UDC moves to protect environmental zones
Published: Thursday | July 8, 2010Patrina Pink, Gleaner Intern
The Urban Development Corporation (UDC) is beginning to ramp up efforts to protect and sustain important environmental zones in Jamaica.
The areas - Caymanas, Ocho Rios and Portland Bight - were selected based on their high level of biodiversity as well as cultural importance to communities.
Though only at a consultative stage, sections of the three areas will eventually be converted into biosphere reserves. If successful, those models will be replicated in other parts of the island.
UDC officials hope the initiative will help to promote cultural values and biological diversity while advancing the economic development of designated zones.
A biosphere reserve is an international designation awarded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Biospheres differ from many protected areas in which the construction of residences is often prohibited.
People are generally encouraged to enter, live and work in biosphere zones.
Part of a larger movement
Jamaica's burgeoning biosphere thrust is part of a larger movement initiated by the UNESCO. Since 1970, the movement has grown to include 564 reserves in 109 countries.
Biospheres are ecologically diverse areas that have been bordered to accommodate research and planning. Another layer functions as a buffer to protect that core. The transition area or final layer may include industrial activity and would have the largest number of human dwellers.
In a speech at the Man and Biosphere Workshop on Tuesday, general manager of the UDC, Joy Douglas, impressed upon participants the importance of sustainable development and the role of biospheres in developing Jamaican communities.
"Given our responsibility for national development and, more so, the design and planning of our urban centres, the UDC sees the embrace of the biosphere concept as a necessary and integral plank of our national development," she said.
Douglas stressed the need for a community-based approach to spreading the message of change.
"We have been strategically introducing persons to this concept and its importance to our daily lives," the UDC boss added.
The corporation has already initiated discussions at the community level by organising an environmental competition for schools in St Ann. Students were challenged to learn about the biosphere and to consider long-term benefits to their communities.
June Marie Mow, an international advisor on biospheres and leader of Day Two of the Man and Biosphere Workshop, said consultation was critical to the success of the biosphere project in San Andrés, a Colombian territory off the coast of Nicaragua.
"We had over 300 sessions with the fishermen. We had to ensure that they understood the concept for themselves," she told the group.
San Andrés was forced to take a fresh look at environmental policy after Colombia spearheaded legislative reform.
Mow said that even though the movement in San Andrés was not as complex as Jamaica's prospective model, the latter nation could learn from the small island with a population of 80,000.
"It's all about people; you have to engage the community, because if one fisherman is listening to you and the others do something different, then you would have achieved nothing," Mow explained.
patrina.pink@gleanerjm.comhttp://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100708/news/news2.html
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