1. Name
1.1 The Jamaican Caves Organisation, (JCO).
2. Aims
2.1 To assist in the preservation of the Caves and
Karst of Jamaica.
2.2 To facilitate communication and interaction
between persons interested in the Caves and Karst of Jamaica.
2.3 To promote the publication and dissemination of
information related to Karst conservation and management in Jamaica.
2.4 To provide a legal basis for the protection of the
members' contributed data.
2.5 To raise funds to further the aims of the
organisation.
3. Liability
3.1 The liability of the members is limited. Every
member of the Organisation undertakes to contribute to the assets of the
company in the event of its being wound up while he/she is a member, or within
one year afterwards, for payments of the debts and liabilities of the company
contracted before he/she ceases to be a member, and the costs, charges and
expenses of winding up, such amount as may be required but not exceeding 1 J$.
4. Management
4.1 The affairs of the Organisation shall be managed
by a Council of not less than five elected members, including five officers,
and not more than six members in total. Members of Council are Directors of the
Organisation
4.2 The officers shall be Chairperson,
Vice-chairperson, and Secretary. Other positions may be allocated to Council
members by the Council if required.
4.3 The Council will be responsible for the management
of the Organisation's data, materials and products. It will act with due care
in the release of information with regard to any prior agreements with
contributors of data and the types of use such information may be subject to.
4.4 The duties of the Chairperson shall be: (i) to
chair meetings of the Council and all General Meetings; (ii) to lead new
initiatives of, and to guide and promote the activities of, the Organisation;
and (iii) to represent the Organisation.
4.5 The duties of the Vice-chairperson shall be those
of the Chairperson in his or her absence, and to manage the regular affairs of
the Organisation as agreed by the Chairperson.
4.6 The duties of the Secretary shall be to take phone
calls for, and serve cold beer to, the Organisation, and to carry out other
secretarial duties as requested by the Council.
5. Election of
Council and Officers
5.1 The election of officers and other members of the
Council shall take place only at Annual General Meetings, as Council vacancies
arise. Where an officer is not elected, the Council will appoint one of their
number to that position.
5.2 Each member has one vote.
5.3 The term of office of Council members shall be two
years and members shall be eligible for immediate re-election.
5.4 All nominations for election shall be in writing,
or submitted via email, signed by two members of the Organisation with the
written consent of the candidate to serve if elected. Nominations for election
to the Council shall be given to the Secretary at or before the Annual General
Meeting.
5.5 Temporary appointments until the next General
Meeting may be made by the Council to fill vacancies arising during a term of
office.
5.6 The Council shall be empowered to appoint
Committees from among members of the Organisation, and determine the terms of
reference of such committees.
5.7 Only Organisation members may participate in
elections.
5.8 A member of Council shall vacate the Council if
they resign in writing.
6. Council
Meetings
6.1 The Secretary shall be authorised to call meetings
of the Council, when so directed by the Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson.
6.2 Alternatively, any four Council members, acting in
concert, may call a Council meeting.
6.3 All Council members must be informed in writing of
the date, time and venue of any forthcoming Council meeting at least 14 days in
advance of that Council meeting.
6.4 A quorum at the meeting of the Council shall
consist of four elected members.
6.5 The decisions of the Council shall be taken by a
majority vote.
6.6 Council meetings may be held with electronic
participation by members who are unable to physically attend.
7. General
Meetings
7.1 The Annual General Meeting shall be held at
approximately annual intervals, at such time and place as shall be decided by
the Council.
7.2 The Secretary shall at the direction of the
Council, be empowered to call a General Meetings for the consideration of the
business of the Organisation.
7.3 The Council shall give all members of the
Organisation not less than 4 weeks notice of the date, time and place of any
General Meeting. Accidental omissions to provide notice to individual members,
or non-receipt of members of such notices, shall not invalidate the proceedings
of a meeting.
7.4 A quorum of any General Meeting shall be the
number of elected members on the Council plus one.
7.5 Decisions shall be taken by a simple majority
vote. In the event of a tie, no decision shall be taken.
7.6 Voting shall be by ballot, or by show of hands if
so agreed by a majority of members present.
7.7 Voting by proxy, duly authorised in writing, will
be permitted. A proxy need not be a member of the Organisation.
8. Membership
8.1 Membership will be open to persons who have
substantial experience in Jamaican
Caving, or who have made substantial contributions to the preservation of the
Karst of Jamaica. Such members do not have to pay a membership fee.
8.2 New members will be admitted to the JCO by way of
a two-step process: An existing member will sponsor the application and submit
it to the Council. Council members will then decide, by simple majority vote,
if the application should be submitted to the general membership for
consideration. If the Council decides in the affirmative, the application will
then be decided by simple majority vote by the general membership at the first
opportunity.
8.3 Payment of a financial subscription will be on a
voluntary basis and open to members and other persons and organisations subject
to approval by Council.
