On January 30, 2017, eighteen civil society organisations in Jamaica received a combined total of $85 million to implement climate change adaptation and resilience-building projects in communities across the island.
The grant funds were provided under the Special Climate Change Adaptation Fund (SCCAF), which is supported by the Adaptation Programme and Financing Mechanisms project of the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience.
The beneficiary groups — the first under the SCCAF grant facility — each received up to $5 million and will undertake projects focusing on soil conservation, climate smart agriculture and tourism, water management, disaster preparedness and climate smart construction.
They are administered by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ). In addition to climate adaptation work, the EFJ supports ecological restroation. An example is the restoration of Jamaican Iguanas.
Declared extinct in 1940, the Jamaican Iguana (Cyclura collei) was rediscovered in 1990 and remains on the Critically Endangered Species List. It’s been called the “rarest lizard in the world”. With EFJ’s help, more than 130 iguanas have been successfully released into local habitats (bred in zoos from eggs collected in the wild).
Jamaican Iguana photo courtesy of the Hope Zoo.