Bringing “smart” building technology to Jamaica's shantytowns

Jewel Fraser in IPS: Buildings are among the largest consumers of earth’s natural resources. According to the Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative, they use about 40 percent of global energy and 25 percent of global water, while emitting about a third of greenhouse gas emissions.

Anthony Clayton, a professor of sustainable development at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, says those statistics make buildings vital to developing resilience to climate change and to reducing pockets of entrenched poverty in the Caribbean region.  “At the moment, most of the buildings in Jamaica are very energy inefficient with very expensive electricity that reduces the level of disposable incomes, which is one of the factors acting as a break on the economy. If we build to a higher standard of energy efficiency,” the country will also be more resilient to climate change, he added.

Clayton and his colleague, Professor Tara Dasgupta, are currently working on the prototype of a smart building whose key features would be “optimal sustainability and efficiency” with particular attention given to water efficiency, renewable energies, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.

The proposed “net zero energy” building, which is the first of its kind in the region, is now in the design phase. The University of the West Indies’ Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD), where Clayton holds the Alcan chair, is working in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the seven-million-dollar research and building project.

Clayton, who is also a member of several advisory groups serving the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery, the UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told IPS that a major hazard of the current housing stock in Jamaica, in light of climate change, is its proliferation of informal settlements...

Photo by Rennett Stowe, Wikimedia Commons via Flicker, under the Creative Commons 2.0 license 

Debt for climate adaptation exchanges can work for small island developing states

The Jamaica Observer: Small island developing states (SIDS), among which Jamaica is classified, are suffering from two major problems, one, which in the short term will sink them economically, and the other, which will eventually sink them, or at least large parts of them, physically. The first is debt and the second is climate change. The SIDS are heavily indebted, with most of them having debt/GDP ratios of over 60 per cent and many with over 100 per cent.

...If the SIDS are to survive, they must spend substantial sums of money quickly to take action to protect themselves and delay the impact of the inexorable rise of the sea level.

The problem is that debt repayment demands such a large share of the government's budget and a significant share of foreign exchange that there is hardly any prospect of economic growth. A vicious cycle of impoverishment is entrenched in which debt prevents growth, and the lack of it, in turn, prevents debt repayment. Meanwhile, climate change is having an adverse impact on resources, eg beaches, and economic activity such as tourism.

The obvious solution is foreign assistance from the international development institutions and the developed countries to bail out the SIDS. In these days of a prolonged global economic crisis nobody is giving away aid or granting debt cancellation.

The solution to the problem of the debt-strapped, climate-affected SIDS is debt for adaptation exchanges. There are two types, the first involving commercial or private debt owed to banks and bondholders and the second, bilateral debt owed to governments....

Sunset on the sea at Seven Mile Beach, Negril, Jamaica. Shot by Chaoleonard, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license

Jamaicans need to be more aware of climate change

Jamaica Information Service: Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, has emphasised the need to increase climate change awareness among Jamaicans, noting that the issue is “everybody’s business. ”

Mr. Pickersgill said tackling the effects of climate change on Jamaica will require a communal approach, “as we will all be affected. ” The Minister was speaking at the launch of a special video feature entitled: ‘Climate Change and its Impact on Jamaican Farmers’, held at the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ),  in Kingston, on July 31.

“(This approach) must entail co-operation, communication and consistency of effort from everyone. We cannot allow progress toward the Vision 2030 goals to be derailed by climate change related impacts,” he argued.

The Minister lamented that the impact of climate change on a small island such as Jamaica can have significant repercussions on its economic and social viability. He noted that the weather phenomenon impacts health, natural resources, infrastructure as well as access to water and food security.

“The impacts are likely to continue to greatly hinder Jamaica in its debt repayment efforts, while the economic cost of climate related impacts will continue to increase,” he noted....

Hurricane Dennis passes over Jamaica and Haiti in 2005. Image from NASA

Disaster risk reduction project in Jamaica gets $169 million

Jamaica Information Service: A total of $169.5 million has been allocated for the implementation of a Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction project, in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. With funding from the European Union, the project is being implemented by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), Environmental Management Division, and the Forestry Department.

