Main Picture: 3dman_eu on Pixabay. CCO.
A consortium headed by CAD is collaborating with the Jamaican government to foster climate change awareness among leaders and policymakers in the Caribbean country.
The overall aim of this consultancy is to increase Policy Makers’ and Government Ministries’ awareness of the potential impacts of climate change and of action and strategies towards increased climate resilience in order to build capacity for climate change mainstreaming into development planning.
More specifically, this assignment will develop a Climate Change Awareness Programme for Policy Makers and Government Ministries.
The core of the programme is the delivery of workshops and seminars at national and local government levels, including an element focusing the engagement with civil society. At the outset of the assignment, the development of a needs and gaps analysis will contribute to elaborate a tailored programme for different target groups. This study is based on stakeholder consultations and desk research.
The experiences of other countries in implementing climate change awareness programmes will be assessed with respect to their suitability for replication and adaption to the Jamaican context and target audiences. Based on the results of these activities, communication strategies, tools, and relevant technical information to generate long-term behavioural change will be developed and provided in the workshops. This will be done in the form of various printed and electronic training materials such as climate change information kits, orientation packages, and media and visibility materials.
The Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation in Jamaica has contracted CAD, together with Water, Environment and Business for Development (WE&B) and Smith Warner International (SWI) to accomplish this assignment. The project takes place in the frame of the Adaptation Programme and Financing Mechanism for the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience Jamaica.
The need for national adaptation strategies
Jamaica is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, visible in the increases in extreme rainfall, in drought events, in the sea level increases, the intense storms, and the ambient temperatures.
The Planning Institute of Jamaica has reported in 2011 that by 2050 the rainy season is expected to be shorter (about 7-8%). However, this is expected to go along with an increased frequency of intense rainfall and of powerful hurricanes.
The impacts of climate change will affect almost all sectors, such as water resources, agriculture, health, coastal resources and human settlements, and tourism.
Despite not being a major emitter, the country is aware of its growing emissions. Therefore, Jamaica is implementing mitigation actions, aiming at reducing emissions as well as costs of the impacts of climate change.
However, the lack of awareness of the potential impacts of climate change as well as resilience measures imposes significant barriers to adaptation in the country.
Increasing awareness of the causes and impacts of climate change and building capacity for climate change mainstreaming into development planning is therefore key to tackle the challenges all sectors of Jamaica’s economy.
This assignment takes up this task and is thus an important opportunity to overcome the aforementioned constraints. It provides the pragmatic framework for awareness raising and capacity building adapted to the Jamaican context.
