Across the Caribbean, a recurring theme emerges as locals and foreign investors clash over access and rights to spaces long regarded as the people’s patrimony.
In Jamaica, a hotspot for American and European tourists and a magnet for tourism investors, a long-running legal battle rages over Jamaicans’ access to their beaches. The Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement (JABBEM) argues that the law regulating beach access stems from the colonial era, labelling it as “racist” and discriminatory, and calling for its revision.
The advocacy group continues to fight in the Jamaican courts, defending the case for Prescriptive Rights to access Bob Marley Beach in St Andrew in perpetuity. In a 2024 statement, JABBEM highlighted the pain ordinary Jamaicans feel as they are denied the enjoyment of their God-given natural environment, while people from around the world are granted access.
It may be staggering for Barbadians to comprehend, but several Jamaican advocacy groups report that less than one per cent of Jamaica’s coastline is accessible to the public. Imagine living close to a beach but being unable to enjoy the natural surroundings: feeling the waves crash around your feet, playing beach cricket, or watching your children build sandcastles.
While Jamaica’s lack of access is extreme, the Eastern Caribbean is not immune to similar challenges. In 2022, under pressure from angry, protesting residents, the Saint Lucian government withdrew an offer that would have allowed the investor in luxury villas to restrict Saint Lucians’ access to a picturesque beach area at Cap Estate in the island’s north. Saint Lucians had launched mass protests, energised by Barbados’ calypso legend Anthony Gabby Carter’s 1982 protest hit song Jack.
Several Eastern Caribbean islands have introduced restrictive foreign land ownership policies. However, Barbados has opted for an open-door approach to alien landholding. The long-term value of this strategy will reveal itself if Barbadians feel their ambitions are being constrained by the excesses of foreign presence.
In Barbados, locals keenly observe the standoff between St Joseph residents and wealthy Australian resident Richard Hains. Residents took unprecedented court action to prevent Hains from constructing a wall that would restrict access to their beloved Joe’s River gully ecosystem.
The residents successfully attained a court injunction barring further work on the controversial wall. The controversy has flared again, as a longstanding resident Victor Lewis and Hains engage in a public dispute over the placement of plastic tape at the spot where residents enter the gully to Joe’s River. Hains claims the tape is meant to “protect” residents and visitors from danger as they enter the gully area.
However, the group’s attorney, Gregory Nicholls, was quoted saying in response to the public spat: “We obtained an injunction to stop him from building a wall in 2023…. I’m going to write to the lawyers and ask them to decide to remove that caution tape. Rather than putting caution tape to stop people from accessing Joe’s River, he should restore the area to its original state until the litigation is finished.”
Sagas like these demand a decisive response from regional governments. They must balance the thirst for foreign direct investment with a position that protects the patrimony of the region’s people.
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