The overall objective of the programme is to increase resilience and reduce risk associated with hazards in vulnerable areas as adaptive measures to climate change, thereby contributing to the development of Jamaica.

The money will go towards developing one database to monitor coastal ecosystems; replanting 7.04 hectares of mangroves within the three Marine Protected Areas (MPAs); establishing a coastal plants nursery at the Discovery Bay Marine Lab; preparing Management Plans for three MPAs; replanting 3,000 square metres of sea grass; installing two artificial reef systems in Negril and Old Harbour; and installing 30 Data loggers in four MPAs.

It will also be used in rehabilitating 700 square metres of beach (Negril and Font Hill); distributing grants to promote alternative livelihood in five MPAs; establishing 56 hectares of forest plantation; rehabilitation of four nurseries; assessing 20,351 of 110,000 hectares of forested crown land; river protection infrastructure to minimize erosion and flooding; and development and implementation of a fire management programme...

The beach at Negril, shot by Alphakaya, public domain

Jamaica among beneficiaries of Germany-funded climate adaptation program

Jamaica Observer: The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) and the German Financial Cooperation (KfW) have signed a programme geared towards reducing the risks of climate change on the Caribbean's coastal population.

The approximately six-year Ecosystem-Based Approaches for Climate Change Adaptation in Coastal Zones of Small Island Developing States in the Caribbean (EBACC) programme, which is slated to start later this year, will be implemented in Jamaica, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The main components of the programme are investments in sustainable improvements of coastal ecosystems, relevant for climate change adaptation, and knowledge management, project support and monitoring.

Under the first component, the programme aims to invest in measures related to protection and sustainable management, rehabilitation or substitution, and monitoring of coastal ecosystems in an effort to assist the participating countries to mitigate climate change-induced risks to livelihoods and development prospects.

The second component of the programme will assist the countries in the preparation and implementation of the local adaptation measures, monitoring of project goals and impacts, and the systematisation and dissemination of project experiences.

"These four participating countries were selected because the programme seeks to establish synergies with the Caribbean's Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR). However, mainly because of the limited financing, not all the participating Caribbean PPCR countries will be involved in EBACC, " said Dr Mark Bynoe, the centre's senior economist and head of the programme development and management….

The Jamaican coat of arms

Multi-agency climate change adaptation project in Jamaica meeting targets

The Jamaica Observer: With less than a year before its scheduled completion, activities are on track for the 30-month Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Project which got underway in October 2010.

The project is being jointly implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme, the Meteorological Office of Jamaica along with other key government agencies. It is funded by the European Union.

"The three components have all implemented approximately 70 per cent of their targeted activities for the first half of the project," said Chris Corbin of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), who are partners in the project with the Government of Jamaica and the European Union.

The $515-million project is aimed at increasing resilience and reducing risks associated with natural hazards in vulnerable areas due to climate change threats, including rising sea levels, warmer global temperatures, and more severe weather events such as hurricanes and droughts.

It is also intended to contribute to sustainable development in Jamaica. "This will be achieved through rehabilitating watersheds, improving coastal ecosystems management and building climate change capacity and awareness as articulated in Vision 2030, Jamaica's National Development Plan," according to information from UNEP's website....

A house in Kingston after 2007's Hurricane Dean, shot by Christina X, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Jamaica has made strides in disaster management

Jamaica Information Service: Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Noel Arscott, says Jamaica and the region have made strides in advancing disaster risk management and embracing comprehensive disaster management.

Speaking at the closing of the 7th Annual Caribbean Conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM), at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa in Montego Bay, on December 7, the Minister said that as policy makers and agents of the change process, “we are committed to the charge of ensuring individual and collective ownership and engagement of our political leaders to the disaster resilience agenda."

The conference was held under the theme: ‘Comprehensive Disaster Management, Building Disaster Resilience … a shared responsibility’, and saw over 400 delegates representing 50 member countries from across the Caribbean, in attendance.

