Jamaica’s coastlines become battleground as locals push back against private beach access

Coastal communities across Jamaica, including Mammee Bay and Blue Lagoon, are mounting court challenges to reclaim publicly accessible beaches that have been fenced off for private resort development, branding the model “plantation tourism” and warning it echoes colonial land dispossession. The government advocates reforms, such as new beach-access policies and the Narra Act to speed resilience-building, but activists argue these measures still permit restricted access and private corridors to the sea, potentially undermining long-standing public rights and local livelihoods tied to the coast.