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The Cockpit Country is home to 95% of Jamaica's endemic black-billed parrots. Photo Wendy Lee.

Save Cockpit Country, Jamaica

Target:
The Hon. Orette Bruce Golding, M.P, Prime Minister of Jamaica
Sponsored by: 

Cockpit Country is a mountainous, forested area of western Jamaica, rich in biodiversity and home to the Leeward Maroons of Jamaica.  Its landscape of steep-sided hills and deep, round valleys eroded from the limestone bedrock is an outstanding example of karst topography.  The wet limestone forest of Cockpit Country is Jamaica's largest remaining primary forest and a refuge for rare Jamaican animals such as the Black-billed parrot and the Giant Swallow-tail butterfly, and more than 60 endemic plants.  While the Land of Look Behind is famous in Jamaican history, each scientific expedition reveals more natural wonders of this 'biodiversity hotspot' and secrets of its Taino and Maroon heritage.  A renewed interest in prospecting for bauxite and limestone in the Cockpit Country has sparked a campaign led by a wide cross-section of local and overseas Jamaicans - the Cockpit Country Stakeholders' - to protect this unique area.  Mining in Cockpit Country would destroy the natural, cultural and archaeological resources of Cockpit Country that are virtually untapped as a source of sustainable livelihoods, especially eco- and heritage tourism, for many rural communities of Jamaica.

Cockpit Country is a mountainous, forested area of western Jamaica, rich in biodiversity and home to the Leeward Maroons of Jamaica.  Its landscape of steep-sided hills and deep, round valleys eroded from the limestone bedrock is an outstanding example of karst topography.  The wet limestone forest of Cockpit Country is Jamaica's largest remaining primary forest and a refuge for rare Jamaican animals such as the Black-billed parrot and the Giant Swallow-tail butterfly, and more than 60 endemic plants.  While the Land of Look Behind is famous in Jamaican history, each scientific expedition reveals more natural wonders of this 'biodiversity hotspot' and secrets of its Taino and Maroon heritage.  A renewed interest in prospecting for bauxite and limestone in the Cockpit Country has sparked a campaign led by a wide cross-section of local and overseas Jamaicans - the Cockpit Country Stakeholders' - to protect this unique area.  Mining in Cockpit Country would destroy the natural, cultural and archaeological resources of Cockpit Country that are virtually untapped as a source of sustainable livelihoods, especially eco- and heritage tourism, for many rural communities of Jamaica.


1. We call on the Prime Minister of Jamaica to ensure that the Cockpit Country and environs, as described by the Cockpit Country Stakeholders%u2019 Group, is declared CLOSED to mining and commercial prospecting. 

2. We urge the Government of Jamaica to take steps to declare the Cockpit Country a Protected National Area as a matter of priority, as stipulated in the 1997 Policy for a National System of Protected Areas in Jamaica. 

3. As organisations and individuals interested in the conservation of Jamaica%u2019s unique natural and cultural heritage, we wish to see the Cockpit Country protected and managed as a World Heritage Site.
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We signed the "Save Cockpit Country, Jamaica" petition!
# 3,833:
4:05 am PST, Nov 21, Alan Kuczyński, Poland
# 3,832:
9:42 am PST, Nov 19, Michał ASDASDASDSA, Poland
# 3,831:
5:10 pm PST, Nov 18, Dawid Kopyść, Poland
# 3,830:
12:08 pm PST, Nov 18, Biofeedback Biofeedback, Poland
# 3,829:
11:42 am PST, Nov 17, Goryl BPN, Poland
It's very biodiversed area which is home for many endegered spiecies.

I'm very keen on Jamaican culture and Jamaican landscapes

# 3,828:
8:09 am PST, Nov 16, Name not displayed, Poland
# 3,827:
5:23 am PST, Nov 16, Dominik Wysocki, Poland
# 3,826:
7:28 am PST, Nov 14, Jakub Mucha, Poland
Where Can We travel after 100 years? Oh i know! -To mining centers? i dont think so..