9. Privileges
of Membership
9.1 Members shall be entitled to be notified of and
granted access to all meetings of the Organisation, but only by the invitation
of the Council to Council Meetings, or by the invitation of a Committee to
Committee Meetings.
9.2 Members shall be entitled to submit articles and
letters for consideration for publication in any publications of the
Organisation.
9.3 Members shall be entitled to attend and vote at
all meetings of the Organisation, other than Council and Committee Meetings.
9.4 Membership will not entitle any person or
organisation to receive any money from the Organisation.
10.
Responsibilities of Membership
10.1 Preservation requirements have priority over
project objectives, and apply to all speleological activity, i.e. research,
caving, tourism. These preservation requirements include the following:
10.11 Minimal and non-permanent disturbance of cave
biota and associated habitats. These habitats include, but are not restricted
to, the following:
10.111 Bat
roosting chambers and associated guano deposits.
10.112
Hydrologically active systems that supply habitat to aquatic species.
10.113
Twilight zone area of caves with resident troglophiles.
10.12 No disturbance to archaeological sites. Activity
must be limited to passive observations.
10.13 No disturbance to speleothems or the processes
that form them.
10.14 Minimal compaction of floor material.
10.2 The JCO, and all of its members, in order to do
no harm, and to be guided in our activities, will remain in consultation with
an Advisory Committee, (the formation of which is addressed in Paragraph 12).
Prior to all projects taking place, a proposal will be submitted to this
Committee for review. After the completion of the project, a report will be
made to the Committee, and the wider JCO membership, with emphasis on
notable/sensitive discoveries. Accurate positions, (or descriptions that will
enable a visit), for vulnerable caves, will not be made available outside of
the JCO until they have been cleared by the Advisory Committee.
10.3 Because caving is inherently dangerous, the main
priority of every member, of every caving team, in every cave and sinkhole, is
to follow procedures that will increase the likelihood of maintaining a 100%
survival rate. To facilitate this, the following procedures will be adhered to.
10.31 All rigging for drops, and vertigear, must be
double-checked by another member of the team.
10.32 In active river caves, opinions on flood-risk
must be shared and the team will abandon the visit if any one member of the
team feels at risk.
10.33 In complex caves that are not well-known, two
members of the team must flag, and the team will remain in contact at all
times.
10.4 Our knowledge of the caves of Jamaica is rare. To ensure that no harm is done, JCO members will not act as guides in any caves in Jamaica, unless permission has been obtained from the Council.
10.5 The JCO is in a unique position to educate the public in the value of caves and karst. During JCO activities, members will take advantage of every opportunity to inform local assistants of the hydrological and biological factors involved in the preservation of the caves and karst of the island.
10.6 JCO members will, whenever possible, try to improve the hydrological conditions, and biological health, of degraded caves. This will be done in consultation with our colleagues. Degraded caves are defined as follows:
10.61 Bat-roosts that have been
extensively mined for bat guano and currently have few existing bats, and few
inverts.
10.62 River caves that have a
great degree of siltation, due to cultivation in catchments.
10.63 River
caves that have a great degree of rafted garbage because of upstream activity.
10.64
Sinkholes used as pit-toilets or dumps.
11. Establishment of General Policies and Guidelines
11.1 The JCO, in consultation with the Advisory Committee, will establish a set of policies and guidelines for Caving and Speleological Research in Jamaica that will be shared with the wider Caving community. These policies and guidelines will be periodically reviewed and amended as need dictates.
11.2 The process by which amendments will be made to policies and guidelines will be established as soon as is possible, under the direction of the Council.
11.3 All policies and guidelines will be subject to the approval of the Advisory Committee.
12. Establishment of an Advisory Committee
12.1 At first opportunity, an Advisory Committee, comprised of experts in the fields of conservation, biology, archaeology, hydrology, and geomorphology, will be established that will have veto power over all JCO plans and projects.
12.2 Approval of plans and projects by the Advisory Committee will be by simple majority of all the members of the Committee, with individual veto power vested in the member of the Committee in whose field to which the project most closely applies.
12.3 Participation in the Committee is on a voluntary basis with no remuneration.
12.4 Committee members are not subject to vote or recall by the Council or general membership of the JCO, except in the case of non-involvement over a 12 month period.
12.5 Committee members are free to decide amongst themselves the addition of new members to the Committee, on condition that the new member has a doctorate in a field that pertains to speleology, or has substantial experience in Karst conservation efforts.
13.
Amendments to the Constitution
13.1 No rule shall be made, altered or deleted from this constitution, except at a General Meeting of the Organisation. All members are entitled to suggest an amendment, prior to a General Meeting, by submitting the suggested change to the Council.
13.2 The Council shall notify members of any suggested amendment before the General Meeting at which it is to be considered. A majority of two-thirds of those present in favour of the amendment shall authorise the amendment.
13.3 Amendments proposed before a General Meeting may be amended themselves during the General Meeting, with the consent of the proposer of the original amendment and a simple majority of those present at the General Meeting.