Conservation Action Plan:-Cockpit Country / Upper Martha Brae

This set of fifteen actions was developed by a broad range of stakeholders as part of TNC-Jamaica's Conservation Action Plan and are expected to mitigate the threats to Cockpit Country biodiversity. The first three of these actions cover general initiatives which will affect all targets; the remainder affect one or several threats as indicated.
Click on an action for further details.

ACTIONS		THREATS
ACTIONS		Mining / Quarrying	Forest conversion	Alien (non-native) invasive species	Inappropriate garbage disposal	Incompatible agricultural practices	Amateur/ scientific collecting; hunting	Increase capacity of GoJ/ NGO's/ CBO's
1	Develop and implement an effective mechanism for co-management of the Cockpit Country conservation area.	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
2	Collaboratively develop and implement a long-term funding strategy for Cockpit Country conservation.	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
3	Establish self-sustaining and effective Local Forest Management Committees incorporating local C.B.O.s	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
4	Investigate the most appropriate means of amending the legislation that allows the precedence of The Mining Act over the Forestry Act and other conservation acts within Cockpit Country	X	X
5	Develop an economic case for the conservation of Cockpit Country by conducting an economic valuation of the ecological and cultural services provided by Cockpit Country	X				X
6	Develop and implement a public awareness campaign	X
7	Develop Atlas of Cockpit Country targets and threats in order to quantify them and guide and refine conservation actions	X	X	X	X		X	X
8	Facilitate and promote the declaration of private land holdings under forest as Forest Management Areas		X
9	Develop techniques and implement projects to restore forest in critical areas such as abandoned agricultural lands, river banks and cave entrances using early succession native species		X	X
10	Develop and disseminate appropriate best-management practices for small-scale and subsistence farming to at least 50 farmers (one in each community) working in close proximity to Cockpit Country		X	X
11	Provide sufficient incentives for land owners with crown land inholdings to maintain at least 40 hectares in forest until Forestry Department can declare these inholdings as forest.		X			X
12	Develop detailed data on the distribution and impacts of major invasive species (bamboo, Asian fern, American cockroach, shiny cowbird etc) on Cockpit Country biodiversity and develop priorities for control.			X
13	Select, promote and disseminate appropriate sewage disposal technology in at least one critical Cockpit Country community.				X
14	Develop a business plan and a field demonstration plot to produce yam-sticks through agroforestry as an alternative source of income to collecting saplings from forest.					X
15	Work with NEPA and other agencies to enforce existing laws and regulations protecting Cockpit Country biodiversity (including orchids, bromeliads, parrots, butterflies, research specimens) .						X