NEPA says no mangroves removed during clearing of Fort Rocky area

 

The National Environment & Planning Agency (NEPA) says no mangroves were removed in Fort Rocky in Port Royal while a section of the area was cleared to build a car park for Jamaica's first entertainment zone.

 

This is in contradiction to last week's media statement issued by the Kingston & St. Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) claiming that mangrove-covered lands were cleared in the area.

 

Speaking Monday on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines, NEPA's Director of Environmental Management and Conservation, Anthony McKenzie, said the agency conducted an assessment of Fort Rocky and found that no mangroves were removed.

 

But Mr. McKenzie said other species in the area were removed after a section of the land was cleared. 

 

"We are happy to say that, and based on our assessments, no mangroves were removed. The assessments pointed to the particular species that were there. There would have been existing dune vegetation.... So what we would want is that the profile be reinstated, the profile of the sand dunes and the vegetation be replanted or allowed to grow. So that area has to be protected and be allowed to be resuscitated. That's essentially what we are requiring for that particular site," he explained. 

 

Environmentalists have also expressed outrage at plans to establish an entertainment zone in Fort Rocky because it is a protected area.

 

But Mr. McKenzie said entertainment is allowed in the area based on a conservation zoning plan. 

 

"The zoning plan allows for specific activities that can be allowed and cannot be allowed. Now the idea is that intensive footprint activities will not be allowed and ought not to take place in that particular area. Entertainment, recreation like jogging trails, purposes for research, purposes for conservation and restoration, those activities are particularly prescribed for and allowed in the conservation area," he noted. 

 

Fort Rocky is part of the Palisadoes-Port Royal protected area designated as a wetland of international significance under the Ramsar Convention. 

 

In the meantime, Mr. McKenzie said NEPA is in receipt of the Environmental Impact Assessment report for the establishment of an entertainment zone in Fort Rocky from the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports.

 

He explained that, in 2017, the National Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) and the Town and Country Planning Authority granted conditional approval for an entertainment zone in Fort Rocky following a series of discussions and several applications. He said the conditional approval recognised the importance of the sand dunes and the collective protected area.