The Caribbean island where locals can't access the beach
BBC••world
Key Points:
- Less than 1% of Jamaica's 1,022km coastline is publicly accessible to residents, with many beaches being privatized for luxury resorts, cutting off local communities from traditional fishing and recreational areas.
- The 1956 Beach Control Act allows the government to transfer coastal areas into private ownership, contributing to the rapid loss of public beach access, especially in recent years as foreign-owned developments expand.
- Grassroots organization JaBBEM, founded in 2021, is actively challenging beach privatization through legal cases and advocacy, seeking to repeal restrictive laws and secure public access to beaches like Mammee Bay and Bob Marley Beach.
- Despite the growth of all-inclusive resorts generating significant tourism revenue, only 40% of this income remains in Jamaica
