The Rural Water Supply Limited (RWSL), an agency of the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, has been making a significant impact on the lives of rural Jamaicans by providing them with access to potable water. Managing Director of the company, Audley Thompson, in noting the invaluable work done by the company over its 30-year history, says that...

After years of consultation and scientific research, the Local Management Plan for the Cockpit Country Forest Reserve was officially launched on December 11, at the Lowe River United Church Hall, in South Trelawny. Work on the document lasted from 1998 to 2006, when an agro-forestry baseline study was done, followed by a bio-physical inventory study of the area which resulted...

More than 200,000 residents across the Portmore Municipality are expected to benefit from improved sewage facilities, as work gets underway on the approximately $2.3 billion Portmore Sewage Project. The works, to be undertaken by contractors, Surrey Paving and Aggregate Company Limited, over a 45-month period, involves the decommissioning of the five existing wastewater treatment plants, which are in an advanced...

Implementers of the Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction project have hailed its success in strengthening Jamaica’s ability to withstand natural disasters in some of its most vulnerable areas. The project, funded by the European Union, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Government, at a cost of approximately €4.5 million, was implemented over a three-year period and...

The more than 1,500 residents of the Clarendon community of Pleasant Valley, are now benefiting from a state-of-the-art solar powered rainwater harvesting system, which has come about through a multi-agency partnership. Leading the effort for the project was the Clarendon Parish Development Committee (PDC) Benevolent Society, with technical support from the Clarendon Parish Council, land donation by Jamalco, co-ordinating support...

More than 1,200 residents of several communities in St. Mary now have potable water flowing from taps in their homes, following the completion of the $60 million Mile Gully/Warwick Castle water supply system. The system was commissioned into service on Thursday, November 28, by Water, Land, Environment, and Climate Change Minister, Hon. Robert Pickersgill. Tumultuous applause erupted from residents, as...

Stakeholders from across the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), over the next three days, will be engaged in a workshop aimed at arriving at a roadmap towards ratification and implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) of genetic resources, and their use. The ABS protocol, which emerged from the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), will enable increased legal...