Locals get up to date on climate change at Denbigh

MORE THAN 300 people received information on Jamaica’s climate-change adaptation efforts when they visited the exhibit of the Adaptation Programme and Financing Mechanism (AP&FM) of the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR) at the recent annual Denbigh Agricultural Show.

“[They] saw first-hand how farmers were exploring planting more drought-friendly crops through the display of red peas production by the Central Jamaica Social Development Initiative (a beneficiary of the AP&FM financing programme),” said a release from the project.

“They also learnt more about how to effectively do rainwater harvesting and the funding mechanism under the AP&FM to help farmers and other stakeholders implement rainwater harvesting systems,” it added.

There was also much interest in the rainwater harvesting model displayed by the Water Resources Authority at the AP&FM exhibit.

“I saw the little house and the gutters, and it was really what drew me over here,” one male patron was quoted as saying.

At the end of the three-day display, staged from August 5 to 7, the exhibit – the collaborative effort of the Climate Change Division, Northern Caribbean University, the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, the Central Jamaica Social Development Initiative, and the Water Resources Authority – had surpassed its 200visitors target.

“The AP&FM’s exhibition at the Denbigh Agricultural Show was a great success,” said Dr Winsome Townsend, AP&FM project manager.

The more than US$19-million project is one of five under the PPCR being implemented in Jamaica.