Esther Figueroa (Vagabond Media, Jamaica)

“I Live for Art – An Ecocide Romance” is a twelve minute video by Esther Figueroa (Vagabond Media) about the Palisadoes Shoreline Rehabilitation and Protection Works Project, in Jamaica, that began in 2010 and ran out of money in 2013 ending in breach of the environmental requirements of the project. Funded via a loan to the Jamaican Government from the China Development Bank with the contract going to China Habour Engineering Company Ltd. the actual cost of the approximately 4 kilometers of road works is estimated at $70 million US dollars which is over $70 Billion JA dollars. This does not include repayment of the loan. One wonders if this is the most sensible use of funds in an impoverished and indebted country like Jamaica. Palisadoes which is supposed to be protected under the local National Resources Conservation Act and the international Ramsar Convention that designates Palisadoes as a Wetland of International Importance has been stripped of almost all naturally protective elements – the sand dunes, plant cover and mangroves – which have been substituted with tons of rocks dug up from riverbeds and hillsides and along with concrete placed on both sides of the Palisadoes strip. Nature has been “protected” from nature.

Stop Trashing Jamaica!