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Our History

1991

The Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) was formed in 1991 by a group of citizens concerned about the state of Jamaica’s natural environment. At the time of JET’s beginning, there were many environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), either parish based (for e.g. Portland Environment Protection Association) or involved in operating national parks ( for e.g. Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust) or issue based ( for e.g. Natural History Society) or species based (for e.g. Gosse Bird Club). The original members of JET, mostly friends and business colleagues of its founder Diana McCaulay, thought there was a niche for so-called ‘brown issues’, because no other group focused on that. The interest in brown issues had also been sparked by the enormous amount of garbage along the Palisadoes strip and Diana’s early visits to the Harbour View, Greenwich and Western Sewage Plants, Riverton Waste Disposal Site.

JET’s first few projects were clean–ups in Grant’s Pen, Hellshire and Old Harbour. However, it soon became obvious that the clean-ups were unsustainable. The early members believed the problem was that there was not enough awareness about the environment and there would be very little protection unless awareness increased. Since at the time many of those early members were young parents, they decided to start with environmental education projects for children.

Late 1990's

JET’s first environmental programme was called Nuff Respect for Nature, a joint programme with Ashe. This then transitioned to JET’s first school-based education project, Earth Schools. The Jamaica Conservation Development Trust (JCDT) was running a similar programme but it included teacher workshops. JET and JCDT joined forces and developed the Schools’ Environment Programme (SEP) which brought together the best aspects of both programmes. In 2000 JET began solely implementing SEP and it has been running ever since. JET’s other significant public education programmes evolved over time, including the Clean Coasts Project (CCP) and Nuh Dutty up Jamaica (NDUJ). JET has always tried to ensure that whatever work is being done, there is an educational component.

Early 2000's

By the early 2000’s frustration had set in. Despite everyone’s best efforts at JET and other NGOs, permits resulting in environmental degradation were still being issued. Monitoring and enforcement from the National Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) and then later the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) was very weak. In 2000, Diana McCaulay received a fellowship to study at the University of Washington in Seattle. There she learned about how environmental law had been used and about the early legal victories in the US. The law and advocacy programme was born after her return to Jamaica. The rationale for this programme was to improve Jamaica’s regulatory framework; get the laws enforced, keep environmental issues in the public domain and put the environment on the national agenda. The first law and advocacy activity was a six-week environmental law course in Costa Rica which trained two environmental lawyers that JET eventually hired. JET’s law and advocacy programme has led to several successful campaigns including Save Goat Islands and Save Cockpit Country.

After the Access to Information (ATI) Act was passed in 2001, JET started using it to do Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reviews. The objective of this was to improve the regulatory framework, also to produce shorter reviews which were more digestible for the public. JET continues to do this work. See more about our Law and Advocacy programme on Our Work.

JET’s Conservation work came about largely because of staff interest and available funding. The first project was the Marine Mammals programme, other projects included Save the Iguana and Save Jamaica’s Sea Turtles. See more about JET’s Conservation programmes on Our Work JET’s Conservation work came about largely because of staff interest and available funding. The first project was the Marine Mammals programme, other projects included Save the Iguana and Save Jamaica’s Sea Turtles. See more about JET’s Conservation programmes on Our Work