Sustainable Community Development in Jamaica

A community sustainability assessment process of Portland Parish in Jamaica will be conducted from November 10-20, 2010. This process for local citizen dialogue and strategic planning is driven by the commitment and passion of a small group (Project Management Team) who because of Jamaican origin, feeling of cultural connections, and belief in the potential for people’s abilities to seek improvement in their lives have come together to revive past efforts at community development in the Portland Parish bioregion of Jamaica (e.g., United Nations LSDP). In early 2010, encouraged by the potential for a better Jamaica, as Blue Lagoon Restoration concept planners we joined the non-profit organization Sustainability-Now to attract Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) interest and support in combining goals of cultural heritage restoration and eco-tourism advancement with sustainable community development (SCD) for Portland. The region’s prosperity is presently challenged by issues of economic leakage, social inequities, and declining environmental health. Restoration of this place and its people is a must for hopes of environmentally sound economic improvement in the form of revived cultural heritage and ecological tourism to advance the quality of people’s lives in the region.

The presence of coastal marine heritage sites, many rivers, waterfalls, caves, plantations, mountains, and building sites, are significant to the history of the Arawak, Taino, Spanish, Maroons and Creoles, African, French, Indian, Chinese and British peoples of Jamaica. Overall, these cultural, scenic, and ecologically important qualities of the countryside, of which the Blue Lagoon is an iconic example, are of significant value to Portland peoples for their own pleasure and identity as well as a strong attraction to visitors. Thus, the enrichment of these assets through restorative preservation to support heritage and ecological tourism development are an obvious plan for economic progress, but one that must go hand-in-hand with environmental, social, and other forms of economic revitalization in order to assure the development of resilient communities that advance sustainability and the quality of people’s lives over the long-term.

Why is a holistic approached needed? Local businesses, informal producers, and fishermen have managed to live off fringe tourism traffic; an economy centered on eco-, agri-, and aqua-tourism activities. But communities in general have not been able to directly benefit and prosper from the wealth and material goods of this economy. Without a comprehensive approach to community development, as we outlined in our July 2010 Presentation to the Ontario International Development Agency Conference, that acts to enhance the resilience of communities by gaining traction from the value of cultural heritage sites and rich ecological resources, progress from piecemeal actions will remain elusive and not result in long-term improvement. SCD is best served by building from the assets a place already possesses, through value-added approaches. Marine and agriculture activities shaped Portland into becoming the “Banana Capital of The World” and this historically successful region has some of Jamaica’s most recognized cultural, heritage, environmental, and marine properties such as Port Antonio, Titchfield, Navy Island, Folly, Bonnie View, Blue Lagoon, and the recent world class “Errol Flynn Marina.” Because Blue Lagoon, near Port Antonio, is a tourist destination in its own right, continuing to attract bus loads of visitors annually, it will serve as the initial focus of our SCD assessment process. Blue Lagoon remains the mighty super-brand for Jamaica’s global image and can serve as an icon in spearheading not only the revival of a tourism economy but also full-scale quality of life improvement for all communities in the bioregion.

Our intent is to support strategic initiatives that JNHT and Portland region business and residential communities can mount as part of a long-term plan to help protect the unique aspects of the area by – as a first of many steps – officially recognizing Blue Lagoon as a Jamaican National Heritage Marine Site pursuant to attaining UNESCO World Heritage Site status for this globally prized place along Portland’s north-eastern coast. Successful recognition of this important heritage and ecological site coupled with continuous efforts to achieve SCD goals in the bioregion such as combating poverty, keeping wealth in local communities, enhancing tourism, and generally improving the quality of life for everyone, will serve as the foundation for re-establishment of profitable tourism ventures in Portland that are driven by the icon status of Blue Lagoon, coupled with existing popular eco-tourism regional activities, as well as the sustainable improvement in community life of the surrounding towns and villages. By fostering heritage and ecological tourism in tandem with regional socio-economic improvement for Blue Lagoon and surrounding communities, we can begin addressing the current and responsive needs of this area with the longer term goal of growing this community revitalization strategy to the entire Parish bioregion. Progress of a long-term plan, initiated, driven, and completed by community members will be evaluated and adapted every 3-5 years to remain current and responsive to the needs of the communities and natural environments of the Parish over time.

The days of conversation (November 10-19) with community members, organizational leaders, and governmental representatives will culminate with the first Blue Lagoon Restoration Summit on November 20, 2010 – to be held at the Goblin Hill Hotel Conference Centre, San San, Portland, Jamaica. We invite you to Apply for attending this Summit. Its overall intent will be to promote a regional economy that binds communities together and keeps people and place healthy while everyone has the opportunity to make a family living wage and have an acceptable quality of life. SCD strategies designed with collective wisdom of all participants will provide opportunity for local growth, cultural site education, heritage and ecological tourism, marine culture, agriculture, the recreational use of shared open spaces, and support for local businesses to remain prosperous. The 12 day’s community participatory dialogue will serve as a public awareness stimulus, alerting all stakeholders to the need for creating regional volunteer-driven Community Heritage Ambassador Programs (CHAP) for the purpose of keeping intellectual and material wealth at home in local communities, preserving and enriching the natural systems of water, air, and land, and practicing ways of living that foster sustainable socio-economic endeavors based upon the cultural heritage and ecological resources of the Portland bioregion.

Review a Collection of Information we have developed in preparation for contributing to the Blue Lagoon Restoration Summit.