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