“As Chairman of this conference I have had the opportunity to observe your deliberations. Your commitment in this cause is certainly not in question. Notwithstanding place, culture and representation, it is clear that you are well into the common cause of promoting safe and resilient societies.  Unquestionably, the opportunity that I have had as chairman to share and learn from you, the disaster risk reduction practitioners, will have a far-reaching impact on how I view this portfolio that I manage,” the Minister  said....

A schoolchild walks past a row of fishing boats on the beach near Alligator Pond, Jamaica. In the distance, a bauxite cargo ship sails past Pedro Bluff. Shot by Gerry Manacsa,, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Jamaica launches project to protect agricultural sector and coastal areas

Andrea Braham in the Jamaica Information Service: Jamaica is taking steps towards enhancing the resilience of its agriculture sector and coastal areas in an effort to protect the livelihood and food security of its people.

The objectives will be achieved under the Jamaica Adaptation Fund Programme, which was formally launched on Friday by Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, at the Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston.

The three-year project, which got underway last month, is being implemented through grants totaling US$9.965 million from the Adaptation Fund and has as its objective, “to protect livelihoods and food security in vulnerable communities by improving land and water management for the agricultural sector; strengthening coastal protection; and building institutional and local capacity for climate change adaptation”.

It will target groups including fisherfolk, farmers, tourism interests, including hoteliers and tour operators, and select government entities in eight parishes ‑ Westmoreland, specifically Negril; St. Thomas; St. Ann; Trelawny; St. Catherine; Clarendon, particularly the Bull Head region of the Rio Minho watershed; St. Mary; and Manchester....

Damage by Hurricane Ivan to trees lining beach at Whitehouse, Jamaica. Photo by User:Op. Deo November 20,2005: over one year later. Shot by Op. Deo at English Wikipedia, public domain

Jamaican minister lauds success of community-based climate change project

Jamaica Information Service: Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, has lauded the Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) to Climate Change Project in Jamaica for the positive impact it has had on some vulnerable communities.

The Minister was addressing the final evaluation workshop of the project on October 2 at the Courtleigh Hotel in New Kingston. Under the initiative, funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Global Environmental Facility (GEF), small grants of up to US$50,000 were provided to community-based and non-governmental organisations, to assist communities in implementing various activities to reduce their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.

Minister Pickersgill noted that the project has given Jamaica the opportunity to carry out interventions that have made a difference to the communities involved in terms of building resilience, capacity and also livelihood prospects.

He lauded the Glengoffe community, one of several rural area participants, for the commendable way that it conducted its project and the strong sense of voluntarism that emerged. "They have been able to tackle issues to improve the lives of the community and build their resilience to climate change impacts while developing new means of livelihood," the Minister said.

Under the project, the Glengoffe established soil management through contour farming, gully plugging and the use of barrier crops and reforestation with native lumber species to alleviate erosion. It allowed for participants to benefit socially and economically through farming....

Jamaica by satellite

Jamaica will create a climate change department

Jamaica Information Service: Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, has given the assurance that the proposed Climate Change Department will be fully implemented by the end of the year.

Speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (July 24) during his contribution to the 2012/13 Sectoral Debate, Mr. Pickersgill said the department will help to drive coordination and management of Jamaica’s climate change efforts.

He informed that a draft report for the establishment of the entity has been completed and submitted, with the assistance of two international consultants from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In the meantime, Mr. Pickersgill noted that the Ministry has implemented a number of initiatives and projects geared towards adaptation to climate variability and change.

Among these are the Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Project, which is funded by the European Union and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). "This project has gained significant ground in fulfilling its objectives to strengthen Jamaica’s adaptive capacity and contribute to sustainable development,” he informed.

...Additionally, he noted that the Ministry is working towards increasing the resilience of the country’s coastal eco-systems to climate change impacts through a number of activities....

Mangrove stand on the Black River in Jamaica, shot by Stufffreak, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Jamaica secures financing for climate change project

Petre Williams-Raynor in the Jamaica Observer: Jamaica is shortly to be provided with almost US$10 million from the Adaptation Fund after its proposal for a programme to help Trelawny and six other parishes deal with the impact of climate change won international approval.

