The Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) announces an exciting new partnership with Vagabond Media, LLC.  Following the success of the film “Cockpit Country: Voices from Jamaica’s Heart,” JET and Vagabond have entered into a partnership to produce a series of Caribbean and Jamaican educational and documentary films on environmental and social issues.   

With a working title of “Jamaica: For Sale,” the next one-hour film will be on shoreline access and development of Jamaica’s coastline. Historically, tourism development has tended to exclude Jamaicans from beaches – a trend which accelerated with the expansion of all inclusive hotels.  More recently, an unprecedented level of development has taken place along Jamaica’s north coast, including the building of several very large mega-structures, which have denied local people access to traditional fishing areas, views of the sea and public beaches.  Although Jamaica does have beaches that are accessible to the public, both with and without paying a fee, these beaches tend to be poorly operated and managed.   

“Jamaica: For Sale” will explore the question of the right of public access to beaches and conflicts between resource users (such as fishers and hoteliers), using three case studies. 

Also in planning stages are two investigative pieces – a feature length documentary on mining in Jamaica, particularly bauxite mining and a film on the environmental regulatory framework.   

We plan to produce a series of short (ten-minute) educational films for schools on natural resources – coral reefs, wetlands, birds, butterflies, forests, for example; and on environmental issues – air quality, solid waste management, soil erosion, and loss of biological diversity.    

Lastly, we plan to produce a series called “Islands,” which will feature the islands of the Caribbean, their environment, biological diversity, uniqueness, and human dependence on the natural world.  This series would seek to showcase best practice case studies of an effective union between conservation and employment in different Caribbean islands.   

“We are very happy about this new endeavour,” said JET’s CEO Diana McCaulay.  “JET has a long history of conducting environmental education programmes in Jamaica, and we feel locally produced audio visual material is badly needed.” 

JET is a non profit, non government environmental organization that focuses on environmental education and advocacy. 

Esther Figueroa, Ph.D., is a film maker, writer, linguist and educator. For over twenty years she has produced many documentaries, television programs, educational videos, and multi-media. Her work has covered a wide range of topics including health, history, culture, the arts, biography, the environment and social justice. Creating programming that is an alternative to Mass Media, Figueroa has focused on perpetuating indigenous and local knowledge, giving voice and face to those who are mariginalized, and creating media that is an integral part of community empowerment and social transformation. Vagabond Media, LLC. is Figueroa's media production company.