Cockpit Country Protected Area

The Cockpit Country Protected Area is home to Jamaica's largest wet limestone forest of 78,024.04 hectares. The cockpit karst topography was formed over 15 million years ago as a result of the of rainwater percolating and dissolving the limestone downward, through cracks and fissures, creating over time a landscape of hillocks and valleys. The rugged ‘upturned egg-carton shaped’ topography spans over five parishes - St. James, Trelawny, St. Ann, Manchester and St. Elizabeth.

The Cockpit Country plays a crucial role in providing essential freshwater for Jamaica, accounting for an estimated 40% of the water requirements of six western parishes and contributing 40% to the entirety of Jamaica’s underground water resources. The forests in Cockpit Country serve as the source of this clean water, generating and storing it. Subsequently, the water percolates down into rivers, sinkholes, caves and the deep underground aquifer (McCaulay, 2017).

It can be referred to as a biodiversity ‘hotspot’ for plants as it contains approximately 101 of the 400 endemic species in Jamaica (Newman et al, 2011). 79 of the 100 bird species identified in Jamaica are also in this forest and 27 of the 28 endemic bird species are located here. Newman 2011 outlines that the endangered bird species; (the A. collaria and the A. agilis) also utilize this limestone forest along with many snail species and 15 of the island’s endemic frogs. Many of the plant species in the area have pharmaceutical and cosmetic values and others provide food and habitat for many of the fauna living in the forest.

Cultural Heritage

Historically, the Cockpit Country was a place of refuge for the Taínos, the first inhabitants of the island and later, home to the Leeward Maroons. The environment was used as a bastion of defence against invading colonial forces. The Maroon settlements, trails as well as the archaeological remains of Taíno sites, burials and rock art provide the cultural evidence that our ancestors utilised the natural resources of the Cockpit Country for their own survival. This is the place where the Leeward Maroons waged two guerilla warfare against the colonial forces in the 1730s and 1790s.

The Cockpit Country boasts an extensive cave system that was important and readily utilized by the Taínos in their religion and mythology. Evidence is seen in the discovery of petroglyphs (rock carving) and pictographs (rock painting) which has provided a glimpse into the lifestyle of the Taínos. Caves were utilized as shelters, water sources, burial grounds, shrines and sanctuaries. Images were carved or drawn on the wall of caves depicting events that played a significant role in their lives. The Cockpit Country Heritage Survey Report notes that 23 Taíno sites have been recorded in the area and are widely dispersed from the interior valleys to ridge tops (Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT), 2009).

The original Maroons of the Cockpit Country were enslaved Africans who were freed by their Spanish enslavers following the English invasion of 1655. They fled to the interior and joined the Taínos who had escaped the forced labour of the Spanish. This area is a significant place for the guerilla tactics employed by the Maroons, in defence of their independence (Morrissey 1982:27). The landscape provided natural impenetrable fortresses from the invading colonial forces. It was also the stronghold from which the Maroons launched guerilla warfare and foraging expeditions on surrounding plantations.

Escaped enslaved Africans gradually increased the maroon population which became a major point of concern for the colonial authorities. In the 1730s, a concerted effort was made to stymie their influence on the enslaved community, the frequency of attacks on neighbouring plantations and battles with the English battalion but these efforts were futile. Eventually, the Governor lobbied for peace and a Peace Treaty was signed in 1739 at Petit (Petty) River Bottom (Cudjoe Town), which was the stronghold of the Leeward Maroons under Captain Cudjoe’s command.

Natural Heritage

The Cockpit Country karst geology and topography make it unique with over 1,200 caves, passages and sinkholes that have been registered for Jamaica (Fincham, 1997).

Cockpit Country is cone karst, consisting of yellow and white limestone that erosion and chemical dissolution have sculpted into a dramatic topography of rounded peaks and steep-sided, bowl- shaped, closed depressions. These depressions (“cockpits”) have concave floors covered with rock rubble and soil that floods have redistributed into a flat floor. Cockpit bottoms drain by percolation through porous bedrock or through sinkholes connected to a complex, subterranean network of caves and passages. Hilltops and slopes have thin, humus-poor, clay soils that have variably accumulated on the irregular surface of shallow bedrock.

The Caribbean Islands form one of 34 Biodiversity Hotspots and are of global priority for conservation due to their high number of endemic species and highly threatened ecosystems Maunder et al, 2008, 2011: Mittermeier et al, 2004).

Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) are identified using the IUCN (2016) guidelines. Jamaica has 37 KBAs and the Cockpit Country is regarded as a priority site.

The Cockpit Country exhibits a high level of endemism and is one of the most remarkable in the world. The Cockpit Country is the largest block of continuous vegetation and the most intact example of wet limestone forest in Jamaica. Its flora exemplifies the outstanding endemism of the Caribbean. There are 106 plant species in Jamaica that are only found in the Cockpit Country. These include 101 endemic species and 5 species not endemic but only found in the Cockpit Country (Windsor Research Centre, 2016).

