Announced national spatial plan gets mixed stakeholder response
NEWS OF a national spatial plan (NSP) that takes account of climate change and which has been some time in coming has been greeted with mixed views from civil society and academia.
“The NSP is very important and it would be great if Jamaica could develop a good one which effectively takes into consideration and addresses the expected impacts of climate change on our small island,” said Suzanne Stanley, chief executive officer for the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET).
“However, JET is concerned about how long it has taken us as a nation to get to this point. It is our understanding that Jamaica’s last national plan ended over two decades ago, and stakeholders have been speaking about the development of a new plan for over a decade. During this period, Jamaica has been effectively operating without an organised approach to development, which is evidenced by several poor planning decisions and the observable deterioration of our natural environment,” she added.
AP&FM FUNDING
Thanks to funding to the tune of US$872,000 from the Adaptation Programme and Financing Mechanism (AP&FM) of the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR), this is expected to be a thing of the past. Government has inked the deal for seven technical papers, to be completed over 14 months, to inform the plan that has been in the works since 2009.
Audrey Sewell, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, explained that the project to develop a NSP was originally established through a grant agreement between the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Government of Jamaica, and scheduled to be implemented between November 2010 and May 2012.
“However, due to various constraints in terms of both the CDB and GOJ funding, the Government revamped its approach to the financing of this critical initiative, with the aim of obtaining a workable output within the shortest possible time,” she explained Tuesday.
“The Planning Institute of Jamaica and the ministry saw the opportunity to include the NSP in the Adaptation Programme and Financing Mechanism project, which is being funded by the Climate Investment Fund through the Inter-American Development Bank. It fits very well within this project, which seeks to strengthen the resilience of the island through a range of climate change adaptation initiatives,” Sewell added.