Community-Based Adaptation: Jamaica

As a small island developing state in the Caribbean, Jamaica faces significant climate change impacts, including:

  • Increasingly intense hurricanes
  • Sea-level rise, coastal erosion
  • Saline intrusion into soils and aquifers
  • Declining average precipitation
  • Increasingly erratic and intense rainfall

These impacts pose serious risks to community livelihoods, key socio-economic sectors, and ecosystems.

Community-Based Adaptation activities in Jamaica will support adaptation both in coastal regions and in the agricultural sector, focusing on improved natural resource management practices to maintain coastal and agricultural land resources and protect biodiversity while safeguarding communities and livelihoods in the face of climate change impacts. The overall portfolio for CBA Jamaica will be guided by the Jamaica CBA Country Programme Strategy.

All CBA projects involve non-governmental organizations (NGO) at the local and national levels. In addition, the UN Volunteers is a project partner in seven (7) out of the ten (10) CBA countries: Bolivia, Guatemala, Jamaica, Morocco, Niger, Namibia, and Samoa. In addition to the Adaptation & Volunteerism Specialist overseeing the seven (7) countries, a national UNV officer in Jamaica is fully dedicated to the CBA projects at the local level. The partnership began in June 2009.

The CBA Jamaica portfolio includes a total of six (6) projects:

1. Land & Preservation Measures to Combat Climate Change Pressures in Martha Brae Watershed

2. Increasing Community Adaptation and Ecosystem Resilience to Climate Change in Portland Bight

3. Glengoffe Climate Change Adaptation

4. Watershed Conservation Programme for Awareness and Action in the Rio Grande Watershed

5. Reducing Climate Change-Driven Erosion and Landslide Risk through Sustainable Agriculture

6. "Tell It": Disseminating Caribbean Climate Change Science and Stories

* Jamaica is one of ten (10) countries implementing projects as part of the "Community-Based Adaptation" programme. *

Level of Intervention: 
Community
National
Global
Implementing Agencies & Partnering Organizations: 
UNDP
GEF
The GEF Small Grants Programme
UN Volunteers
Funding Source: 
GEF-SPA
Financing Amount: 
$245,965 (approximate, as detailed Aug. 2012)
Co-Financing Total: 
$44,606 (approximate, as detailed Aug. 2012)