I'm Rastafarai. :)

# 3,825:
3:59 am PST, Nov 14, Michał Górka, Poland
# 3,824:
1:25 am PST, Nov 14, Gustaw Małecki, Poland
# 3,823:
2:07 pm PST, Nov 13, Jakub Ziemann, Poland
Because we should protect every part of our beautiful environment.
# 3,822:
10:48 am PST, Nov 13, Gracjan Oganezow, Poland
# 3,821:
6:29 am PST, Nov 13, Aleksandra Hermann, Poland
# 3,820:
3:51 am PST, Nov 13, Name not displayed, Poland
# 3,819:
11:49 am PST, Nov 12, Name not displayed, Poland
# 3,818:
8:50 am PST, Nov 12, Name not displayed, Poland
# 3,817:
11:22 am PST, Nov 11, Igor Jedynak, Poland
To głupie pytanie .Tam żyją zwierzęta.To jest ich środowisko naturalne i nie można go zakłucać.

Ja utożsamiam moją osobę z subkulturą RASTA ,którą znaczną część zapoczątkował w Europie Bob Marley.A on pochodził z Jamajki ,i z tego moje zainteresowanie tym krajem i jego piękną naturą!!!

# 3,816:
7:41 pm PST, Nov 9, Michał Ciulęba, Poland
Everyday there's less virgin natural places in the world. The forests are cut down, rivers and air polluted, consumed by wicked and greedy societies dissrespecting God's legacy.

I'm indentifying myself with rasta culture and way of life and Jamaica is the place, where it all began.

# 3,815:
7:36 am PST, Nov 3, Name not displayed, Jamaica
# 3,814:
1:30 pm PST, Nov 1, Name not displayed, Jamaica
# 3,813:
12:50 pm PST, Nov 1, Michelle Smith, Jamaica
The Cockpit Country should be protected from mining because it is one of Jamaica's last untouched forest. We are quickly running out of natural habitats as the governments greed for quick money continues to consume them. As they continue to sell Jamaica away to foreigners, what will the Jamaican people have? Further more it is of great historical value, the land belongs rightfully to the Maroons and it should not have been a thought in the first place to consider mining there. The mining industry is also declining and once the land has been destroyed it is not reversible. And the foremost important thing is the hundreds of species of animals and plants that live no where else and it is a treasure that Jamaica must keep. The Cockpit Country is the last refuge for animals to have any hope of survival. The government must stop selling away Jamaica.

I am a Jamaican, born and raised, and it is important for all of us to protect what is ours.

# 3,812:
4:22 pm PDT, Oct 18, Natalee Haye, Jamaica
# 3,811:
12:25 am PDT, Oct 18, Becky Clayton, Texas
# 3,810:
2:26 am PDT, Oct 15, Damian Bazaniak, Poland
# 3,809:
6:23 am PDT, Oct 13, Grzegorz Kałka, Poland
# 3,808:
3:49 am PDT, Oct 13, Łukasz Anioła, Poland
# 3,807:
2:00 am PDT, Oct 13, Weronika Kubica, Poland
# 3,806:
1:35 pm PDT, Oct 5, Name not displayed, Jamaica
# 3,805:
8:32 am PDT, Oct 2, Avril Kettle, United Kingdom
# 3,804:
2:52 pm PDT, Sep 23, Niki Lyn, Jamaica
# 3,803:
12:56 am PDT, Sep 23, Lyhann O'Shaughnessy, Mexico
# 3,802:
3:16 pm PDT, Sep 17, Lawrence Rowe, Jamaica
The cockpit country holds too great an environmental impact on the climatic conditions of our beloved island home it would be a disgrace to mine out one of the worlds largest areas for dynamism in species. Sometimes we have to just leave nature as it is to truly enjoy its beauty and save some of these precious animals for our kids to see them for real. I am totally against the bauxite company mining out the cockpit country no matter the economic benefits to be gained. I would rather live poor than not have the oppurtunity to enjoy the beauty of my island, Jamaica: "The land of wood and water".
# 3,801:
6:55 am PDT, Sep 17, PATRICK PRYCE, United Kingdom
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