The island's proposal was among 14 others and three concepts from countries across the developing world to go before the 32-member Adaptation Fund Board (AFB) at their meeting in Bonn, Germany last month.

Hopeton Peterson, manager for sustainable development and regional planning at the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), which has responsibility for the programme, said the approval was a welcome one following a rigorous application process.

...The Jamaican initiative — titled "Enhancing the Resilience of the Agriculture Sector and Coastal Areas to Protect Livelihoods and Improve Food Security — has as its objectives:

• increasing the climate resilience of the Negril coastline;
• enhancing the climate resilience of the agriculture sector by improving water and land management in select communities; and
• improving institutional and local level capacity for sustainable management of the natural resources and disaster risk reduction in the targeted vulnerable areas.

Part of the Negril coast, shot by Alphakaya, public domain

Working to cope with climate change, Jamaica calculates costs

Zadie Neufville in IPS: Jamaican authorities are aiming to transform an island that experts say faces one of the worst climate risks in the world into a nation "equipped to prepare for and respond to the negative impacts of climate change".

Vision 2030, the National Development Plan, offers strategies to simplify climate change adaptation, merging its principles with both development and local policy frameworks. Charting a course from 2010 to 2030, the plan aims for "a strong and stable economic foundation".

Extreme events have had a significant impact on Jamaica's economy, environment and people. Five major storm events between 2004 and 2008 reportedly caused 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in losses and damage.

Industries that suffer the brunt of each impact include agriculture, which reportedly employs 180,000 people; tourism, employing about 106,000; and fisheries, employing 100,000...

Climate change is the definitive challenge of the 21st century

Josef Beck, Germany's ambassador to Jamaica, in the Jamaica Observer: Climate change is the definitive challenge of the 21st century. Changes in the climate destroy the basis on which human life subsists. For instance, drought leads to shortages in food and water. Rising sea levels are already threatening the territories of small island states and vast stretches of coastland. Nobody living on a beautiful island in the Caribbean like Jamaica will be blind to that danger.

...Germany is aware of the pressing nature of this problem. We are therefore doing what we can to mitigate it effectively. Thanks to our national reduction measures, we are within the targets which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends for industrialised countries: we intend to reduce our emissions by 40 per cent by 2020 and by 80.95 per cent by 2050. We are also doing our bit to push for ambitious reduction targets within the EU.

At the highest level internationally, too, we want to create awareness that we have to act now to tackle climate change. It was under Germany's presidency that the United Nations Security Council, on July 20, unanimously acknowledged for the first time ever that climate change poses a threat to international security.

Germany is working both globally and domestically to combat climate change because we understand how serious the problem is and we are aware of our responsibility. At the same time, in-depth analysis shows that the structural transformation we have set in motion is one which will in future also serve us well economically. By switching to a low-carbon economy, we want to prove that tackling climate change is compatible with economic development. We want to support others as they pursue this path to success; going green can be an opportunity for everyone!...

Jamaica taps into Adaptation Fund

Petre Williams-Raynor in the Jamaica Observer: Jamaica recently won the endorsement of the Adaptation Fund Board (AFB) for the implementation of a programme designed to strengthen the island's capacity to deal with climate change.

The board gave the go-ahead for the programme —v Enhancing Resilience of the Agriculture Sector and Coastal Areas to Protect Livelihoods and Improve Food Security — at its 14th meeting, held in Bonn, Germany between June 21 and 22. As such, US$9.995 million has been earmarked for the programme, making Jamaica the first in the Caribbean to benefit from the fund, which was set up to finance adaptation projects in the developing world.

However, before the island can make full use of the funds, it will have to complete a full proposal on the programme, which has as its objectives:

• increasing the climate resilience of the Negril coastline;
• enhancing the climate resilience of the agriculture sector by improving water and land management in select communities; and
• improving institutional and local level capacity for sustainable management of the natural resources in disaster risk reduction in the targeted vulnerable areas.

