Jamaica Strengthens Climate Action

#Jamaica, May 12, 2022 – Jamaica has updated its Climate Change and Emissions Policy frameworks to effectively respond to climate change impacts and support transformative action to ensure environmentally sound management of emissions.

The revised frameworks, which define Jamaica’s goals, strategies and key activities/measures for implementation, were approved by Cabinet as Green Papers in February 2021.

Since then, the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, through its Environmental and Risk Management Branch, has engaged with the public on the contents, while refining the documents.

Minister Without Portfolio in the Ministry, with responsibility for the environment, climate change, water and the blue and green economies, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, said the public engagement has allowed the Ministry to “benefit from significant input from several stakeholders, including youth representatives, environmental practitioners, transport and energy experts”.

Speaking at a virtual townhall on the documents recently, he explained that the 2015 Climate Change Policy Framework was revised and updated to reflect a greater focus on climate change mitigation and action and align with the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Jamaica’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“The updated framework speaks, specifically, to addressing the detrimental effects of climate change,” he noted.

The Climate Change Policy Framework, at the time of its development seven years ago, focussed on the establishment of a sustainable institutional mechanism to coordinate climate action in Jamaica.

Chief among its objectives was the mainstreaming of climate change considerations into national policies and development planning and to build the country’s capacity to implement climate change adaptation and mitigation activities.

Since then, several developments have taken place that have necessitated updates to the policy.

The primary change is the fact that Jamaica became a signatory to and ratified the Paris Agreement in 2017, which has strengthened global climate action.

The 2015 Agreement sets out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below two degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

A central aim of the Agreement is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change as well as the ability of countries to deal with the impacts.

Acting Senior Director of the Environmental Risk Management Branch at the Ministry, Nicole O’Reggio, said that the updated Climate Change Policy Framework places greater focus on mitigation, research, data collection and technology transfer needs.

She noted that the revised policy has three goals – to strengthen Jamaica’s adaptive capacity and resilience to reduce its vulnerability to climate change; pursue low carbon development and enhance access to and mobilisation of climate finance; and third, to promote public education and awareness relating to research and technology transfer towards climate action.

She said there is also an objective of “improving the governance framework for climate action and ensuring transparency and accountability”.

Meanwhile, the Emissions Policy Framework puts forward several objectives, strategies, and actions to improve the mechanisms that govern air quality management.

Manager of the Air Quality Branch of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), Shannen Sacra, noted that the policy provides directives on how the State will approach its responsibilities, to ensure that the management of emissions is environmentally sound.

“[This includes] a monitoring, reporting and evaluation framework, which identifies roles and responsibilities for the coordinated execution of the policy,” she said.

“Also, we want to say that we are going to focus on outdoor air pollution as opposed to air pollution within households,” she continued.

Ms. Suckra said this will include addressing the management of emissions from industrial processes such as power generation; land, air and sea transportation; waste disposal and treatment; land use and biomass; burning of agricultural by-products; and residential and commercial sources.

Additionally, she said the Ministry will seek to develop and implement an Air Shed Management Plan and increase public education about air quality issues to facilitate participation in the protection of health and the built environment.

“We want to provide and make available, data and information on emissions of air pollutants, including the annual ambient air-quality reports. So, we want the public to be armed with the requisite information so that they can actively participate in the decision-making process,” she noted.

Additional air-quality regulations can be found under the Natural Resources Conservation Authority Act, Public Health Nuisance Regulations, the Clean Air Act, Country Fires Act, and the Road Traffic Act.

The updated frameworks are available for viewing on the Ministry’s website at www.megjc.gov.jm/policies/.

Contact: Chanel Spence

Release: JIS