The Cockpit Country forests are an important habitat to the bird species such as the black-billed parrot (Amazona agilis), yellow-billed parrot (Amazona collaria), ring-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas caribaea) and plain pigeon (Patagioenas inornata). Cockpit Country is the stronghold of the black-billed and yellow-billed parrots and is the only region where these two species occur together in significant numbers (Koenig, 2001). Cockpit Country and the Upper Martha Brae Watershed is recognized as the highest-ranked Important Bird Area (IBA) in Jamaica: 64 of Jamaica’s 67 resident breeding land birds have been reported from the Cockpit Country, including 28 of the island’s 29 endemic bird species (Levy & Koenig, 2008).

Bats, locally known as ‘Rat bat’ also dominate the Cockpit Country mammalian diversity. Ten of Jamaica’s 21 bat species are obligate cave dwellers, including three of the four endemics. Jamaican long-tongued bat (Glossophaga antillarum), Jamaican fig-eating bat (Ariteus flavescens), critically endangered Jamaican flower bat (Phyllonycteris aphylla). Their colonies occupy fewer than 17% of caves documented island-wide and nearly one third of these bat caves are recorded in the environs of the Cockpit Country. Several of Cockpit Country's nearly 300 caves, for example Windsor Great Cave and Marta Tick Cave, are notable for the size and diversity of their bat colonies; some have more than 50,000 bats. Cockpit Country bats that do not roost in caves include the endemic Hairy-tailed bat (Lasiurus degelida), the only genus of bat that commonly produces twins, and the Jamaican fig-eating bat (Ariteus flavecens), the only species of a genus endemic to Jamaica (Genoways et al, 2005).

Other endemic species to the Cockpit Country are 22 native species of frogs which are endemic to Jamaica. Of this number one new species was identified in the southern Cockpit Country. The Cockpit Country along with the Upper Martha Brae Watershed support 14 of the 22 endemic frogs, the highest concentration anywhere on the island. Four endemic butterfly species are of particular importance to the area, two of which are restricted to Cockpit Country and two of which are included on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. These four include the hartonia (Phoebis [Aphrissa] hartonia), Jamaican patch (Atlantea pantoni), the Jamaican giant swallowtail butterfly (Pterourus (Papilio) homerus), and the blue kite swallowtail (Eurytides [Graphium] marcellinus). In 2001, 2 new species of grasshopper (Dellia karstica) and (Dellia maroona) were discovered in the Cockpit Country by Daniel Perez-Gelabert, a research associate from the National Museum of Natural History, Washington. They were first described by Perez- Gelabert in the Journal of Orthoptera Research in 2001. Both are endemic to Jamaica and the distribution records of the genus Dellia suggest that its species are restricted to the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas. The species ‘karstica’ was assigned its name in reference to the karstic geology of the Cockpit Country while ‘maroona’ was dedicated to the Jamaican Maroons, who used the Cockpit Country as a safe haven.

The landscape of the Cockpit Country Protected Area with its steep-sided hills and deep, closed valleys eroded from the limestone bedrock is an outstanding example of karst topography in the Tropics. The dramatic and extensive karst landscape, which ranges in elevation from 15.24 to 762 metres, distinguishes it from others in the Caribbean and elsewhere. This rugged, hilly and dense forest terrain was home to the Taínos and later the Leeward Maroons. The extensive cave systems allowed these traditional communities to readily utilise them for shelter, water sources, burials, shrines and sanctuaries. Further, this complex terrain enabled the successful Maroon resistance against British colonial forces which led to the signing of the first peace treaty of its kind - the Maroon Treaty of 1739. Revered locations such as the Old Town (burial site) and Peace Cave, represent spiritual linkages of the Maroons to the Cockpit mountains, and its natural spaces where their ancestors battled and won their freedom, lived and died.

Spanning several parishes across Jamaica, the Cockpit Country Protected Area, renowned for its signature conical ranges, provides an ideal habitat for hundreds of flora and fauna, some of which are found nowhere else in the world. The high concentration of endemism is one of the most outstanding globally. This natural heritage provides critically important habitats for the continued conservation of many endangered or threatened species of global importance.

Criterion (iii): Embedded within the Cockpit Country Protected Area are the Maroon trails and cultural routes used as defensive network of secret trails and settlements in the war against the British colonial powers. The property’s cultural and natural heritage bears testimony to the resistance of enslaved Africans against colonial oppression. Thus, allowing them to isolate themselves from the colonial system- fighting against slavery and in doing so, developed a unique cultural identity beginning in the 17th century.

These cultural routes are still in use today and are an exceptional testimony to the late 17th to early 18th Century Leeward Maroon campaign against enslavement. The trails that were developed over time to access and raid plantations in the hinterland and they also bear testimony to the guerilla warfare which was waged.

