#ClimateStrike_SaveCockpitCountry
Channel: Esther Figueroa
Date: 2019-10-03

In Jamaica, as part of Global Climate Strike on 20 September 2019, we held Save Cockpit Country Day in Stewart Town Trelawny to bring attention to: The urgency of the climate crisis. The essential role of Cockpit Country forests in protecting Jamaica from the impacts of global warming. And to call for No Mining in Cockpit Country and Jamaica. Stewart Town is in Special Mining Lease 173, 8,335 hectares of land the government of Jamaica has granted to Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partners to mine. Bauxite mining is the main cause of deforestation, and destroys the land by removing all foliage and millions of tons of fertile soil, thus making it useless for agriculture. Bauxite mining impoverishes and dismantles rural communities, dislocating and disenfranchising tens of thousands of Jamaicans. Cockpit Country is Jamaica's most important intact rain forests, providing Jamaica with 40% of its water. Its ecology is directly connected to over 50% of Jamaica and vitally important, with species found no where else in the world. Cockpit Country, which is home to small farmers who grow local produce necessary to Jamaica's food security, and home to the Maroons who fought and defeated the British in 1738, gaining their independence long before the nation of Jamaica, resonates deeply in our hearts as a symbol of resistance, freedom, well being and hope.
For more information read:
https://www.stabroeknews.com/2019/09/23/features/in-the-diaspora/cockpit-country-is-our-home-in-praise-of-cockpit-country-in-praise-of-rural-jamaica/
Visit: www.savecockpitcountry.org; www.cockpitcountry.com
Facebook pages: Protect Jamaica's Cockpit Country; Cockpit Country Warriors
View: Cockpit Country Voices From Jamaica's Heart: http://youtu.be/x2Psj_UcqQY
Cockpit Country Is Our Home: http://youtu.be/ylqTfu07PJA