THE GLEANER, THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017 • www.jamaica-gleaner.com •gleanerjamaica •D7

jamaicagleaner • FEATURE

J’cans weigh in on
new forest sector plan

PHOTO BY DAYNE BUDDO

An aerial view of the East Portland Special Fisheries Conservation Area.

THE PLAN

New project holds promise ofclimate resilience for communities
Petre Williams-Raynor
Contributing Editor

F

ROM THE restoration of coral reef,mangrove and coastal habitat within
the East Portland Fish Sanctuary tolivelihoods diversification in the PortlandBight Protected Area, several hundred
Jamaicans are to benefit from a new climateresilience-building project on the island.
The Caribbean Community
Climate Change Centre(5Cs) is implementing
the project – dubbed
Coastal Protection
for Climate Change
Adaptation inSmall Island Statesin the Caribbean – withfunding from theGerman Development
Bank, KfW.
With technical support
from the International Union for theConservation of Nature (IUCN), the projectis responsible for 11 others in the region –four of which are being implemented inJamaica.
The others are being implemented in St
Vincent, Saint Lucia and Dominica.
The Jamaica projects – all of them community based – are being run by:
n the University of the West Indies Centrefor Marine Sciences (CMS), working in the
East Portland Fish Sanctuary;n the Caribbean Coastal Area Management
Foundation (C-CAM), working in thePortland Bight Protected Area;n the Westmoreland Parish Council, working in the Negril Environmental Protection
Area; andn the Urban Development Corporation,
working in Montego Bay.

“The overall idea is that the projects willtake an ecosystem-based adaptation
approach to reducing vulnerability to climate change impacts at the community
level,” noted Leslie Walling, the national
coordinator for Jamaica, recruited by theIUCN.
“In a number of places, they will be looking at ecosystem restoration. So where you
have mangroves that have been impacted,
there will be replanting of mangroves.
But along with this is management
to ensure that where ecosystems
are restored, you have some sortof management regime inplace,” he added.

INCREASED INCOME“In conjunction with all of this,you have the additional ecosystemservices in addition to the protection
services that relate to livelihoods,”
Walling said further.
The C-CAM project, for example, is looking to see to mangrove and coastal replanting,armouring, restoration and conservation protection for 45 kilometres of coastline, together
with the implementation of a mangrove andcoastal forest awareness programme.
This is with the goal to have “1,000 fishersand workers in the fisheries sector benefit
from increased income from fishing in theareas surrounding sanctuaries”, according toproject documents.
The CMS project is, for its part, to have amanagement plan developed and implemented for the East Portland Special
Fisheries Conservation Area, together withtraining and the development of sustainable
livelihoods. It is looking specifically toenhance the community dive business“through the establishment of a partnershipwith pre-existing local dive operation”.

JAMAICANS NOW have theopportunity to weigh in on theisland’s new forest management
and conservation plan, which,among other things, is to inform
how the sector responds to thechallenge of climate change.
Over the last month, theForestry Department has hosted
a series of islandwide public
consultations directed at a variety of players from key sectors,
including agriculture andtourism.
“We want all the players togive us their feedback. There aredifferent actions that will betaken over the next 10 years,
which involves other partners
and stakeholders so we needtheir input before it is signed off
so that when we go to action,
everybody is signed off,” noted
Francine Black Richards, senior
manager for public relations andcorporate communications.

“This will provide fishers with direct
training, mentoring and support to operate acommunity-based scuba diving andsnorkelling station (and) a marketing programme implemented to increase citizen
and visitor uptake”, its project documents
revealed.
According to Walling, it is a win-win.
“Because of that additional suite of benefits, you have the opportunity for the development of people in the community to either
participate in the ecosystem restoration
process or working with to improve management of the areas in which the ecosystems are located or to create livelihood
opportunities,” he told The Gleaner fromBarbados.
Walling said there is little question of thevalue of the projects’ approach, amid thechanging climate with impacts such as
coastal erosion.
“All disasters are local so in terms ofdeveloping the measures to reduce the disaster risks or adaptation to climate change,
those have to be location specific and developed with the input of the community. It isnot a one size fits all nor a top-down
approach,” Walling noted.
He has urged community members to “beaware and be active” as the projects are
implemented in the coming weeks andmonths.
“Be aware of the initiatives that are being
implemented in your community and be
active from the point of view of ensuringthat you know how you can participate or
benefit from the project,” he said.
Each project has been provided withfunding support of US$600,000, with cofinancing — in kind and/or cash — from thebeneficiary organisations.

