The .Jamaicau Ecoregiou: The island is made up of coastal lowlands, a limestone plateau, and several mountain ranges; the Blue Mountains, a group of volcanic hills, in the cast, the Central Range in the north and the Port Royal Mountains that rise above the Liguanca Plain just north of Kingston. The highest point is Blue Mountain Peak, at an elevation of over 2,255 meters. The John Crow Mountains arc the largest limestone range in the country. The mountains create a network of 160 rivers and watcrfhlls. The eastern lace of the Blue Mountains receives more than 300 inches of rain each year, providing water for nearly half of Jamaica's population. The largest river on the island is the Black River. Other significant rivers include the Rio Cobrc, the White River, the Rio Grande, and the Lethe. The limestone substrate accounts tor the great nwnbcr of caves found in Jamaica. Karst habitat is tound ncar the Cockpit Country which is a rugged area of inland Jamaica that has been proposed as a World Heritage Site. It includes the upper parts of three important watersheds of the Great River, Black River and Martha Brae, and is next to the Montcgo River and St. Ann watersheds, recharging aquifers in St Elizabeth, St. James and Trclawny. The porous nature of karst landscapes means that relatively little exploitable sur£1cc water nmoff is present. Karst springs well-up from the limestone aquifer in the northern, lower elevation areas. Drainage is mostly vertical and feeds underground rivers more than lOOm below ground level. These rivers may re-emerge more than 8 km from their source. Small rivers can emerge fi·om blue holes and mn shot1 distances before disappearing underground, but generally the areas are chy or, in the case of low elevation regions, contain ponds only during the wet season. The limestone aquifer, however, has the capacity to contribute over 40% of the island's exploitable ground water. Negri! Great morass is the second largest stand of freshwater wetlands in Jamaica. This forest covers an area of 6,000 hectares, and acts as a filter of fi·cshwatcr ii·om the Fish River Hills to the cast, flowing into the Negri! marine park in the West. The Black River Lower Morass is a diverse set of habitats, where five rivers meet, including wetlands, mangroves, and marshland containing the largest crocodile population in Jamaica and birds such as egrets, herons, ducks and the blue-winged teal, and savatmas with plants such as butterfly ginger, bull thatch, saw grass, water hyacinths and pancake lilies. P011land Bight is a body of water between the Hcllshirc Hills to the west of Kingston and Portland Ridge. The P011land Bight Protected Area is rich in wildlife with the dry limestone forests of Hcllshirc, Portland Ridge and Brazilctto Mountain, and the largest almost continuous mangrove stands remaining in Jamaica. The wetlands supp011 many waterfowl and crocodile, which, together with the extensive sea-grass beds in the waters of the Bight provide probably the largest nursery area for fish, crustaceans and molluscs on the island. This supports 4,000 of Jamaica's 16,000 fishers and their families. The Hisptmiola Is/anti Ecoregion: Hispaniola, the second largest island in the Greater Antilcs, is fanned fi·om continental rock and and has five major mountain ranges, the Cordillera Central, the Cordillera Septentrional, Cordillera Septentrional, Cordillera Oriental, and the Sierra de Neiba. Pica Duarte in the Cordillera Central is the highest peak in the Antilles at 3,087mcters and Pic de Ia Selle in the southern range is the highest point in Haiti, at 2,680 meters. The Dominican Republic has seven major drainage basins. Five of these rise in the Cordillera Central and a sixth, in the Sierra de Yamasa. The seventh flows into Lago Enriquillo fi·om the Sicn·a de Neiba to the nmth and from the Sierra de Baoruco to the south. The Yaquc del Norte is the most significant river in the country at 96 km long, with a basin area of7,044 square kilometres. Its headwaters arc ncar Pica Duarte at 2,580 meters and it flows into the Bahia de Monte Cristi on the northwest coast, where it forms a delta. The Yaque del Sur is the most impot1ant river on the southern coast. The headwaters arc at an altitude of2,707 meters in the southern slopes of the Cordillera Central. Three quarters of its 183 km length is through the mountains, and has a basin area of 4,972 square kilometers. The river forms a delta ncar its mouth in the Bahia de Nciba. The At1ibonitc river flows from the western Dominican Republic across central Haiti to the Caribbean Sea. The watershed of 9,530 square kilometres is critical to the sustained development of the 9 - 12-