THE GLEANER, THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2017 • www.jamaica-gleaner.com •C8gleanerjamaica •jamaicagleaner • FEATURE

New leadership at EFJ as
entity begins new chapter
Petre Williams-Raynor
Contributing Editor

A

CCOUNTANTBARRINGTON Lewis
and environmental
professional Allison Rangolan
McFarlane have assumed
leadership of the Environmental
Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) as
chief executive officer and chief
technical director, respectively.
The appointments cement theturning of a new leaf on theoperations of the EFJ, which has
been merged with the Jamaica
Protected Areas Trust/ForestConservation Fund (JPAT/FCF).
The appointment of the duo
follows a number of newboard member
appointments for the entity
last year. The board is ledby Professor Dale Webber– Pro Vice Chancellor for
Graduate Studies at theUniversity of the West
Indies (UWI), who hasa stellar

reputation in the field of coastal
ecology and environmental
management.
“It is a wonderful opportunity,”
Lewis told The Gleaner. “It issomething that when I started I
didn’t necessarily envision
myself doing.
“But having been in theoffice, working in theenvironmental field for the lastnine years, it has been arewarding experience. It hasgiven me a new focus. I am very
happy and looking forward tothe challenge,” he added.
The holder of abachelor’s degreein accounting
and economics
and a master’sin accounting,
Lewis — acertifiedchartered andpublicaccountant —joined the EFJ

Barrington Lewis

team as finance manager,
following on his service as
manager of the Office of the
Guild of Students at the UWI.
McFarlane is herself eager forwhat the next chapter of the EFJ
will bring.

ALWAYS BEEN INVOLVED“Historically, we have always
been involved in grant-making
and have already started to rolethat out again — both with thepool of funds we have in handand working with the Ministry(of Economic Growth and JobCreation) in terms of the Special
Climate Change Adaptation
Fund,” remarked the former
executive director of theJPAT/FCF, where she started in2009.
The EFJ recently put out twocalls for proposals from among
civil society and has, since
inception, approved close to
1,200 projects valued at morethan J$2,162.72 million.
“We will continue to work toensure that there are additional
funds available for our grantees
and members to continue todevelop and implement theirprogrammes. We plan tomake it bigger andbetter,” said
McFarlane, theholder of a bachelor’s
degree in zoology and amaster’s in coastal zone
management and marine
biology.

The EFJ has its genesis in two
debt swaps between thegovernments of Jamaica and theUnited States, valued at justover US$21 million, and with afocus on conservation and childdevelopment locally.
“The last of the two ended in2012. Thereafter, there was nofunding source and it wasthought that the EFJ would
operate as a sinking fund and it
would have been wound up after
the last pool of funds in 2012,”
explained Lewis.
“However, the board took adecision that based on the goodwork we have been doing, weshould look at extending the lifeof the organisation, and soseveral options were pursued,”
he added.
One of those options was theamalgamation of the EFJ with
JPAT/FCF, which itself wasborn of a debt swap — this one
involving not only thegovernments of Jamaica and theUS, but also The Nature
Conservancy.
“The debt swap for the FCF
was being administered by theJPAT. That will run until 2024
and so there is a guaranteed
pool of funding that will comein for at least the next sevenyears,” Lewis said.
“But being proactive now, weare going after other sources offunds. When the 2024 pool offunds would have come to end,
the organisation will need toPHOTO BY TERRY-ANN MILLER

Allison Rangolan McFarlane
have something in place to takeover,” he added.
In addition to fundraising anda new set of programmatic
activities, the EFJ is also
looking to ramp up its public
relations, with social-media

activist and independent blogger
Emma Lewis — herself amember of the new board —heading up their new public
relations committee.
pwr.gleaner@gmail.com

Japan tsunami unites a community
Amitabh Sharma
Contributor

HIGASHIMATSUSHIMA, Japan:
THE MARCH 11, 2011 tsunami inJapan left in its wake a trail of deathand destruction, but it also united acommunity.
“The wall of water was 10.5 metreshigh and it surged, leaving the city
inundated,” recalled Shuya Takahashi,
director of revival policy at theRevival Planning Division of theHigashimatsushima city office.
“It was eight community-basedorganisations that came together. We
did not wait for any external help.
Self-help was the best approach and
we immediately sprang into action,”
noted Takahashi, who, like manyothers in this coastal city, went on theroad, wading through debris, silt,
receding water, and collapsed
structures to help fellow citizens.
With 65 per cent of the urban area
submerged, it was not an easy task.
People had to forget their personal
challenges and trauma to be at groundzero.
Takahashi’s daughter died in thisdisaster.
“She was a university student,” hesaid.
“She was trying to help an elderly
person when she got swept away by
the tsunami waters,” Takahashi
added, the sadness over his loss
evident in his eyes.

Mitumasa Otsuka, manager of the Higashimatshushima stockpile warehouse.

COMPLEX SITUATION
It was a complex situation,according to the city official, as
nothing of this scale had happened inanyone’s living memory.
Efforts to rehabilitate and rebuild
later took priority as communitymembers collaborated to share ideason the best way forward.
“We held a series of consultations
with various groups, senior citizens,
city officials and even schoolchildren
to give their recommendations on thereconstruction processes,” he said.
Efficiency of the processes wasbacked by the local and the central
governments, which passed a

Only the bell and some statues from this Buddhist temple in Higashimatsushima survived the surge ofthe tsunami, which killed thousands of the city’s population.

“The supplies are checked regularly
for their usability and the perishable
goods are replaced every two years.
The ones nearing expiry date are
distributed during public festival andevents,” he noted.
Near the Higashimatsushima town
coastline a canal flows, the ripples ofwater on the surface are calming, buton that fateful March day, the tsunami
broke the banks and gushed inwards.
Like a domino effect, the wall ofwater destroyed homes, shops and publicbuildings along its path and scores werecaught and swept away in the deluge.
Today, a new township ofHigashimatsushima — a smart eco
town — is taking shape on the hills,
way above the 9-metre surge of thetsunami waters, with a hope andprayer that the future generations will
be safe, should another disaster strike.
amitabh.sharma@hotmail.com

legislation to add 2.5 per cent tax to aid
in the reconstruction and rehabilitation.
The legislation took one year to pass.
Since then, a stockpile warehousehas been built, accommodating fromcanned food to solar-powered lamps,
portable toilets made of cardboard,and appliances.

“These supplies can sustain 4,000
people for three days,” informed
Mitumasa Otsuka, who has
responsibility for the warehouse.

>> Read Earth Today next week
for more on the emerging
ecotown of Higashimatsushima.