Cockpit Country in northwest Jamaica is 130 miles from Kingston, near Montego Bay and Ocho Rios. This unique karst landscape resembles the inside of an egg carton with its rounded peaks and steep-sided, bowl-shaped depressions.

Millions of years of erosion have sculpted this mostly uninhabited area of yellow and white limestone. Dubbed "cockpits" for their resemblance to cockfighting pits, these formations drain water through porous bedrock and sinkholes connected to a complex, subterranean network of caves.

Fed by groundwater springs and seeps, the area is the source of the Great, Black and Martha Brae rivers, which emerge from limestone as large coastal rivers. They form almost two-thirds of Jamaica's freshwater supply. These watersheds also support tourism that drives the economy of Jamaica's north coast.

This region is also steeped in culture as it is home to the leeward Maroon communities. The Jamaica Forestry Department manages the area as a forest reserve. Recently The Nature Conservancy worked with the forestry department and other partners to open a visitor’s center at the gateway to the reserve. 

Unique Species … and Bats

Cockpit Country is a refuge for flora and fauna found nowhere else on Earth:

• At least 101 species of unique plants grow in this region, some isolated to just one hillock.
   
• Most of the country's 100-plus fern species grow in the Cockpit Country.
   
• It is home to several orchids and bromeliads. All six of species of the endemic Lepenthea orchid are found in Cockpit Country.
   
• At least 79 of Jamaica's 100 bird species are found in Cockpit Country - including the black-billed parrot, the yellow-billed parrot, the ring-tailed pigeon and the plain pigeon.
   
• The Jamaican boa, the island's largest land predator, and the black racer are two of the at-risk snake species in Cockpit Country. Six out of Jamaica's seven snake species are endemic.
   
• Both the Jamaica kite (blue swallowtail) and the giant swallowtail are endemic and at-risk butterfly species living in Cockpit Country. The giant swallowtail is the second largest butterfly in the world.
   
• Several of the region's 300 caves, such as Windsor Great Cave and Martha Tick Cave support colonies of more than 50,000 bats. Three species of bats, including the at-risk Jamaican flower bat, are endemic to Jamaica. Cockpit Country bats that don't roost in caves include the hairy-tailed bat, the only bat species in which twins are common, and the Jamaican fig-eating bat, both found only in Jamaica.
  

Mining and other threats

Limestone and marl quarries have some impact on Cockpit Country, but bauxite mining is the most destructive extractive industry. Forests are destroyed, and rarely replanted, when bauxite is mined from the cockpit bottoms. The effluents from mining also seep into the river systems impacting agriculture and tourism.

The Conservancy has joined a "Save the Cockpit Country Campaign" and has contributed the scientific evidence being used to support the activities of NGOs and stakeholders in their advocacy against mining at the site. These actions have led to a revision of the National Mineral Policy. 

Small-scale agriculture, particularly yam cultivation, is an immediate threat to the forests. Farmers use saplings harvested from the forest as "yam sticks" to support the plant as it grows. Yam stick demand is estimated to be six million per year.

Clearing of land to make room for cattle, crops and housing developments that serve the needs of a growing human population has led to reduced water quality, soil erosion and the decrease of vital plants and animals. Poor farming practices cause losses in soil fertility and erosion leading to a loss of topsoil and dirtying of Jamaica's water supplies. As farmers cut more and more of the tropical rain forest, fewer of the country's native animals have the food and shelter they need to survive.

Wait-a-bit

Wait-a-bit is the vernacular name for the visitor’s center at the gateway to Cockpit Country. This recently unveiled center is used by both visitors to the area as well as traditional Maroon communities.

It is an educational center and will house information for the surrounding counties on protecting Cockpit country’s nature. The center will also include activities such as a culinary tour and maps for Maroon trails. Income generating opportunites are being created and a Maroon coalition is being formed to capitalize on their common heritage, practices, and festivals.

The center cost US $70,000 to build and was inaugurated on June 7, 2008. The wait-a-bit center was created by the Conservancy and the Jamaica Forestry Department also contains satellite offices for the two organizations. The center also has several displays of the region’s native trees, plants, insects and biodiversity.

Other Activities:

• The Nature Conservancy worked with the Jamaica Forestry Department to develop a Conservation Action Plan (CAP) for the region. The CAP is working as a blueprint to guide biodiversity conservation in Cockpit Country.
   
• The Conservancy helped catalyze a debt-swap in 2004 between the United States Government and Jamaica. Funds from this debt swap went into a Forest Conservation Fund which provides long term funding for Cockpit Country.
  
• The Conservancy helped train additional Forestry Department officers in freshwater monitoring techniques to help them monitor the water sources.   
    
• The Conservancy is training at least 10 residents of Cockpit Country communities as enforcement officers to patrol the area for illegal loggers and miners,
   
• Abandoned farmland is being restored by developing a plan to plant native species,   

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Cockpit Country's wait-a-bit center © Judith Blake/TNC; Aerial view of Cockpit Country © Jonathan Kerr/TNC.