The challenges facing small states

Everton Pryce in the Jamaica Observer: Thirty two of the Commonwealth's 53 member countries are small states, defined as countries with populations of less than 1.5 million people. They range in size from micro-states, such as St Kitts and Nevis in the Eastern Caribbean with less than 50,000 people and Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique of the Lesser Antilles in the Windward Islands of the Eastern Caribbean with a population of 110,000 inhabitants, to countries like Botswana and Gambia in Africa.

These countries, without exception, are characterised by their extreme vulnerability in the areas of security, environmental disasters, limited human resources and a lack of adequate economic capital. Despite the threat to the survival of these human-scale societies posed by unstable currencies, military-civil wars, poverty, HIV/AIDS, etc, climate change remains the single most important threat yet facing their prospects for economic development, peace and security and territorial existence.

…This profile in the extreme vulnerability of these states -- with serious implications for our own society -- means that climate change is fast becoming one of the critical international problems of the coming decades, and as such we can expect the cost to our societies of protecting vulnerable infrastructure, such as capital cities, airports, seaports and coastal roads to increase dramatically.

…Responding to the multi-faceted threats of climate change, therefore, will require small states pursuing developmental and sustainability policies that focus on the development of renewable technologies to help in shaping the transition from the fossil era to renewable energies. Especially in open trade-dependent small societies like ours, where energy price shocks tend to have a multiplier effect on the cost of living in the form of goods and services with the potential to trigger deepening political conflicts and social unrest, ways must be found to develop alternative energy sources and to effect domestic energy saving…

Map of St. Kitts and Nevis

Jamaica proceeds with Climate Change Awareness project

Chris Patterson in the Jamaica Information Service: he Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Programme has received an additional $103 million in the 2011/12 estimates, now before the House of Representatives. The programme seeks to increase resilience and reduce risks associated with natural hazards in vulnerable areas, as an adaptive measure to climate change, contributing to sustainable development in Jamaica.

It also aims to rehabilitate and improve management of selected watersheds, to reduce downstream run-off and associated pollution and health risks; restore and protect coastal ecosystem to enhance natural buffers and increase resilience; and to integrate climate change mitigation into relevant national policies and plans, and increase awareness of climate change.

This year’s activities will include, establishment of 250 hectares of forest plantation; rehabilitation of two nurseries; field assessment of 55 forested Crown Lands (Forest Estate); trail construction (30 km) and access rehabilitation (5km); establishment of 30 permanent sample plots; commencement of river protection infrastructure to minimize erosion and flooding.

Also, establishment of local forest management committees (LMFMCs); public education and awareness campaign; purchase of Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS), Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) hardware and software; purchase firefighting, seed and nursery equipment; and provision of satellite images….

Locator map of Jamaica by Rei-artur, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

J$474.58 million set for Jamaican climate change adaptation project

Jamaica Information Service: Approximately J$474.58 million has been allocated for the implementation of a Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction project. Funding has been provided through grant resources from the European Union. It will be officially launched by the Prime Minister, the Hon. Bruce Golding on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at the Office of the Prime Minister, Banquet Hall.

The project is being co-managed by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) through the Project Management Unit in the Sustainable Development and Regional Planning Division and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). Overall objectives are geared towards assisting with the adaptation of climate change and contributing to the sustainable development of Jamaica by increasing resilience of vulnerable areas and reducing risks associated with natural hazards. The project will involve watershed and coastal rehabilitation as well as climate change awareness.

According to the PIOJ, there has been an increase in storm intensity and incidence of floods and drought which has resulted in significant social dislocation and monumental economic loss and damage. In 2004 for instance, Hurricanes Ivan and Dean resulted in damage and losses totalling J$35 billion and J$23 billion respectively….

Jamaica needs a disaster budget for agriculture

Dennis Morrison in the Daily Gleaner (Jamaica): …Jamaican farmers know too well how weather patterns have become extreme in the past two decades. Between severe drought, as we experienced in 1997, and almost an entire decade-long string of disastrous flooding and hurricanes, they experienced crippling damage, as in the case of the banana industry. Hurricane threats and near misses caused major flooding in 1998, 2002, and 2005, with more direct hits in 2004, 2007 and 2008. In fact, weather-related disruptions resulted in a more than 20 per cent decline in agricultural output in the 2002-2008 period, coming after farmers lost 15 per cent of their output from the 1997 drought alone.

