The Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement (JABBEM) has called on government to withdraw and revise the Beach Access and Management Policy tabled in parliament last week.

JABBEM said the policy, as is, reinforces a legacy of colonial and capitalist dispossession which limits Jamaicans’ access.

The lobby group wants government to create a new policy which restores full, unconditional and inalienable public access to the beach.

Speaking Sunday on Irie FM’s The Africa Forum: Running African, JABBEM President Dr. Devon Taylor outlined several concerns with the current policy.

One is the granting of qualified rights, which he says reflects a capitalist logic.

He further stated that this approach alienates the public, as the Policy “encourages” licensed operators such as hotels, to establish beach pass systems that control public access.