Professor Trevor Munroe, Principal Director of NIA - file photo
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Professor Trevor Munroe
Anti-corruption watchdog, National Integrity Action (NIA), has come out against plans to allow mining in the Dry Harbour Mountains, in St. Ann, saying the move would be in breach of Jamaica's Constitution.
Professor Trevor Munroe, Principal Director of NIA, said Prime Minister Andrew Holness must reconsider and withdraw approval to Bengal Development Limited to mine in the area.
Professor Munroe has pointed out that one of the grounds on which the government's environmental and conservation agencies had refused the application in May 2020 was the expected deleterious effect on the environment.
He noted that Chapter 3 of the Constitution explicitly protects the right to enjoy a healthy and productive environment free from the threat of injury or damage from environmental abuse and degradation.
""We believe that you cannot abrogate or infringe the rights in the Constitution, except as the Constitution itself states may be demonstrably justified in a free and Democratic society. We do not believe that the statements of the Prime Minister, however well-intentioned, and of the government, meets that high standard to justify infringing the right to the environment set out in the Constitution of Jamaica," he asserted.
According to Professor Munroe, allowing mining in the Dry Harbour Mountains goes against Jamaica's National Development Plan, Vision 2030.
He noted that Jamaica is already behind on its targets.
"At the present time, based on the performance measures done by the PIOJ, Jamaica is falling behind where we should be now, 11 years after, in meeting the targets set. This approval granted to a mine the Rio Buena/Dry Harbour area would risk us falling further behind the targets that we should be achieving now and push us further down the global ranking where we are now number 66 of 180 countries on the Environmental Performance Index."
"So that we believe because of the infringement of the constitutional right and because of the risk to Jamaica’s achieving its targets in this area under Vision 2030, the Prime Minister and the government should reconsider and reverse the approval given," he recommended.
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