Programme to Enhance Climate Change Resilience Gets $6.9 Million

A programme to increase Jamaica’s resilience to climate change through enhancing adaptive capacity across priority sectors has been given a budgetary allocation of $6.9 million.

Details of the ‘Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience II (PPCRII) – Adaptation Programme and Financing Mechanism’ are contained in the 2024/25 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives.

The programme began in 2015 and is slated to end in May 2024.

There have been several physical achievements up to December 2023.

Under Component One (mainstreaming climate change adaptation measures), the programme has attained the completion of crop resilience/sustainability modelling activities, the completion of the sediment budget monitoring programme in the Upper Rio Minho Watershed area, and the training of 30 government climate-change focal points in leading and coordinating the mainstreaming of climate change.

This is in addition to the completion of seven technical papers to support the development of the National Spatial Plan, the completion of a climate-change awareness programme for policymakers and government ministries, the completion of the construction of 1,880 micro check dams to reduce flow of flood waters on slopes and water ways (drains) in the upper Rio Minho Watershed Area, among other things.

Under Component Two (financing mechanisms), 290 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) have benefited from the Climate Change Adaptation Line of Credit (CCALoC) to support climate-smart business initiatives, and 127 non-governmental organisations (NGOs)/community-based organisations (CBOs) have benefited from grant funding through the Special Climate Change Adaptation Fund (SCCAF) to implement climate-smart activities.

Under Component Three (knowledge management), the PCR Jamaica webpage was developed, vulnerability assessment workshops were conducted in four communities in the Upper Rio Minho Sub Watershed Areas, and a communication strategy was developed.

For fiscal year 2024/25, the programme expects to conduct final evaluation, ex-post economic analysis and final audit as well as to execute project close-out activities.

The programme is being implemented by the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, with co-funding from the Government of Jamaica and the Inter-American Development Bank.