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Climate Change Government News

Climate Change Dust Bowl – Portmore Residents Angry As Proposed Park Is Left Hanging And Dangerously Dry

March 28, 2016
Claudette Sinclair-Mullings vents to our news team over the stalled Climate Change Park.

Instead of the tranquillity that was expected from a highly publicised Climate Change Park that was to be created in Portmore, St Catherine, residents are facing a major nuisance from what is now nothing more than a ‘dust bowl’.

Last week, residents of the Portmore community of Passagefort told The Sunday Gleaner that the 15-acre lot, which should have been a symbol of Jamaica’s commitment to tackling the problem of climate change, is instead a challenge to their health and finances.

“When we heard of the Climate Change Park, without seeing a plan, we said that was a good idea to have something constructed over there and don’t just allow the place to be going to waste like that,” said Gilroy Williams, a 76-year-old resident of Passagefort.

But with not much update on the planned project and after years of dealing with the dust pollution from the large lot, Williams, a retired police superintendent, said he and his wife are contemplating selling their house and moving, like several of their former neighbours who have left the community to escape the dust.

“It makes me feel miserable when you see the amount of dust that accumulates in our homes, and we are right in the centre of it, so you can image the problems that we are going through here,” said Williams.

“It makes you sick. It destroys your furniture and it gives the mistress and other people who live here extra work to clean and sweep on a regular basis. Even now the house needs painting, but there is no point in painting today and tomorrow it is going to return to a worse condition,” added Williams, who said both he and his wife suffer from sinusitis.

Residents said they have pleaded for help from the member of parliament for the area, Colin Fagan, acting Mayor of Portmore Leon Thomas, and the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) without success.

According to the residents, when they decided they were going to protest publicly, a pledge was made to truck water to the park to keep down the dust, and this was done at least three times weekly, but they have not seen the truck again since the start of this year.

Admitted To The Hospital

“We can’t live in this any longer. We are fed up of this,” said Claudette Sinclair-Mullings, who told The Sunday Gleaner that she was admitted to the hospital in 2014 because doctors found that her lungs were infected.

This diagnosis came after months of visiting the doctor and purchasing medications to deal with her medical challenges, which she blames on her exposure to the dust.

Her neighbour Garfield Rhoden was equally upset. He said the huge lot had been a swamp when most of them moved to the area in the 1970s, but then it was drained and the lot has since become an area for various activities, including concerts.

“The whole thing stinks. This is the town centre for Portmore and look at it. It’s a disgrace. It’s better they had let the swamp stay because that is a part of the ecosystem,” said Rhoden.

“They said they were going to plant trees and it was stupid, because the tree that they planted is not the type of tree for the area,” he chided.

The proposed Climate Change Park is to be created by the Portmore Municipal Council in partnership with the German city of Hagen under a Municipal Climate Partnership Programme.

It was touted as a poster child for climate change based on plans for the site, with a scheduled completion date of 2017.

The park is to be built across from the Portmore Mall, and is expected to feature solar and wind energy, rainwater harvesting, jogging trail, water fountain, park benches and a waste-water treatment plant, among other things. Germany had promised to allocate €250,000 to the project.

Although the two cities were linked in 2012 under former Portmore Mayor George Lee, who died while in office, details about the development only came to national prominence in May 2014 when the Climate Change Park was designated the National Labour Day project for the year.

Several ministers of government, then German Ambassador to Jamaica Josef Beck, representatives of corporate Jamaica, and residents of Portmore used the Labour Day to plant trees and beautify the area.

Missing Trees

More than 100 blue mahoe, lignum vitae, mahogany and poui trees were planted along the area’s periphery.

But when our news team visited the site last Tuesday, most of these trees were nowhere to be seen and several of those that have survived are in dire need of water.

The parched, unfenced lot is being used as a shortcut by several residents making their way to the nearby commercial district, despite a ‘No Trespassing’ sign erected by the UDC. A few tyres, two rusty football goalposts, plastic bottles and other debris were seen discarded in the area.

