Jamaican beach access campaigners go to court to fight privatisation of coast

Key Points:

• Campaigners in Jamaica, led by the Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement (Jabbem), are taking legal action to prevent government plans to privatize several beaches, arguing this restricts local access and harms livelihoods dependent on the sea.
• Five court cases will address the privatization of key beaches including Mammee Bay, Little Dunn’s River, Blue Lagoon, Bob Marley beach, and Flankers/Providence beach, with campaigners seeking to repeal the 1956 Beach Control Act that grants the state ownership of shorelines.
• Critics contend the current law favors large hotel chains and an elite minority, perpetuating landlessness and inequity, while the government emphasizes tourism’s economic benefits, citing over 100,000 jobs and wider industry impacts.
• The government has proposed a new beach access and management policy aiming to modernize legislation and increase access, but campaigners argue it still imposes restrictive, licensed access rather than guaranteeing free, permanent rights for Jamaicans.
• Concerns have also been raised about the recent National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (Narra) Act, which campaigners say concentrates excessive power in the prime minister’s office and could undermine public access rights protected under older laws, though the government defends it as necessary for timely disaster recovery.