Voices from Mocho Panos Caribbean 9 Westminster Road, Kingston 10, Jamaica, W.I. © 2007 All rights reserved. Published in 2007 ISBN 9789766107956 Translation and editing: Dawn Marie Roper, Panos Caribbean Final editing and coordination: Indi MclymontLafaye e, Panos Caribbean Technical advice: Siobhan Warrington, Panos London Design and layout: Orville Bloise Photos: Bryan Cummings, Ode e Eccles, Devon Brown, Horace Fisher, and other members of the Mocho Community. Oral Testimony collection team: Horace Fisher Ode e Eccles Devon Brown Fayone e Jones Tenaj Rhoden Maurice ‘Junior’ Lawrence Owen Allison Leon Clair Kenesha Go shalk Avia Francis Kurt Francis Dawn Go shalk Printing: Minute Press Limited, Kingston, Jamaica Acknowledgements This booklet would not have been possible without the hard work of the following persons: • Siobhan Warrington, Rod Harbinson and the Panos London team • The Narrators and Interviewers for the testimonies – in particular Ode e Eccles, Devon Brown, Horace Fisher, Junior Lawrence, Leon Clair, who have consistently gone beyond the call of duty. The other interviewers were Daughn Go shalk, Tenaj Rhoden, Avia Francis, Owen Allison, Kurt Francis, Kenesha Gottshalk and Fayonette Jones. • We were particularly happy to have the voices of educator par excellence – Livingston Moore and farmer Alfred Allison before they passed on in 2007. • Jan Voordouw, Panos Caribbean for keeping us within budget • Dale Rankine, The Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme for funding and consistent support • The team at the Commonwealth Foundation Introduction Why Mocho? That is the usually the first question asked when this project is mentioned. It was however chosen on the following grounds: 1. It was one of the communities hardest hit by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and so was deemed particularly vulnerable to disasters. 2. It constantly battles with the stigma of being a ‘backward’ community and fi ts into Panos’ mandate to give voice to the under represented and stigmatized. 3. The testimonies collected would add to the work being done by Panos London documenting voices of persons living in the mountains. The Mocho Oral Testimony Booklet was produced as a major part of the Panos Oral Testimony Project. The project serves to document the Mocho community’s experience of environmental and climate change issues and communicate those to Jamaican, regional Caribbean and international audiences. Panos chose the method of oral testimony collection because it is an excellent way for those experiencing environmental problems to tell their story. While “testimony” can have legal or other meanings, what Voices From Mocho Panos means by “oral testimonies” are openended interviews around a series of topics, drawing on direct personal memory and experience. Communicating fi rsthand accounts from those facing environmental and climate change on a daily basis is a way of ensuring that their experiences and perspectives become part of the environment and development debate. It is also hoped that the project will stimulate appropriate action in support of communities such as Mocho. The particular methodology and approach has been conceived to strengthen the communication capacities of the community and to mobilise its members to work on solutions to problems of environmental change, such as land degradation. Twelve members of the community were trained in oral testimony methodology and gathered 47 indepth interviews with men and women living in Mocho. The individual accounts provide the human context to environmental issues, and demonstrate that environmental change can be related to and have an impact on many diff erent aspects of an individual’s life and community. It is hoped that the booklet will help to drive the dialogue on community input towards climate change adaptation at the national, regional and international level. vi One Climate Change, Mocho, Jamaica Introduction CLIMATIC PROFILE OF JAMAICA Jamaica is a Caribbean island located latitude 18º 15´ north of the equator and longitude 77º 30´ west of Greenwich. Its tropical climate is infl uenced by the sea and northeast trade winds throughout the year. Coastal breezes blow onshore by day and offshore at night. During the months of December to March, colder winds known locally as “northers” reach the island from the North American mainland. Jamaica is dominated by mountains, mostly covered with lush, green forests. The mountains cause variations in temperature depending on elevation, but there is little change from season to season. Temperatures on the coasts can reach about 90 °F (32 °C), and low temperatures of 40°F (4 °C) have been recorded on the high peaks. Jamaica usually experiences wet and dry seasons. The average annual rainfall for the entire island is 82 inches (2,100 mm), with rains falling mainly in October and May. During June to September thunderstorms can bring heavy showers. The mountains force the trade winds to deposit more than 130 inches (3,300 mm) per year on the eastern part of the island, while little precipitation occurs on the hot, dry savannas of the south and southwest. (Source: Encyclopedia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/ eb/article-54492/Jamaica and Maps.com) Voices From Mocho Map of Jamaica supplied by the Offi ce of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM). 