According to the residents, they have grown weary of the groundbreaking ceremonies hosted on the large property, as several proposals have been voiced for the transformation of the space, with none coming to fruition.

In 2003, for example, they watched as ground was broken for the Jamaica Football Federation Academy, but those plans were later shelved.

Then there was plan for a transport hub, which was publicly announced by different officials in the transport ministry, including former Transport Minister Dr Omar Davies.

When contacted last week, the acting mayor for the municipality said the land is being watered at least once per week. Thomas blamed the death of some of the trees on the poor quality of the soil on the lot.

He said the 15-acre property is to serve three purposes. Other than the proposed plans for a Climate Change Park and a transportation hub, the council also intends to build a monument dedicated to the Spaniards.

Thomas declined to say how much the Germans have already contributed to the facility, saying that could not be revealed until after the next meeting with representatives from Hagen, planned for this week. He argued that there was not much he could do to minimise the dust pollution.

“We have a whole heap of other open lots in Portmore where people encounter dust, because the time is dry. So there is nothing that the Portmore Municipality can do at this time,” said Thomas.

“We are hoping to get funding to do what we want to do. There is nothing that we can do to stop the dust from blowing over there because they live there years now and the dust usually blow across there. It’s nothing new,” added Thomas.

Gleaner

Climate Change Government News

Environmental migration a real possibility for island states

March 16, 2016

Screen Shot 2016-03-16 at 13.39.34

German artist Hermann Josef Hack’s World Climate Refugee Camp in Hannover displaying 600 miniature climate refugee tents. The model camp is a public art intervention that depicts the social impacts of climate change.

Scientists predict that if there is an increase in global temperature of up to 4° Celsius — which the current trajectory has us reaching by the end of this century, small island developing states (SIDS) face the threat of extinction. SIDS, with similar characteristics of tropical climates, small populations and related socio-economic and development challenges, are perhaps the most vulnerable countries to this phenomenon of global warming, primarily because of their low-lying position in relation to the sea and their limited economic ability to respond to catastrophic events.

For a small island like Jamaica, which has already begun to experience effects of climate change, using the significant beach erosion in the tourist areas of Negril and Hellshire, as well as lengthy periods of droughts as examples, a call for action cannot be overemphasised. Let’s act while we still can.

Identifying the problem

The unfortunate reality of industrialisation is that, although it has improved the lives of many, it has single-handedly resulted in a wealth of environmental catastrophes — climate change is arguably the worst.

Historically, States like the US and China, in their quest to becoming developed, have played a notorious role contributing to the destruction of the environment. Ironically, however, despite SIDS having contributed the least to global warming (accounting for less than one per cent towards GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions), they stand to be the worst affected.

Extreme weather patterns, like extended droughts and increased temperatures, are just some of the threats of climate change. Of the list, perhaps the most serious is a rise in sea levels. This will not only potentially cause ground and surface water sources to become contaminated but also affect the livelihoods of many. Sectors like tourism and agriculture, both of which are heavily relied on by many SIDS for economic growth and stability, will suffer greatly as beaches become eroded, fisheries collapse, and arable lands are destroyed. As a consequence, governments will have to contemplate strategies at domestic and regional levels to address issues of public health and job and food security.

In addition to the threat to infrastructure and economies, climate change also puts millions at risk of becoming either internally displaced or altogether stateless. That would create the real possibility of climate migration in the future. Issues surrounding statelessness and climate refugees have been widely discussed in the public domain, with many questioning the ability of the international community to cope with yet another humanitarian crisis.

Some critics believe that the overwhelming number of migrants that will result from climate change will far exceed the scale and gravity of any of the humanitarian disasters being experienced today. What’s worse, they posit that if the response of the international community to the humanitarian crisis in Syria is anything to go by, it is unlikely that attitudes towards climate-related event will be any different. For those who live amongst SIDS, this should be a matter of grave concern.

Maldives and Kiribati are two SIDS which have already researched relocating their populations to different countries due to their imminent threat of becoming submerged by rising seas. Other SIDS ought to follow suit with urgency to avoid the worst.

