Ninety-nine percent of Jamaican beaches are off-limits to the public. Now, Jamaicans are fighting back.

People walk on the beach after Hurricane Beryl hit the island, in Port Royal, Jamaica, on July 4, 2024 [Marco Bello/Reuters]

Less than 1 percent of the Jamaican coastline is accessible to the public. People’s livelihoods and leisure rely on access to the waters, but locals are prevented from beach access to make room for more all-inclusive resorts for foreign tourists. How are Jamaicans fighting back?

In this episode:

  • Devon Taylor, founder of Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolomé and Veronique Eshaya, with Duha Mossad, Manahil Naveed and Kevin Hirten, in for Malika Bilal. It was edited by Amy Walters.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Munera Al Dosari and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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