ROCKY POINT, CLARENDON:

The Rocky Point community is to benefit from a multimillion-dollar development project, dubbed the Rocky Point Environmental and Economic Development Project.

The project was unveiled to community members on Thursday as key stakeholders and sponsors met with the community on Thursday at a conference at the Fisherman's Grill in Rocky Point.

The Jamaican Diaspora-Canada Foundation is the leading partner in the project, while the Canadian International Development Agency, Rocky Point Citizens' Association and the Rocky Point Fisherman's Cooperative are also involved.

The idea was born during a visit by the executive board of the Jamaican Diaspora-Canada Foundation.

During that visit, members of the Rocky Point Citizens' Association informed the foundation about the accelerating level of local environmental degradation and steep economic decline that was overtaking the once thriving fishing village.

After a tour of the affected areas of the beach, members of the diaspora agreed that the scope of the problem was beyond the capacity of the local community, so the members concluded that outside help was needed to help reverse the situation.

The group later returned to Jamaica to investigate the degree of degradation and contamination and to help the community search for viable long-term solutions to potential health, environmental and economic disaster.