Solving the problem

It is prudent for States to appreciate that climate change is an economic issue just as much as it is an environmental one. Numerous developing countries, including SIDS, have traditionally concentrated their efforts on advancing development while postponing action on pertinent environmental issues. In recent years, the issue of climate change has increasingly gained recognition by the international community and has been put at the forefront of the agendas of many world leaders. Of note is the Paris Agreement arrived at in December last year, in which some 150 countries have agreed to take steps to limit global temperatures at or below 2° Celsius.

Caricom, including Jamaica, which lobbied in Paris as part of the Alliance of Small Island States, had pushed for it to be capped at 1.5° Celsius. It would therefore be now remiss of us not to follow through and implement practical steps towards achieving the target.

Traditionally, economics has influenced decision-making on a domestic and international level, and although it is justifiable to some degree, States need to divorce the practice of allowing economics alone to dictate political momentum. Environmental problems are becoming increasingly acute and nothing but short-term pain for long-term gain will bring about the kind of revolutionary change towards reducing carbon footprint and creating a greener space.

The truth is that the problems posed by climate change can no longer be ignored; they are here to stay. SIDS have the choice of mitigating the threats and adapting to the changes now, or suffering the consequences later.

While some may prefer one option over the other, particularly since adaptation over the longterm can be significantly more costly than mitigation, the Paris Agreement calls for both methods to be employed. SIDS have little option but to do both, for again, they contribute the least to the problems, but will be the ones most affected.

On a wider scale, reducing GHG emissions in line with the Paris Agreement is a target that all States should buy into as successfully ‘holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels’ is contingent on the participation of all states.

It is hoped that with the US$100 billion pledged to developing countries under the Paris Agreement, SIDS will receive greater financial assistance that facilitate promote capacity building, sustainable livelihoods, and appropriate mitigation and adaptation schemes. It is hoped, too, that countries don’t wait until it is too late to act, but move with urgency now.

Jamaica Observer

Alternative Energy Climate Change Energy Saving Government News Solar Energy

PIOJ spearheading $829.3-m climate change data management project

March 16, 2016

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Planning Institute of Jamaica Deputy Director General in charge of Sustainable Development and Social Planning Claire Bernard (left) in discussion with Evan Thompson, head of the Meteorological Service’s Weather Branch, during the launch of the Improving Climate Data and Information Management Project at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St Andrew.

JAMAICA’S efforts to strengthen resilience against climate change are being assisted through implementation of the $829.3-million (US$6.8 million) Improving Climate Data and Information Management Project (ICDIMP).

The project, which comprises phase two of the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR II), is being rolled out by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), with grant support from the World Bank through the Climate Investment Fund.

It is one of five projects under Jamaica’s Strategic Programme for Climate Resilience, and aims to improve the quality of data collected and used by public and private sector stakeholders at the local and national levels.

It involves climate resilient planning and hydromet information services development at a cost of approximately $168.3 million (US$1.38 million); a climate change public education and awareness campaign, targeting behavioural change at a cost of $88.4 million (US$725,000); and project management and evaluation to cost approximately $82.9 million (US$680,000).

One of the primary beneficiaries is the Meteorological Service of Jamaica (Met Service), which is slated to receive a new Doppler weather radar at a cost of approximately J$487.8 million (US$4 million).

The new radar, which is expected to be acquired during the 2016/17 fiscal year, will replace the existing equipment at the Met Cooper’s Hill, St Andrew, division which the agency has utilised for the past 16 years.

The support also includes renovation of the office, training of officers, as well as programmes focusing on quality assurance.

The Met Service Division, the Water Resources Authority (WRA), and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) will also benefit from a number of other provisions.

These include 26 all-weather stations; 25 automatic recording rain gauges; 14 soil moisture probes; 11 groundwater loggers; eight agrometeorological stations; and one sea level tide monitoring station.

Head of the Met Service’s Weather Branch, Evan Thompson, welcomes the initiative, describing it as “an exciting moment for us” and, by extension, “all (of) our partner agencies”.

He notes that the division is poised for increased capacity “to deliver on many of our objectives in addressing resilience to climate change”.

