THE MAROONS FIGHT TO PRESERVE THE COCKPIT’S NATURAL RESOURCES
August 17, 2021 | Silbert Barrett |
THE MAROONS FIGHT TO PRESERVE THE COCKPIT’S NATURAL RESOURCES IS A QUESTION ALONG WITH THE OLD FOOTAGE OF “GUNS VS BUTTER”, BUT MORE SPECIFICALLY “BAUXITE VS YAM”.
The Maroons under Chief Currie are affirming their Sovereignty and Treaty Rights to protect Jamaica’s natural resources within the Cockpit Mountains is indeed a good endeavour for all Jamaicans.
The reality is 1 ton of Yam is valued at US$8,000 as an export crop, compared to 1 ton of bauxite for US$32 not taking into consideration the environmental damages from mining. If using the land for agriculture the yield and value can be preserved forever. One acre of bauxite land will produce significantly more tonnage of bauxite than yam. But the strategic value of that one acre of land for agriculture production far outweigh its value for mining, when one acre of bauxite is mined that all there is, no more ore left in that one acre after two scoops of an excavator.
Jamaica had fallen to sixth place in the world, producing 10 million tones of bauxite. Jamaica’s share of world bauxite output has therefore fallen from 18% in the 1970s to about 2% of total world production of 300 million tones in 2018.
Before the Maroon Treaty, Jamaica was a sovereign State of the British Empire. Captain Cudjoe was the founding father of modern Jamaica, there was no Jamaica legally until after the Treaty, rather it laid the foundation for the creation of an independent but not sovereign Jamaica. The Treaty establishes sovereignty for Jamaican Maroons, the declaration of independence is not a sovereign document as the Queen is still head of state.