2 Voices From Mocho MOCHO The community of Mocho is part of the vast Mocho Mountains region in central Jamaica. The Mocho Mountains are found in Clarendon (one of 14 parishes in Jamaica). The Mocho Mountains measure 609.6 meters (2,000 feet) above sea level. (Source: National Library of Jamaica) Mocho’s farming economy can be traced back to the 18th century, the era of plantations and slavery. The ruins of a few plantations still bear witness to Mocho’s agricultural past. Not much has been documented about Mocho so most of what is known about the community was passed down through oral tradition. According to the farmers, Mocho once produced crops such as breadfruit, avocado pears, and mangoes in abundance. Today the area mainly produces cash crops such as peppers, tomatoes, cabbages, corn, and peas because the productivity of the land has been damaged by climatic changes and manmade activities. In the 1970s ALCOA began bauxite mining in the Mocho Mountains. Since then much of Mocho’s forests and farmlands were cleared or completely destroyed. Many people claim that this destruction is responsible for the climatic changes. In their oral testimonies, Mocho’s farmers describe the unpredictability of the wet and dry seasons and the eff ects on their livelihoods. Older farmers speaking from years of hindsight have made revealing comparisons of the climate in Mocho, spanning as many as 70 years. They say planting seasons are now hard to determine. Some people talked about the intensity of rainfall, as well as the timing and ferocity of storms. One farmer remarked on the chemical composition of the rain. (“Even the water come with some kind of diff erence…sometimes the water come with acids and burn the plants…”). Mocho’s residents spoke about the droughts between 2003 and 2005 and how some people coped while others did not. There were food shortages due to the extremes of the climate. (“…in the Christmas season we are going [to] have problems with vegetables…because all those crops were washed out and now we don’t have any vegetables.”) One farmer observed an increase in the number of fi eld pests such as rats and cites this as a direct result of climate change. The famers also share their adaptation methods. 3 Voices From Mocho The experiences vary and sometimes they are in direct contrast with each other. Some of the accounts are sprinkled with elements of superstition, folklore and religion. The testimonies were gathered between December 2005 and March 2006. EVIDENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE Climate Change is still a topic of major debate worldwide. The United States especially has been hesitant to join with other countries globally to fi ght climate change. The American government has, to date, refused to commit to limiting carbon emissions as it argues that this will hurt the US economy. The US (a large producer of greenhouse gases) also has not signed the Kyoto Protocol which sets emissions caps for many wealthy signatory countries. Over 10 Caribbean countries including Jamaica have signed the Kyoto Protocol. Many Jamaicans at the grass roots level might not know exactly what Jamaica has commi ed to by ratifying the Protocol. Mocho is one of the rural communities being sensitised to climate change issues at the community level. From the testimonies below however it is evident that most persons in Mocho are already sure that climate change is occurring. Muriel Eccles, 75, cultivator and vendor Muriel Eccles was born in the Mocho Mountains in 1930. She is a storehouse of information about Mocho’s culture and history. She spoke about Mocho’s climate then and now, as well as her struggles as a poor cultivator. “I was born and grown here. …as a child I can remember when in May and June, if you le the house to go into the kitchen, you got wet. That was the type of weather we had. Every day, every night rain. …it was rain and more rain in those days in the 1930s. I can remember that rain and even in the early forties how the rain used to fall. [We used to] breathe clean, fresh air. But today, [when] you breath, [you are] inhaling more gases more than the air that nature provides for you.” 4 Voices From Mocho Harry Brown, 52, farmer, spent many years abroad. “The weather [today] makes the farming very, very diffi cult because [we] have to depend on rain to get our crops. ....We don’t have any irrigation water. When the rain begins to fall it just [keeps falling] so everything ends up destroying the crops, kind of making it diffi cult..