She was speaking with The
Gleaner from the more recent
consultation session, held inMontego Bay on Tuesday.
Work on the plan, which succeeds an earlier one done in2001 and which expired in
2010, has been financed to thetune of US$500,000 by theClimate Economic Analysis forDevelopment, Investment andResilience (CEADIR) initiativeof the United States Agency forInternational Development.
Guiding principles of theplan include:n Enhancing partnerships andencouraging authentic dialogue
and participation among all
stakeholders;n Combating climate change,“recognising the impact ofclimate change on forests andsustainable forest management and contributing to climate change adaptation andmitigation strategies”;
n Implementing sustainable for-est management, “including giving due consideration to emerging thinking on landscaperestoration”; andn Forest finance, which is about“diversifying financing mechanisms for the management
and conservation of the forestsector”.
Other principles include
increasing public education andawareness and enhancing thedecision-making capability“through investments in developing staff capability andexpanding and supporting forestresearch”.
These are in addition to:
n Ensuring the alignment toVision 2030 Jamaica, theisland’s national developmentplan;n Embracing relevant nationalplans, among them the Protected
Areas System Master Plan andNational Biological Diversity
Strategic Action Plan; andn Meeting international obligations and commitments, “ensuring the forest sector supports thecounty’s commitment to various
multilateral agreements”.
The consultations got under
way in Mavis Bank, East Rural
St Andrew, on February 9, withanother following in Portland,
and then the western resort city.
The next one will be held in
Trelawny and the final one hosted
in Kingston on March 21 –with comments accepted up toMarch 24.
Once the consultations havebeen concluded, Black Richards
said, the comments from thepublic would be incorporated
and the document submitted to
the Ministry of Economic
Growth and Job Creation, theForestry Department’s parent
ministry, for approval.
“Once the minister has
approved it, then we can proceed
to implementation,” she noted.
pwr.gleaner@gmail.com

Tuesday’s public consultation held in Montego Bay.

pwr.gleaner@gmail.com

Seamless info flow key toJapan’s disaster management
Amitabh Sharma
Contributor

PHOTO BY AMITABH SHARMAThe Japan Meteorological Agency headquarters in Tokyo
is the heart and soul of its disaster management.

TOKYO, Japan:
WITH GIGANTIC monitors displaying
data, together with a battery of analysts todecipher statistics, the weather monitoring
rooms at the Japan Meteorological Agency(JMA) appears to take a cue from the deckof Starship Enterprise.
An alarm goes off and there is a hush in
the room, as personnel take ‘battle alert’positions. An earthquake was detected in theseas north of the country. In a matter ofminutes, the location, intensity, and all
related data appear on the screen; this one
was 2.4 on the Richter scale.
Beyond the realms of this seemingly science fictional fantasy, the agency’s 5,200
staff closely monitor weather conditions,from precipitation in the air to movement of
the tectonic plates and volcanic activity.
The critical element in effective disaster
preparedness and management is the gettingof real-time warning and information to theend user: the people and communities at risk.
The agency has close to 1,600 seismometers and nearly 4,400 seismic intensity
metres installed across Japan, which monitor seismic activity and earthquakes.

MORE DETAILED
Shinji Watanabe, chief technical officer atOffice of Observation System Operation, saidinformation on seismic intensity is relayed
within 90 seconds of any earthquake striking,
Tsunami warning, Watanabe added, ismore detailed.
“We give periodic details like estimatedtime when the tsunami can hit (and) the projected height of the waves,” he informed.
The agency also monitors activities of 110
active volcanoes and issues periodic bulletins. JMA disseminates daily and weekly
weather forecasts and shares early warningand severe weather information with aviation authorities and maritime interests.

According to the chief technical officer,
information dissemination to the media andcitizens has been given priority in JMA’smission statement.
To get information across real time, there
is a direct link to all major television stations in Japan.
In the event of a major natural disaster, aticker at the bottom of the television screen
will be activated. The state-run NHK television interrupts its broadcast to make theannouncement.
Effective reaction to the information by
the citizens, though, goes beyond the news
flash; it boils down to the mindset, education and training for disaster preparedness,
which is a long-term and continuousprocess.
Treading that road, Watanabe said,
requires collective effort and cooperation at
all levels.
amitabh.sharma@hotmail.com