The Government is to complete a Regulatory Impact Assessment and National Strategy and Action Plan for integrated waste management for Jamaica, in the upcoming financial year. This is to be carried out under the Plastic Waste Minimisation Project, which seeks to enhance the capacity of the country to carry out integrated waste management and strengthen the policy and legislative framework...

Establishment of the gene bank for the rehabilitation of the Negril Great Morass in Westmoreland is to be completed during the upcoming financial year. Setting up of the gene bank, which is a type of biorepository that preserves genetic material, is being carried out under the Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (IWEco) project,...

Business operators are being reminded to make all the necessary provisions during the transitionary six-month grace period to become compliant before the third phase of the plastic ban is fully implemented. “The Government decided to allow a six-month transition period before fully effecting enforcement of the third phase of the plastic ban. We want to remind businesses of this, as...

Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change, Pearnel Charles Jr. is calling for positive behaviour change towards plastic pollution as the Government gears up to implement the third phase of the ban on single-use plastics come June 2021. Speaking to JIS News, he said: “The issue of plastic pollution brings to the fore the importance of protecting and...

The Government will continue work during the 2021/22 fiscal year to further enhance the resilience of Jamaica’s agricultural sector and coastal areas. Some $400 million has been earmarked in the 2021/22 Estimates of Expenditure for the initiative, now before the House of Representatives. The project, which commenced in October 2012, focuses on protecting livelihoods and food security in vulnerable communities...

Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., is encouraging youth to innovate eco-friendly solutions, in light of the pending implementation of the third phase of the plastic ban. “This is not an end to life as we know it, but a call, particularly to our youth, to innovate and create viable business models and...

Progress is being made in wetland forest (mangrove) restoration locally, says University of the West Indies (UWI) Marine Biologist, Dr. Camilo Trench. Citing a 2013 report published by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), which stated that Jamaica had lost more than 2,000 hectares of mangroves between 1989 and 2010, Dr. Trench said that collaborative efforts have led to...