“By the end of this project, in a matter of just five years, we would have seen improvements in our monitoring… (and) forecasting of hydro-meteorological and agrometeorological events,” Thompson says.

“We would be contributing more effectively to hurricane predictions, flash flood forecasting, modelling of scenarios due to the impact of climate change, as well as national development through greater and more efficient access to climatological data,” he adds.

He notes that there will also be significant investment in expanding the land and marine data gathering network to ensure that data collected are properly processed and managed, so that all sectoral interests will benefit from development programmes undertaken.

Thompson anticipates that the ICDIMP will build on collaborations with agencies such as WRA and RADA in enabling farmers to benefit from increased use of technology in agri-planning, and increase the number of weather data collecting platforms over eastern Jamaica.

“The (ICDIMP) is expected to take these…projects to the next level, building on the existing platforms and taking seriously the matter of climate change, which threatens to destabilise life as we have known it,” he notes.

In expressing confidence that the ICDIMP “will be another successful project”, Thompson assures that “we are prepared to stay the course to ensure that success”.

“We are mindful of the hard work that is ahead, and we look forward to following through with this project to completion so that the even more exciting phase of reaping the benefits takes place over the next five years,” he adds.

PIOJ Director General Colin Bullock, in welcoming the ICDIMP, says there is broad, multi-sectoral stakeholder acknowledgement that “our climate must be more deliberately factored into our economic analysis and planning”.

He says natural disasters cause disruption of lives and livelihoods, with losses at between one and two per cent of Gross Domestic Product.

“Having timely and good quality data can help to improve decision-making, not only at the national level, but also at the household and community levels,” Bullock states.

In noting that the project’s primary objective is advancing Jamaica’s transformation to a climate-resilient economy and society, the director general says it is consistent with the national strategy of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, as outlined in Outcome 14 of the Vision 2030 Jamaica — National Development Plan.

“The wide scale availability of data and information through the climate information platform being developed will put easily digestible information at the fingertips of end users such as households, farmers, and the wider public, while the public education component should foster behaviour modification,” the director general notes.

Bullock says the PIOJ is committed to the project’s implementation, “and looks forward to working with (our partners) in meeting (its) development objective”.

World Bank Representative in Jamaica, Galina Sotirova, notes that climate change and its impact are “critical issues” which “disproportionately threaten” small island developing states like Jamaica.

These impacts, she points out, “are projected to get progressively more severe within a decade,” unless intervention measures are taken immediately.

Sotirova notes that climate change directly affects 60 per cent of Jamaica’s population who reside in coastal communities, rendering them “most vulnerable”.

It is for this reason, she says, that the World Bank and the Government of Jamaica agreed on a four-year Country Partnership Strategy in 2013, which identified priority areas of cooperation.

“Climate change, not surprisingly, emerged as a significant part of the conversation in the preparation period, and figures very prominently in one of the pillars of the four-year strategy, which focuses on social and climate resilience,” she states.

In pointing out that Jamaica “has always been a leader in the Caribbean,” she says the World Bank anticipates that the ICDIMP’s implementation will have a “welcome ripple effect throughout the region, as countries…are grappling and are trying to develop their strategies to secure sustainable economic growth”.

For her part, the PIOJ’s deputy director general in charge of sustainable development and social planning, Claire Bernard, describes the ICDIMP as a “multidimensional” and “potentially… transformational” project…pointing out that “there…is something in this project for everyone in Jamaica”.

Other partners in and beneficiary stakeholders of the ICDIMP include: the Ministry of Health; Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management; Climate Studies Group at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, in St Andrew; as well as the Climate Change and National Spatial Planning Management Divisions

Jamaica Observer

News

$128-b climate change bill

October 22, 2015

EXTREME weather events associated with climate change have cost the country in excess of $128 billion in damage over the decade between 2002 and 2012.

Minister of Land, Water, Environment and Climate Change Robert Pickersgill made the startling revelation at the launch of the Adaptation Programme and Financing Mechanism at the Four Seasons Hotel in New Kingston recently.