Criterion (iv): Similar to the Windward Maroons, the Leeward Maroons were led by a respected, influential and feared leader. The formidable Captain Cudjoe, leader of the Leeward Maroons, led the signing of the first Maroon Treaty on March 1, 1739. This Treaty resulted from the first successful colonial revolt and granted the Maroons freedom, rights which exceeded those of other free blacks and fifteen hundred acres of land.

The traditions and customs of the Leeward Maroons are intrinsically tied to the Cockpits in which they reside. The hollows of the Cockpits provided not only water but the spaces or locations to launch the strategic guerilla warfare against the invading English powers (Dallas, 1803). Sacred spaces, namely the Kindah tree and Peace Cave, and the rituals practiced at these sites, remain important parts of the traditions of the Leeward Maroons. Treaty Day celebrated on January 6th is seminal to the Leeward Maroons heritage and is recognized locally and globally as a pilgrimage to liberation. Kromantee (kramanti) language is also practiced in traditional songs and dances on Treaty Day. The abeng and drums are still utilized for communication and performing rituals. Practices such as ancestral worship, spirit possession, and a governance framework which allows for the judgement and punishment of infractions except murder are still practiced today.

The Leeward Maroons have a deep reverence for this natural environment. For them the property, provides whatever is needed for survival – food, shelter, medicine and place of refuge. This remote environment fostered the development of a traditional culture which continues today. There is a deep spiritual connection to the natural space and this connection stems from the fact that their ancestors lived, worshipped, fought, died, and are buried in caves and valleys. They created belief systems around natural features such as springs, sinkholes, peaks, trees and animals.

Honed over many generations, the Maroons’ usage of the native and endemic plants in the Cockpit Country has allowed them to develop a wealth of knowledge associated with the medicinal properties of the plants. This knowledge, however, has not been fully recognised by the global pharmaceutical industry.

Criterion (x): The Cockpit Country is recognised as a biodiversity hotspot for its adaptive radiation and high rate of plant and animal endemism. Recognised as a “Hotspot within a Hotspot” both for the number of species whose global ranges are restricted entirely to Cockpit Country and for the number of species for which Cockpit Country represents a major proportion of their total range across the island makes Cockpit Country a natural habitat for many endemic species. Several of these threatened species are dependent on the Cockpit Country for their survival.

The Cockpit Country is an invaluable refuge for many endemic flora and fauna species, such as the Jamaican Hutia (coney), the only remaining non-volant (non-flying) native mammal, Hairy- tailed bat, Blue Kite Swallowtail butterfly, and the Red Bell Flower (Portlandia grandiflora). The number of recorded landbird species for Jamaica that are native, resident and breeding totals 67. Of this number, 65 species have been recorded in the Cockpit Country. The native avifauna diversity of the Cockpit Country includes 28 of the 29 endemic species for the island including the globally threatened Ring-tailed Pigeon (Patagioenas caribaea) and the restricted range Black- billed Parrot (Amazona agilis). Furthermore, 12 of the 14 species that are endemic to the insular Caribbean including the Rufous-throated Solitaire (Myadestes genibarbis) also occur here (BirdLife International, 2025). Several of these and other species are listed on the IUCN Red List as threatened, vulnerable and endangered.

The majority of the 101 known Cockpit Country endemic plants are from single localities or have only been collected a few times. Several of Cockpit Country's nearly 300 caves, for example Windsor Great Cave and Marta Tick Cave, are notable for the size and diversity of their bat colonies; some have more than 50,000 animals. Cockpit Country bats that do not roost in caves include the endemic Hairy-tailed bat (Lasiurus degelida), the only genus of bat that commonly produces twins, and the Jamaican fig-eating bat (Ariteus flavecens), the only species of a genus endemic to Jamaica.

The Cockpit Country is considered to be an area with the highest global concentration of bromeliad specialists. Two species Cockpit Eyespotted Geckolet (Sphaerodactylus semasiops) and Bromeliad Galliwasp (Celestus fowleri) are endemic to Cockpit Country and were discovered in the early 1970s. These lizards are highly specialised and found mostly in tank bromeliads. The varied topography of karst terrain creates a wide variety of microhabitats and consequently a wide variety of species adaptive to specific niches (Vermuelen & Whitten, 1999).

The Cockpit Country Protected Area including the nominated property and buffer zone covers an area of 78,024.04 hectares and encompasses all the natural and cultural values necessary to express the site’s Outstanding Universal Value. The area is a critically important and invaluable habitat that supports a high level of species endemism for flora and fauna in the property. The property is protected under the Natural Resources Conservation Authority Act, 1991 and the Forest Act, 1996.

The site demonstrates a high level of authenticity in terms of location and setting as the principal conflicts between the British and Leeward Maroons were centred in and around the Cockpit Country, which became a principal Maroon stronghold. The March 1, 1739, Peace Treaty negotiated by the British, was signed by the leader of the Leeward Maroons, Captain Cudjoe in Cockpit Country. The trails, caves and sacred Maroon sites such as Troy Trails, Quickstep, Petit (Petty) River Bottom, Accompong and Trelawny Town are testament to the Maroon culture and heritage in the property.