on the
and limestone quarrying within the Cockpit eastern edge of the Cockpit Country, have witnessed
Country. mining impoverish and destroy nearby communities
such as Lime Tree Garden, Caledonia, Tobolski, and
And among their recommendations were: fear mining encroaching into their communities.
3. The Government of Jamaica should not authorise
any form of mining and quarrying activity within Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partnership, a partnership
the Cockpit Country as the level of emotion is too with the Jamaica government who is majority owner,
high and the level of opposition and resistance by was already prospecting for bauxite in their commu-
community members and leaders, community- nities, so when Noranda started constructing a large
based organisations, Non-governmental and civil bauxite road that was outside the boundary of their
society organisations, some governmental Special Mining Lease 165 and crossed into Cockpit
agencies and members of the academic community Country, residents were alarmed.
may not provide enough guarantee and confidence
for potential investors. In May of 2015, community members contacted
Michael Schwartz of Windsor Research Centre and he
4. The Cockpit Country deserves some form of legal and I documented the illegal road being built, the
protection. The declaration of a protected area and illegal pits being mined, and as he had previously done
national park is the first step toward the ultimate throughout Cockpit Country, he worked with the
goal, which is the nomination of the Cockpit communities to organize against the mining. I was
Country as a World Heritage site by UNESCO. already working with Windsor Research Centre on an
on-going multi-media campaign educating the public
5. The official boundary for the Cockpit Country about Cockpit Country, preparing communities to take

Yellow-billed Green Parrot Jamaican Red Throated Tody A bat rests in a flower

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