Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust
Partner Snapshot
Partner
Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust
Location
Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, Jamaica, Latin America
Category
- Ecosystem Restoration
- Ecotourism
- Protected Area Management
Urgent Appeals
Date Founded
1988
Website
Partner Qualifications
About Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust
The Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust is the Jamaican government’s designated manager of the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, working alongside the Natural Resources Conservation Authority and the National Environment and Planning Agency to protect the island’s natural and cultural heritage.
The National Park spans over 100,000 acres of rain and cloud forest across four parishes, with a 65,000-acre Preservation Zone forming the core of the Blue and John Crow Mountains UNESCO World Heritage Site. JCDT also works with communities across the Park’s surrounding buffer zone.
JCDT’s work spans biodiversity and forest conservation, Protected Area management and enforcement, climate resilience, cultural heritage preservation, environmental education, research and monitoring, community engagement, and sustainable nature-based tourism. Government funding covers only part of the cost of managing the Park, so JCDT relies on grants, donations, and partnerships built over more than three decades of conservation and community work across Jamaica.
Their Challenges
The Blue and John Crow Mountains protect one of Jamaica's most irreplaceable landscapes—a Key Biodiversity Area whose tropical montane and cloud forests shelter endemic, threatened, and range-restricted species found nowhere else on Earth, from birds and amphibians to orchids. These forests also safeguard the watersheds that eastern Jamaica depends on. But the mountains face mounting pressure from climate change, increasingly severe hurricanes and landslides, forest fires, invasive species, agricultural encroachment, and illegal clearing—threats that could permanently erode habitat for species with nowhere else to go.
Their Approach
JCDT takes an integrated approach to protecting the Blue and John Crow Mountains, combining forest and biodiversity conservation with ranger patrols, ecological monitoring, habitat restoration, reforestation, and climate resilience work. Rangers patrol the Park to identify and respond to illegal clearing and encroachment, while ongoing research and monitoring guide management decisions and restoration priorities after hurricanes and other disturbances. JCDT works closely with communities surrounding the Park to build conservation stewardship, environmental education, and sustainable livelihoods that reduce pressure on natural resources—work that includes preserving the cultural heritage of the Windward Maroons, whose history remains inseparable from this landscape. Partnerships with government agencies, universities, researchers, and community groups extend JCDT's reach across more than 100,000 acres of rugged terrain.
Why They Need Your Help
Government funding covers only a portion of the true cost of managing the Blue and John Crow Mountains, and JCDT relies on grants, partnerships, and donations to keep rangers in the field, restore hurricane-damaged habitat, and sustain nearly four decades of conservation gains. Through Conservation Allies, 100% of every donation goes directly to JCDT's programs protecting this UNESCO World Heritage Site.