“This covers a range of damage ranging from social dislocation and loss of property and lives, to which a dollar value could not be affixed,” said Pickersgill.

The adaptation programme, which falls under the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR), and which is funded by the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) to the tune of US$7.8 million under the global Climate Investment Funds (CIF), will increase the country’s resilience to climate change by enhancing the island’s adaptive capacity across priority sectors.

He said it was common knowledge that Jamaica is among the most vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change. He noted, however, that with the relevant training, policies and national education, the phenomenon which threatens hotter temperatures, rising sea levels, longer, drier droughts and more extreme weather events, will become less of a challenge. The goal, Pickersgill said, is a Jamiaca that is climate change resilient and focused on its sustainability.

“We envision a future that is climate resilient; one where economic development and environmental sustainability are parallel outcomes, and one in which every Jamaican man, woman and child can enjoy the benefits of this,” the minister said.

“What the PPCR will provide, therefore, is an opportunity to build our capacity, and to look beyond weather and hydrological information to a focus on climate information for decision-making,” he continued.

The technical co-operation project valued at over US$19 million will include the mainstreaming of climate change adaptation in local sectorial and national plans.

IDB Country Reperesentative Therese Turner-Jones said Jamaica could access up to US$10 million as the facility allows for a concessional loan-financing window.

“The three-component programme will include mainstreaming climate change into development planning, supporting climate change resiliency efforts in the upper Rio Minho watershed area, and implementing innovative climate financing, particularly in the agribusiness and tourism sectors across island for SMES [small and medium-sized enterprises]. The lessons learned from these adaptation interventions will be disseminated throughout the island,” Turner-Jones said at the launch.

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), which is the national implementing organisation, reiterated the government’s pleasure that the island was selected among six Caribbean regional PPCR and pilot countries.

Deputy Director General Claire Bernard said the pilot programme could fulfil outcome 14 of Vision 2030, which speaks to effecting strategic objectives to addressing issues of climate change, adaptation and disaster risk production.

In terms of integrating climate change as a subject and policy objective across all ministries of government, minister Pickersgill pointed out that training for policy-makers and climate change focal points across all ministries has already begun.

Jamaica Observer

News

Countdown To COP 21: Caribbean Under Threat From New Climate Regime

October 9, 2015

With the emergence of what he calls ‘a new climate regime’, physicist Dr Michael Taylor has painted a picture of a Jamaica and Caribbean region that supports the case for an ambitious deal at the international climate talks set for Paris in December.

“The number of warm days everywhere in the Caribbean is increasing. Over the last 50 years, we have been steadily having more warm days. And we are having more warm nights. This is the kind of new regime we are entering into,” he told a workshop on the Third National Communication and Biennial Update Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge last Tuesday.

Taylor noted that what was also indicative of the new regime and would become entrenched is rainfall variability and a drying trend resulting in a reduction of seven to eight per cent in the length of the rainy season and an increase of six to eight per cent in the length of the dry season.

“When we look at the future climate for Jamaica, temperatures keep going up and, from the best case scenario to the worst case scenario, the present research suggests it’s between one and 3.6 degrees Celsius by end of century. Thirty to 98 per cent of days annually will be considered ‘hot’ by the 2090s and only two per cent ‘cool’ by the 2080s,” revealed Taylor, the head of the Climate Studies Group Mona.

At the same time, he said there would be even higher sea levels, alluding to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report (2007), which projects an increase of up to 59 centimetres by 2100.

Key Things To Know

The situation, the physicist said, is one where there are three key things to know – the first is that “our sensitivity is being exposed”.

At the same time, Taylor added, “our vulnerability is being expanded” with the “vulnerability of sectors and areas of Caribbean life, which were veiled because of their secondary linkages also emerging and at a faster pace. New vulnerable groupings are also emerging as a result of an expanded exposure to the climate threat”.

Those vulnerable groupings include flora and fauna, outdoor workers, asthma sufferers, the elderly and the young, as well as those physically challenged, in addition to cultural assets and small-business owners.

“And that will continue,” he predicted.

Ultimately, Taylor said, “our viability is being endangered” and one needs look no further than the impact of the hurricane events of the last decade”.

