ONE LOVE JAMAICA BEACH ACCESS DEFENCE FUND

Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement (JaBBEM) is an environmental movement with a equal rights and justice nucleus that is launching this fund to finance the fight to protect access rights to Jamaican beaches and rivers, including Bob Marley Beach.

As quoted by the Jamaican government: “In Jamaican common law, the public has no general rights of access to the foreshore except to pass over it for the purpose of navigation or fishing. There is therefore no general right of bathing, or to walk along the foreshore, except where acquired by custom or prescription, nor is there any general right to fish except as provided in Section 3(3) of the Beach Control Act, 1956.”

NO RIGHTS OF ACCESS!! NO RIGHTS TO BATHING!! NO RIGHT TO WALK ALONG THE BEACH!! The only way to protect the Rights of Access and use is by using court-ordered Prescriptive Rights. According to Jamaica’s Prescription Act, citizens who have been using a public beach for over 20 years have an indefeasible right to continue to do so. This legal mechanism forces the court to recognize beach access rights. JaBBEM is seeking your help to build a legal defence fund to defend Beach Access Rights in Jamaica, the land of ONE-LOVE and Reggae music, and to push for a change in the law.

In a Reuters article dated May 29, 2017, it was stated that: “The Beach Control Act of 1956, that remained in place until Jamaica got independence in 1962, did not give the island nation’s 2.7 million people legal right to beach access.”

JaBBEM was alarmed by recent events and intimidation at the Bob Marley Beach in Bull Bay, St. Thomas, a favourite spiritual retreat of the late Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley. The Jamaican public came under imminent threat of losing access to yet another community beach. The danger of beach access loss remains high, and the community will have to seek the protection of beach access rights in the courts under prescriptive law.

This problem has been prevalent across the island for some time now, including Bluefields in Westmoreland, Cornwall beach St. James, Cousins Cove, Hanover, Alligator Pond, St Elizabeth, Mammee Bay, Peach Beach and Little Dunn’s River, St. Ann, Reggae Beach and Lagoon at Goldeneye St. Mary, San San, Dragon Bay and Long Bay Portland in the crosshair, Old Pera in St. Thomas, and many more. It is at a crisis level, and if not addressed soon, Jamaica’s beaches will eventually be fenced off from its citizens. The trend of free and public beach access loss is at a crisis stage in Jamaica

PLAN FOR ALLOCATION OF DONATIONS:

LEGAL FEES (attorneys fees, court filings, etc).

PUBLICITY (to educate the public on threats to beach access and violation of rights).

Today it’s Bob Marley Beach. Tomorrow, where else? Support the movement and get updates, evidence and documentation by visiting us at JaBBEM.org and by signing and sharing the online petition at change.org Protect Beach Access for all Jamaicans to the Jamaican government to repeal and replace the colonial-era law that discriminates on the rights of Jamaicans to access the beach access and use of the sea

Instagram:jabbemjabbem; Twitter:@bbem_ja; Facebook: jabbem jabbem

The evidence of access issues in Jamaica

Hey World !!! If you come to Jamaica to experience our culture, Irie vibration, and cool runnings. If you come to Jamaica to feel alright, show us ‘One Love’ and help us Protect Beach Access in Jamaica. Please support the Defence Fund