Jamaica has received World Bank grant funding of $6.8 million (US) to be used for improving the quality and use of climate-related information, which will inform effective development planning and action at the local and national levels in order to reduce the impact of natural disasters.
“Specific technical assistance will be provided under this grant for climate-resilience planning and for public information dissemination and awareness building on the part of appropriate agencies of the Government of Jamaica. And, of course, there is provision for project preparation and project-management capabilities in the Government of Jamaica,” Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips explained. “This will be of tremendous benefit to our farmers, planners, residents in flood-prone areas; people in industries like tourism; our security services; our health facilities, etc. It will be of tremendous benefit to the whole country.”
Galina Sotirova, the World Bank‘s country manager for Jamaica, described the project as the first building block to putting Jamaica firmly on the path to significantly improving its overall climate-resilience development strategy.