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home » JIS News » Budget 2015/2016

$58 Million Set Aside to Boost Sustainability of Protected Areas

Budget 2015/2016
March 4, 2015
Written by: Chris Patterson

Story Highlights

  • The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is set to receive over $58 million to boost the operational and financial sustainability of Jamaica’s system of protected areas.
  • The objectives of the project, which commenced in July 2010, are to: strengthen financial planning and revenue generation; increase the effectiveness of Protected Area Management; and rationalise and integrate the national protected area system.
  • As contained in the 2015/16 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives, the project is being jointly funded by the Government of Jamaica and the United Nations Development Fund, and is spearheaded by the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change.

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is set to receive over $58 million to boost the operational and financial sustainability of Jamaica’s system of protected areas.

As contained in the 2015/16 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives, the project is being jointly funded by the Government of Jamaica and the United Nations Development Fund, and is spearheaded by the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change.

The objectives of the project, which commenced in July 2010, are to: strengthen financial planning and revenue generation; increase the effectiveness of Protected Area Management; and rationalise and integrate the national protected area system.

The allocation for the new fiscal year will go towards finalising and disseminating business plans for five Protected Areas (PAs) and provide recommendations for sustainable financing; completing review of co-management contracts and disseminate the findings; and completing the management plan and Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) scorecard for the Discovery Bay Fishery Conservation area; and compiling Marine Spatial Planning for Pedro Cays.

The project has so far seen the installation of mooring buoys in the Negril Marine Park (NMP); development of educational materials for use in building Marine Protected Area and NMP’s; installation of 32 signs/labels in the Mason River PA; developing framework for structure of the National Protected Areas Trust Fund; designing of Public Awareness strategy for decision-makers (e.g. Judiciary); and preparing a draft user fee framework.

It has also seen the designing of project posters and billboards; completion of international and regional benchmark study on similar and/or related projects to include review of similar bilateral & multilateral programmes being simultaneously implemented; and the implementation of Projects Small Grants Initiative in five Protected Areas – Negril Marine Park, Blue & John Crow Mountains National Park, Mason River Protected Area, Hellshire Hills & Goat Islands, Gourie, & Clydesdale/Cinchona Forest Reserves.

 

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