FOLLOWING A toxic spill from Windalco’s effluent holding pond into the Rio Cobre in July 2022, the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC) issued a statement on November 9, 2022, outlining the Government of Jamaica’s response, including how the environmental performance bond would be spent. The National Environment and Planning Agency was allocated J$25 million to do an ecological assessment and a natural resources valuation of the river. A further J$14 million was allocated for the oversight of remediation works by Windalco. Since then, the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) and the Friends of Rio Cobre have repeatedly requested a status update on these activities. We have received no substantial response.

It is JET’s understanding that the ecological assessment in particular will inform the restocking of the river and act as a baseline against which to measure any future incidents. To date, eight months after the pollution event, fishers are still not able to return to fishing from the Rio Cobre as their main livelihood. Many have had to seek other types of work, as the J$16 million that was paid to approximately 120 fisherfolk for 10 days’ loss of revenue in January 2023 – which equates to approximately J$131,000 per person – was inadequate. To receive these funds, each fisher had to sign a Release and Discharge form indemnifying the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) from any future claims.

The statement from MEGJC also outlined the following:

•A joint monitoring and evaluation programme to be developed and i mplemented to facilitate ongoing socioeconomic, environmental, and risk assessment of the Rio Cobre, as well as the impact(s), if any, on the population within the immediate environs of the river as a result of chemical pollution incidents.

• The creation of a multistakeholder technical working group.

• The development of an earlywarning system supported by environmental wardens to alert the population, potentially at risk, of any impending pollution events in the Rio Cobre and its environs.

JET and many other civil society groups have previously called for greater transparency on Windalco’s impacts on the Rio Cobre. JET also requested regular updates be provided to the public, and the MEGJC statement ended with a commitment from the GOJ to providing further updates in an iterative manner.

We do not want this i ssue and the promised actions to be forgotten. We therefore request the GOJ to provide an urgent update.

THERESA RODRIGUEZ-MOODIE CEO, Jamaica Environment Trust jamaicaenvironmenttrust@gmail.com