The Negril Area Environmental Protection Trust (NEPT) was founded in 1994 as an umbrella organization representing the environmental and sustainable development concerns of the wider Negril area. The concept of NEPT originated from the third annual workshop of the Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society (NCRPS) held in December of 1993. The NCRPS identified the need for whole watershed protection, and for a local, environmental management council to be responsible for coordinating and implementing this activity. NEPT was therefore formed with two immediate responsibilities - to lobby for the protection of the Negril and Green Island watersheds as an Environmental Protection Area under the NRCA Act, and to prepare an Environmental Protection Plan to guide protection of the area from the forest ridges of the Negril and Fish River Hills, through the Negril Great Morass to the coral reefs under the sea. NEPT is a registered company (since 1995) operating as a non- profit organization and has charity status under Jamaican law.

The Environmental Protection Plan was prepared in 1995 and updated in 1997, with financial and technical assistance from USAID/GOJ (NRCA) for the Development of Environmental Management Organizations (DEMO) project This plan was later revised with financial assistance from the Department for International Development (DFID), UK and the World Bank Small Grant Fund.