Dear MEL Topic Readers,
The Caribbean island where locals can't access the beach
With a tropical marine climate and beautiful beaches, Jamaica is a
major tourism and resort destination in the Caribbean. The island, with a
population of around 2.8 million, attracts more than four million visitors
annually, generating over 10% of GDP and employing hundreds of thousands of locals.
Of the island’s 1,000km of beautiful shoreline, less than 1% is freely
accessible to local residents. In the last five years, as the number of gated
resorts and developments has multiplied, locals have lost access to beaches
freely. Gone are the days when fishermen sail off their boats and children play
on the nearby public beaches. Accordingly, visitors are losing opportunities to
visit local communities or interact with residents. Still, even after the
devastating Hurricane Melissa last year, the beautiful island is welcoming tourists
and visitors for its economy and employment.
Read the article and learn how the rapid privatization of public
beaches is affecting locals in Jamaica.
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