New Act to Deal With Private Lands Selected as Protected Sites

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says under the impending new Protected Areas Act, the Government intends to develop a policy and strategies to address situations where lands that are privately held are selected to be protected sites.

The Government will be promulgating a new Protected Areas Act to enable the creation and regulation of a National Protected Areas System (NPAS) that is representative of Jamaica’s biological and cultural heritage.

Prime Minister Holness first made the disclosure about the Protected Areas Act during his contribution to the 2021/2022 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on March 18.

During the #MyTreeLegacy Tree Planting Ceremony at St. Catherine High School on Friday (June 18), Mr. Holness said there are several ways in which the Government would address private lands.

“We could give several incentives for owners to develop the land in accordance with the protected area. We could have partnerships with them, where we try to develop the land in keeping with the protected status of the land or we could acquire the land, depending on the nature of the protection and how we consider this as a valuable piece of land to protect,” the Prime Minister said.

“In my Budget Debate, I stated that the Government will be promulgating a new Protected Areas Act. This will enable the creation and regulation of a national protected areas system. This national protected areas system is representative of Jamaica’s biological and cultural heritage,” he noted.

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), in consultation with partner agencies, has, so far, selected 15 areas that are proposed for protection.

“Some of these lands are under private ownership, while others are owned by various arms of the Government,” Mr. Holness pointed out.

“The law as it now stands does not make any distinction as it relates to protection of lands, whether they are privately owned or publicly held, so once an area is defined as protected, if you own it, then the rules that apply to the protection of that land applies to the land that you own,” he further explained.

He said the Government has found many privately held lands to be environmental assets or cultural and heritage assets. They are designated as protected and cannot be used, which creates a conflict because private owners want to use their lands.

“We have to find ways to ensure that we are not only passing the law but we actually have ownership of the lands that are cleared as protected but privately held,” he said.