A Policy for the Management of National Parks and Protected Areas in Jamaica
Michelle Harris

Introduction
In 1987 the National Resource Conservation Division, the main environmental management agency in Jamaica, published a report on the state of the environment. One of the issues highlighted in the report was the urgent need to implement new legislation and strengthen existing ones for more effective management of Jamaica's National Parks and Protected areas. After a long period during which a series of consultations, pilots and papers were developed, in November 1997, upon approval by Parliament and Cabinet, a policy for Jamaica's System of Protected Areas was defined. Based on the new policy two National Parks were established: the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park and the Montego Bay Marine Park. Management of these two parks was delegated to two NGOs.

The type and extent of policy change
The National Policy on Parks and Protected Areas was the first environmental policy in Jamaica which involved collaboration between government and non-government organisations in policy formulation and implementation. It reflected a change in policy practice and legislation regarding the approach to environmental protection and management in Jamaica. For the first time in the history of environmental policy in the country, management of the environment had been delegated to civil society.

Explanation of the policy change
Political context
There are three main factors which influenced the new policy. First, after the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment and continuing with the enactment of the 1991 law establishing the Natural Resources Conservation Authority as the lead environmental management agency in the country, the political environment had become favourable to the idea of sustainable development, sustainable environmental management and using participatory and decentralised means. Second, as a development partner to the Government of Jamaica (GoJ), USAID had already bought into the idea of decentralised approaches to environmental management and therefore their contribution to the process and support for the involvement of NGOs. Finally, the government had recognised that environmental NGOs were playing a significant role in environmental management and conservation in Jamaica, especially in the area of advocacy and public education.

The ways Civil Society affected the policy change
Although the policy change was mainly driven by the Government, civil society had a role to play in influencing the outcome of the policy change. Their direct involvement in terms of the management of the two national parks is perhaps the most significant way in which CSOs influenced the policy process by demonstrating the principle and practice of the co-management approach to natural resource management and the value of partnerships in environmental management.

The nature of research based evidence
Evidence for this new policy came from two sources. Firstly, in 1987 the NRCD published the Jamaican Country Environmental profile which was a report highlighting the rapid acceleration of environmental degradation in Jamaica and the need to improve environmental management systems. The second source of research based evidence came from the successful design and implementation of the USAID-GoJ funded PARC project. The philosophy of the PARC project was based on the modern concept of conservation. Therefore, acknowledged in the design of the project was the need to involve local communities and NGOs in the sustainable management of the park's resources, in addition to collecting reliable environmental data to guide the protection and sustained use of these natural resources. The pilot showed that NGOs could be good managers of environmental resources.

External factors
International conferences and treaties on the environment have had an effect on Jamaica's environmental narratives. For instance, the process generated by the Stockholm Conference on the Environment in 1972 culminated in 1975 in the formation of the Natural Resources Conservation Department (NRCD) within the Ministry of Mining and Natural Resources. The 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) in Brazil was another milestone. From this came Agenda 21, a comprehensive blueprint for the global and local actions required for the transition to sustainable development. Agenda 21 help set the framework for the Jamaica National Environmental Action Plan (JANEAP). The role that USAID played as an international development organisation in Jamaica was central in influencing the nature of the new policy, with the PARC project including the NGO component. Based on the evidence of the case it is doubtful that if this intervention were not made on the part of USAID then the essential character of the new policy would not have featured NGOs in this way.

Conclusion and lessons learnt
This case study is a good example of early attempts at collaboration between government and non-governmental organisations in environmental policy formulation and implementation in Jamaica. Some lessons learnt are:

• Environmental NGOs can make a significant impact on the implementation of environmental protection and natural resource conservation policies.
  
• Research based evidence is useful to highlight the dynamics of the participatory approach to environmental management.
  
• Strategic partnerships are critical for sustainable development

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