…Plans for the revitalisation of the agricultural sector must take into account that exaggerated weather-related disruptions are likely to occur with increasing frequency. Policy interventions cannot, therefore, be limited to financing, distribution and marketing, tax incentives, and land distribution. The problems related to extreme weather require that there be a fundamental re-examination of crop selection, zoning, farm practices, drainage and irrigation infrastructure.

Infrastructure development, however, requires long-term, patient capital, which only the public sector will provide. So this aspect of an emergency-development programme for agriculture will have to rely heavily on state resources.

…A year ago, Mr Badrul Haque, an official of the World Bank, noted that Jamaica had suffered hurricane-related losses in 2007 and 2008 of over US$1.2 billion, and remarked that it is the country most exposed to multiple hazards. Because of the severity of the global recession, interest rates of international development banks are at their lowest levels ever, and they have been provided with vastly increased loan funds. An emergency-development programme for agriculture should be at the top of the list of programmes for which financing at the current low interest rate should be sought from these institutions.

Jamaican Climate Change Centre moves to secure adaptation money

Petre William-Raynor in the Jamaica Observer: The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (5Cs) is looking to have the Caribbean be among the first to benefit from the Adaptation Fund. In March this year, the Adaptation Fund Board (AFB) finally issued the call for projects and programmes, following two years of work to get the fund up and running.

Now the 5Cs is seeking to get US$10 million from the fund in order to finance a set of projects that were developed based on work done in Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, and Belize. "The centre would be the executing agency (for the project," Ulric Trotz, science adviser to the 5Cs told Environment Watch. "We got the endorsement from the five governments and developed the proposal in a short time... But it had to go through the hierarchy of the World Bank before it got to the Adaptation Fund Board so they didn't make the deadline (following the first call for projects and programmes this year)."

…Meanwhile, the project for St Vincent and the Grenadines should see the development of a reverse osmosis plant, fully powered by wind and solar energy, to get water to the people of those islands, Trotz revealed….

Jamaica's coat of arms

Jamaican drought 'burns' farmers

Luke Douglas in the Jamaica Observer: …[C]limate change is resulting in lower yields, more diseases and more problems for farmers throughout Jamaica and the Caribbean. And the long-term outlook is no better.

"In Jamaica going up to 2050, it progressively gets warmer. It does not matter which scenario you take, it puts us as hotter, anywhere between one and five degrees by the end of the century," head of the department of physics at the University of the West Indies, and director of the Climate Change Group, Dr Michael Taylor told participants at [a recent] workshop, held at the Altamont Court Hotel in Kingston.

….It is not clear how comforting the words of Elaine Emmanuel of the Planning Institute of Jamaica would be to the farmers … eking out a living on parched lands in rural Jamaica. Emmanuel outlined aspects of Vision 2030 -- the ambitious development plan to make Jamaica the place to live, work and raise families by the year 2030 -- and the fact that efforts to tackle climate change and develop sustainable agriculture were themes deeply embedded in the document. The 21-year plan, further broken down into seven three-year "bite size" implementation pieces incorporating all Government ministries and agencies includes, among other things:
* plans to strengthen the ability to reduce hazards;
* adaptation of the agricultural sector to climate change;
* developing measures to reduce global climate change;
* undertaking research and communication to educate the public; as well as
* reforestation and promoting the use of cleaner technologies.

But despite all the plans, farmers say they are not feeling the effect of the Government action. "Mocho is an agricultural area and they send only one extension officer here. There needs to be better deployment of resources from areas which are not as dependent on agriculture to areas where it is people's main source of livelihood," Horace Fisher of the Mocho Community Development Association told Environment Watch….

Milking a cow at Denbigh Agricultural in Jamaica, shot by Ryftcode, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license