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Jamaican minister calls for urgent adaptation measures at international climate change conference

by Indi Mclymont, journalist

Nairobi, 17 November 2006 (Panos) - Minister of Local Government and Environment, Dean Peart urged a high level segment of the United Nations Climate Change Conference to give immediate attention to small island developing states that were at a disadvantage when it came to implementing international adaptation projects.

“The financial support that was promised to assist the most vulnerable developing countries through mechanisms such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is extremely slow in coming,” said Peart, in a statement that was distributed after his presentation on Wednesday evening in Nairobi.

“In many instances, they are still non-existent or have conditionalities attached that are impossible for small developing economies to meet,” he said.

He suggested that if the procedures were simplified by exchanging views and information through national and regional workshops then small island developing states would be better able to access funding.

“A possible way forward is to have persons with expertise in GEF operations stationed in the most vulnerable countries for specified periods. This would ensure that the allocations to Africa, the Least Developed Countries and the Small Island Developing States are better prioritised for action,” Peart said.

Peart argued that Caribbean Islands were being placed under severe strain as a result of climate changes such as sea level rise as well as increased frequency and intensity of tropical storms and hurricanes.

“Grenada, our sister island lost almost eighty percent of her housing stock and thousands of people were killed in Haiti as a result of hurricanes that impacted the region in 2004 and 2005,’he said. ‘These impacts are placing a severe strain on our limited financial resources that could otherwise be used in strengthening efforts to achieve the Millennium Development goals.”

At the same time however, he proudly highlighted some of Jamaica’s efforts to address climate change.

“Jamaica is playing its part in mitigating climate change and is proud to have a fully operational wind farm under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). We thank the government of the Netherlands for its partnership in this venture that produces over 25 mega watts of electricity annually and was registered as a CDM project activity earlier this year,” he said.

The Minister explained that an improved CDM that addresses regional distribution of projects would mean that Jamaica would be able to establish more partnerships for the development of additional wind farms, cogeneration options using bagasse from sugar cane, increasing the production of bio-fuels such as ethanol, implementing new energy efficiency programmes, maintaining and expanding the islands forest cover and capturing and flaring methane from the islands landfills.

The CDM helps developing countries in achieving sustainable development by promoting environmentally friendly investment for country governments and institutions.

“We urge the international community, in particular those with a rising trend of green house gas emissions to recognise the need for immediate action in the areas I stated and to bear in mind the special concerns for the most vulnerable countries here in Nairobi,” said Peart.

About 6000 delegates worldwide attended the twelth United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Nairobi from November 6 - 17, 2006.