Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. J.C. Hutchinson, says the Government is committed to supporting farmers in the event a hurricane should hit Jamaica. In an interview with JIS News, Mr. Hutchinson said the Government would assist farmers if they suffer any loss of crops or livestock due to a hurricane. “We’ve always...

Nine of the 13 persons who will constitute the Board of the Government’s proposed Global Centre for Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management, have been confirmed. They include: University of the West Indies (UWI) Vice Chancellor, Sir Hilary Beckles, and Jamaica National Group Chief Executive Officer, Earl Jarrett, who will be the Caribbean representatives. This was announced by Tourism Minister, Hon....

Custos of St. Catherine, Hon. Reverend Jeffrey McKenzie, has awarded bursaries of $550,000 to 24 top Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) students from the parish, with each receiving $25,000. Speaking at a presentation ceremony, held on September 12, at the Phillippo Baptist Church, in Spanish Town, the Custos praised the efforts of parents and teachers in helping the students to...

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says development of the proposed Global Centre for Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management in Jamaica is imperative in light of the sector’s vulnerability to man-made and natural disasters and exogenous shocks. These, he said, include climate change, epidemics, pandemics, cybercrime, political instability and terrorism. “The ultimate goal of the resilience and crisis management...

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is calling for Jamaicans to join its Adopt a Beach programme and get directly involved in cleaning the island’s coastlines. Speaking at a recent JIS Think Tank, Public Relations Officer at NEPA, Ollyvia Anderson, said that since the launch of the programme in 2016, several organisations have registered “but the challenge is that...

The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, has opened a new Faculty of Engineering, with the hope of training more professionals to satisfy the growing demand of Jamaica’s booming construction and industrial sectors. The new faculty was launched on September 12 at the Mona’s Visitors’ Lodge in St. Andrew. Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Dr. Paul Aiken, said the university...

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has called on leaders in the tourism sector to embrace the move toward disaster resilience management. Speaking at the Global Tourism Resilience Summit of the Americas this morning (Thursday, September 13) at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona, Prime Minister Holness noted that building resilience in the tourism sector is crucial to sustainable development....