In 2004, for example, Hurricane Ivan cost some eight per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) while Hurricane Dean cost the island some 3.5 per cent of GDP in 2007.

“You can’t have an impact of eight per cent in GDP and a recurring impact on your economy, and your capacity to continue developing as a nation not be impacted,” Taylor cautioned.

The situation is one, he said, that warrants “urgent, decisive, inclusive and considerate” action at the national level.

The island’s climate negotiators to the United Nations are intent on such action at the international level, as efforts to eke out a favourable deal in Paris get into high gear.

Among other things, Jamaica has joined the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in calling for a limit on global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and not the two degrees currently on the table.

Steep Emission Cuts

This negotiating position is one that would require steep greenhouse gas-emission cuts from developed as well as fast-developing countries. But Jamaica and AOSIS negotiators say this is critical for the “survival of small island states”, according to a document circulated by the Climate Change Division (CCD), at a recent journalist workshop hosted by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

Jamaica also wants universal participation in the climate deal, “along with robust means of ensuring transparency of action and support”.

It wants, too, to ensure that a framework exists to deal with loss and damage.

“There are limits to the impacts that we can adapt to, so loss and damage must be included as a central element of the 2015 agreement – one that is distinct and separate from climate change as it represents irreversible and permanent damage”, the document noted.

 

The Gleaner

News

Feeling The Heat: Earth In July Was Hottest Month On Record

August 21, 2015

Earth just keeps getting hotter. July was the planet’s warmest month on record, smashing old marks, United States weather officials said.

And it’s almost a dead certain lock that this year will beat last year as the warmest year on record, they said.

July’s average temperature was 61.86 degrees Fahrenheit (16.6 Celsius), beating the previous global mark set in 1998 and 2010 by about one-seventh of a degree, according to figures released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). That’s a large margin for weather records, with previous monthly heat records broken by a 20th of a degree or less.

“It just reaffirms what we already know: that the Earth is warming,” said NOAA climate scientist Jake Crouch. “The warming is accelerating and we’re really seeing it this year.”

NOAA records go back to 1880. Separate calculations by NASA and the Japanese weather agency also found July 2015 to be a record.

The first seven months of 2015 were the hottest January-to-July span on record, according to NOAA. The seven-month average temperature of 58.43 degrees (14.7 Celsius) is 1.53 degrees warmer than the 20th-century average and a sixth of a degree warmer than the old record set in 2010.

Given that the temperatures have already been so high already – especially the oceans, which are slow to cool – NOAA climate scientist Jessica Blunden said she is “99 per cent certain” that 2015 will be the hottest on record for the globe. The oceans would have to cool dramatically to prevent it, and they are trending warmer, not cooler, she said.

 

Climate Change, El Nino

 

Crouch, Blunden and other scientists outside of the government said these temperatures are caused by a combination of man-made climate change and a strong, near-record El Nino. An El Nino is a warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean that alters weather worldwide for about a year.

The oceans drove the globe to record levels. Not only were the world’s oceans the warmest they’ve been in July, but they were 1.35 degrees warmer than the 20th-century average.

The heat hit hard in much of Europe and the Middle East. It was the hottest July on record in Austria, where records go back to 1767. Parts of France had temperatures that were on average seven degrees above normal and temperatures broke 100 in the Netherlands, which is a rarity. And an Iranian city had a heat index (the “feels like” temperature) of 165 degrees (74 Celsius), which was still not quite record.

Nine of the 10 hottest months on record have happened since 2005, according to NOAA. Twenty-two of the 25 hottest months on record have occurred after the year 2000. The other three were in 1998 and 1997.

This shows that despite what climate-change doubters say, there is no pause in warming since 1998, Blunden said.

It doesn’t matter if a month or a year is number one or number two or number five hottest on record, said University of Georgia climate scientist Marshall Shepherd.

“The records are getting attention but I worry the public will grow weary of reports of new records each month,” Shepherd said in an email. “I am more concerned about how the Earth is starting to respond to the changes and the implications for my children.”

 

The Gleaner

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