All Stakeholders Must Be Educated About Climate Change – Pickersgill

Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, says it is critically important to educate and involve all stakeholders on the importance of climate change, and to develop and implement various plans, programmes and projects to effectively address the issue.

“It is our intention to focus on addressing this phenomenon, since it has the potential to severely disrupt and change the nature of our activities, our economy and society,” he noted.

The Minister was presenting a Lecture on Climate Change, hosted by the Climate and Energy Technology Group at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, on January 24.

The seminar was the second lecture in the series entitled, ‘Climate Energy Nexus: Call to Action Lecture Series’, and was held under the theme: ‘The Geopolitics of Climate Change and Energy Balances’.

Mr. Pickersgill noted that the universally accepted reality of climate change and the need for sustainable economic growth and improved quality of life for all Jamaicans are among the many reasons why the Government was motivated to be responsive and pro-active in creating the Ministry.

He informed that various projects were already underway in forestry and coastal resource management throughout the world, the Caribbean region and Jamaica to address the issue of climate change. Those underway in Jamaica, he said, involve the public and private sectors and national and international Environmental Non-Government Organisations (ENGOs), such as The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

Among the functions that the Climate Change Unit will perform, he informed, is to develop and co-ordinate, monitor and implement plans, programmes and projects, international treaties, protocols and conventions to which Jamaica is signatory, engage in stakeholder consultations and raising funds for project support.

“It is proposed that the work of the unit will be directed and supported by a Climate Change Advisory Committee with its membership drawn from various government agencies, the private sector, academia and non-governmental organisations,” Mr. Pickersgill said.

“It should be stated that some initiatives were already taken in 2007 to establish such a unit. However, it must now be rapidly developed in a strategic national policy and management framework,” he added.

He said that towards this end, various action plans will be urgently developed and implemented, pointing out that a number of vitally important issues will be addressed by the unit and the institutions that will be represented on the Advisory Committee.

Mr. Pickersgill informed that some of the issues to be addressed include, but not limited to, indentifying, monitoring and making recommendations on climate change adaptation projects, such as coastal resource management; the sustainability of forestry resources for production; national settlement strategy; and reforestation as a mitigative action and a sink for removing greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides from the atmosphere, through the natural services of air cleansing provided by performing vital life functions.

According to the State of Washington’s Department of Ecology, Climate Change affects more than just a change in the weather, but refers to seasonal changes over a long period of time. These climate patterns play a fundamental role in shaping natural ecosystems, and the human economies and cultures that depend on them.

Across the globe, the phenomenon has already had a severe impact on many economies even in its early but progressive stage, and has now been accepted as one of the greatest threats to the future of mankind.

Climate Change has already caused major losses of natural and manmade resources, for example, studies have shown that the 2004 hurricane season resulted in an estimated loss to Bahamas, Grenada, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic of about US$2.2 billion.

The Stern Review of 2006 on the Economics of Climate Change, published in 2006, projected that the total cost of Climate Change could be equivalent to irreversibly losing between five to 20 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Research has shown that countries in the Caribbean region are among the most vulnerable in relation to Climate Change. In 2009, Germanwatch, an NGO, analysed the vulnerabilities of 150 countries to the impacts of weather related loss events, such as hurricanes and floods. Jamaica was ranked among six Caribbean countries in the 40 most affected countries.

The Climate Change Lecture sought to examine the intersection points between energy supply and demand and climate change. Additionally, it was designed to provide insights and technical knowledge through interaction between experts and all energy stakeholders.

By Athaliah Reynolds, JIS Reporter