On Earth Day, Jamaica’s Great Mangrove Cleanup launched. So – why don’t YOU volunteer for the environment?

The once beautiful mangroves fringing Kingston Harbour – which could still be beautiful, if given the chance – are to get a new chance to survive, and thrive. Don’t they deserve it? After all, the Palisadoes – Port Royal (comprising 7,523 hectares) was designated the island’s second Ramsar Wetland of International Importance on Earth Day – April 22, 2005. It is a Protected Area. According to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands website, the area “features cays, shoals, mangrove lagoons, mangrove islands, coral reefs, seagrass beds and shallow water, thus hosting a variety of underrepresented wetland types.” I would say that’s worth protecting.

There were two events on Monday (Earth Day) in Jamaica that started at exactly the same time. In downtown Kingston, the great partnership that constitutes the Kingston Harbour Cleanup Project launched its latest major initiative, the Great Mangrove Cleanup. The aim of the project is to remove the coastal waste from Kingston Harbour’s mangrove forests and their surrounding beaches. Simple?

Major gullies and rivers feeding into Kingston Harbour, and the areas they drain. (Mona Informatics)

Well, this might seem like a simple task; but having toured the mangroves by boat (including places like Refuge Cay, notorious for its thick carpet of plastic trash) I can confirm that it is indeed a challenging one. Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) in March had a go at Refuge Cay, which is a waste management nightmare. It is very, very hard work.

All the more reason to give the partnership (the GraceKennedy Foundation, Clean Harbours Jamaica and The Ocean Cleanup) a huge pat on the back for having the courage to take this on. Kudos too to the companies that are supporting the first cleanup on April 27. I hope more will come on board next time around.

And on that note I am encouraging Jamaicans to volunteer for the environment. Remember, the trash that is scattered so liberally on highways and byways will end up in gullies and in the seas sooner or later. So we can start on land, in our community, at our school or workplace. Just do it, as the famous slogan goes! We can all play our part, even if not participating in a “big event.”

This is what the project had to say about the launch:

Partners all… (Photo: GraceKennedy Foundation)

Earth Day, Monday, April 22, 2024, KINGSTON, Jamaica:

Kingston Harbour Cleanup Project Unites Partners for The Great Mangrove Cleanup

The Kingston Harbour Cleanup Project (KHCP) proudly unveiled its latest initiative, The Great Mangrove Cleanup, during a media launch today, Earth Day, at GraceKennedy’s Harbour Street Headquarters in Kingston. The first cleanup under the project will take place at seven sites on the Kingston Harbour coastline, this Saturday, April 27 from 6:30 am to 9:30 am.

The Great Mangrove Cleanup is being coordinated by the GraceKennedy Foundation, in collaboration with their KHCP partners, Clean Harbours Jamaica and The Ocean Cleanup.

Speaking at the launch CEO of GraceKennedy Foundation, Mrs. Caroline Mahfood, applauded the numerous corporate and community-based organisations who have come on board to support the initiative.

“The Great Mangrove Cleanup is a multi-pronged venture by the Kingston Harbour Cleanup Project. On Saturday, we will be removing waste from the coastlines surrounding the harbour and gather data on the type of waste found at the locations. All this is being done to create a baseline from which research can be done to help us develop more informed pollution prevention efforts in Kingston Harbour.”

“It is a mammoth task, and I must commend the organisations who readily accepted the call to support this noble cause including Pepsi, Cemex Carib Cement and Wisynco, who are coordinating cleanups sites along the Palisadoes strip, and Scotiabank, Petrojam and Jamaica National Group, who are leading cleanups on the other side of the Harbour.”

The brilliant marine biologist and ecologist Professor Mona Webber, OD, Head of the Department of Life Sciences at the University of the West Indies, seems to be applauding in this photograph. (Photo: GraceKennedy Foundation)

Since 2022, the KHCP has successfully deployed InterceptorTM barriers at the mouths of seven Kingston gullies, preventing over 1.6 million kilogrammes of waste from entering the Harbour. Despite the reduction in the volume of solid waste reaching the mangrove forests and beaches along the Harbour’s coastline, the persistence of garbage in the area underscores the need for further action.

During his keynote address at the media launch, Minister Without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth & Job Creation, Senator The Honourable Matthew Samuda, highlighted the Jamaican Government’s commitment to the conservation of mangroves, while highlighting the economic opportunities presented by a cleaner Kingston Harbour.

“The Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation has been leading the way with legislation that focuses on the protection and restoration of our mangroves through the National Environment and Planning Agency’s (NEPA) Adopt-A-Mangrove Programme.”

“NEPA has estimated the value of the activities that are conducted in the Harbour – fishing, aviation, shipping, industry and commerce at US$510M per annum. This estimate is conservative and does not include tourism and recreational activities, which would significantly increase this figure. Hence, the message to all Jamaicans – stop using Kingston Harbour and the country’s other water bodies and wetlands as disposal sites.”

Michael McCarthy, Managing Director of Clean Harbours Jamaica, explained that although The Kingston Harbour Cleanup Project has made significant strides since its inception in 2022, there is still much work to be done to achieve a truly clean Kingston Harbour. McCarthy explained:

“The learnings and data we have gathered so far will allow us to optimise our operations and expand our reach across the harbour to the Hunts Bay area. This will be our focus for the remainder of 2024, as we aim to prevent an estimated 1000 tons of plastic and waste from flowing into Kingston Harbour each year.”

The cleanup begins at Gun Boat Beach along the Palisadoes strip on Saturday, April 27. The cleanup is now fully booked for volunteers, but it would certainly be worth while to visit https://www.cleankingstonharbour.org for much more information, updates – and some impressive figures on the actual volumes of trash collected – so far.