Iconic Jamaican iguana under threat from $1.5bn Chinese port project

Development will destroy Jamaica's biggest nature reserve and fragile coastal areas, conservationists warn

Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent

theguardian.com, Friday 23 May 2014 07.00 BST

The Jamaican government is pursuing a $1.5bn Chinese port development inside the island's biggest nature reserve, threatening the famous Jamaican iguana (Cyclura collei) and putting fragile coastal areas at risk, environmental groups say.

Government officials have championed the project – which reportedly includes a port, industrial park and causeway – as a boon for the country's economy.

But the United Nations, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and local environmental groups say the China Harbour Engineering Company development risks destroying mangroves and rare forests in the country's biggest nature reserve, the Portland Bight protected area.

The port would also doom a rare conservation success story, the Jamaican iguana, brought back from the point of extinction after a 20-year effort, environmental groups say.

Continued