Earth Insight Report Flags Oil Exploration Risks for Jamaica’s South Coast Marine Life

KINGSTON, Jamaica — An Earth Insight report published Thursday says petroleum prospecting in the Walton-Morant block, located off Jamaica’s south coast, may place some of the island’s most important ocean environments in harm’s way.

The document, titled Fossil Fuel Threats to the Ocean: Marine Life and Coastal Communities at Risk, was prepared with the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) and 10 other civil society groups across the world.

JET, in a statement, said the report relies on geospatial mapping to examine how the Walton-Morant licence area and related risk zones line up with Jamaican marine resources. The organisation said the analysis found overlap with almost all of the country’s coral reefs, seagrass areas and major fishing grounds, which have long helped sustain coastal communities.

The release comes just before World Oceans Day on June 8 and ahead of the Our Ocean Conference, an international meeting on marine protection set for June 16 to 18 in Mombasa, Kenya.

JET said the Walton-Morant block is regarded as Jamaica’s leading hydrocarbon prospect. Exploration is still at an early phase, but Earth Insight’s work found that the risk zone mapped for the project covers about 11,070 square kilometres of ecologically or biologically significant marine areas, known as EBSAs. That area is close to the size of Jamaica.

The report also said Jamaica’s exclusive economic zone has 60,159 square kilometres of EBSAs in all. On that basis, the Walton-Morant block could affect almost one in five of the country’s priority marine ecosystems, or 18 per cent.

“Jamaica’s marine ecosystems are already under pressure from climate change, pollution and overfishing,” said Dr Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie, chief executive officer of the Jamaica Environment Trust.

Rodriguez-Moodie acknowledged that the offshore work is currently limited to exploration, but warned that it could open the door to later production in some of Jamaica’s most valuable marine spaces.

“Instead of pushing for oil and gas expansion, we must focus on protecting our oceans and investing in healthy ecosystems, resilient communities and sustainable livelihoods,” she said.

The Jamaica findings form part of a wider global study covering 11 case studies in Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, Norway, Alaska, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Mexico, Indonesia and Australia.

Across those case studies, the report said oil and gas risk zones include 38 per cent of coral reefs, 18 per cent of seagrasses, 29 per cent of mangroves, and 27 per cent of marine and coastal protected areas examined. It also found direct overlap between oil and gas blocks and 50 per cent of all important marine mammal areas.

The report recommends that governments, lenders and international organisations stop issuing new licences, permits and approvals for offshore and coastal oil, gas and liquefied natural gas projects in or close to protected areas, key biodiversity areas, EBSAs, coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass meadows.