Jamaica’s action plan

Jamaica’s steps on handling ghg and its effects on climate

change

Wednesday
October 18 2023
Contents
List of Figures...........................................................................................................................ii
List of Tables............................................................................................................................ii
Executive Summary................................................................................................................iii
1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................1
2. Agency Overview..............................................................................................................2
3. Emissions Inventory..........................................................................................................3
4. Past and Current Initiatives...............................................................................................4
5. Emission Reduction Goals and Targets..............................................................................5
6. Strategies and Actions......................................................................................................6
7. Implementation and Monitoring.......................................................................................7
Appendix A: Title.....................................................................................................................8
Executive Summary
. Introducing Jamaica, Jamaica faces very serious threats from
climate change for example: droughts, floods, hotter
temperatures. NEPA has established National Ozone Unit
(NOU) project that takes actions against chlorofluorocarbons
(CFS) and other Ozone Depleting Substances (ODSs) or GHG
through mitigation measures such as energy conservation, the
use of renewable energy and increased forest cover which is still
going on, although the results of this project aren’t clear.

Considering Jamaica’s main problem, as the ambassador of

Jamaica , I plan to preserve as much oil, even though the
government of Jamaica has already established the national oil
spill contingency plan to ensure that the country is ready if there
were to be another oil spill, in addition I also plan to lessen the
act of deforestation as it has resulted to a loss of 53.0 kha of tree
cover to a 6.9% decrease in tree cover since 2000, with Jamaica
and their agencies has also been trying to increase forest cover,
if this continues the agriculture development in Jamaica can
worsen and have high dependence on food imports and increase
the impacts of frequent natural disasters.
1. Introduction
My action plan is to ensure the safety of the people of Jamaica
and to lower the effects of climate change and which can harm
other country’s environment, the scopes and limits of the plan
are to lessen the risk of deforestation for the wild life while still
keeping up with the resources of the forest as well as the mining
of bauxite which has contaminated the ground water and
increased water pollution, we will take action by decreasing
bauxite mining even though Jamaica is the seventh world’s
seventh-largest producer of bauxite in 2022, besides bauxide
mining, we will also target the main causes of ghg emissions in
Jamaica which is manufacturing, construction, and electricity
and heat generation.

The agency can use this plan to create more projects and spread
awareness on how these points can affect our environment, this
can encourage the people to help and find more solutions.
2. Agency Overview

The agency which is mainly responsible of the public

transportation in Jamaica is The Transport Authority (TTA) its
responsibility is for licensing of all public and commercial
vehicles and the regulating and monitoring of public
transportation in Jamaica.
Service Area Covered:
 The Road Traffic Act, 1938

 The Transport Authority Act, 1987

 The Public Passenger Transport Regulations and Acts

(Rural & Corporate Area)

Transit Services Provided and Facility Types : TTA has many
transit services for example: buses, route taxis and motorbikes.

Jamaica's public transport system consists of a network of buses

and cabs that link towns large and small across the island. JUTC
bus is the national bus system that can be found in the major
cities of Kingston and Montego Bay.

Financial information:

The Transport Authority was established in 1987 as a statutory

body by the Jamaican Government for regulating and
monitoring the public transportation system in the island. The
portfolio of the Authority was transferred from the Ministry of
Construction to the Ministry of Public Utilities and Transport at
that time. The Authority now operates under the Ministry of
Transport and Mining. Under the Transport Act of 1987, the
Transport Authority acquired the functions formerly performed
by:
-The Licensing Authority
-The Public Passenger Transport (Corporate Area) Board of
Control, and
-The Public Passenger Transport (Rural Area) Board of Control

Document Title 3
3. Emissions Inventory

In recent years, the CO2 emissions per capita have been on a decline. In the last decade, at least 1 ton of
CO2 emissions have been removed from the country.

From the graph below, it shows transportation and industry are the highest contributors of GHG
emissions in Jamaica. In addition the top sectors that excise the most fuel are agricultural , road and off
road transport.
Emissions per vehicle type:

The table above displays the different vehicle types ( heavy and light ), model and durability mileage
throughout the past two decades and how much GHG each one emits.

Document Title 5
4. Past and Current Initiatives
Current initiatives:
National Ozone Unit ( NOU ) was established in 1997 by NEPA ( National
Environment and Planning Agency ) to facilitate the phase out of
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other Ozone Depleting Substances (ODSs) In
Jamaica.
The Phase out is part of Jamaica’s obligation under the Montreal Protocol on
substances that deplete the ozone layer and is an agreement between countries
to phase out the use of ODSs within stipulated time frames.

Past initiatives:
Adaptation to Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction (Restoration of Coastal
Ecosystems”
Project duration : 2010-2013 ( 30 Months ) and was implemented by NEPA
This projects aim is to increase resilience and reduce risks associated with natural
hazards as Jamaica is a small island developing states (SIDS) is highly vulnerable to
climate change impacts so it faces direct threats from climate change because of
its geographical location.
The expected benefits and outcomes are to rehabilitate and improve
management of selected watersheds to reduce downstream run off and
associated pollution and health risks, restore and protect coastal ecosystems to
enhance natural buffers and resilience as the proposed budget was €4.13M.

Document Title 6
5.Emission Reduction Goals and Targets
NEPA ( National Environmental and Planning Agency ) has
updated its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target
significantly from 7.8% to 25.4% unconditionally and from 10%
to 28.5% conditionally compared to business as usual 2030
- Sustainable use of natural resources
- Multi-sectoral approach for climate change
- Public participation and collaboration
- The Precautionary Approach
- Transparency and accountability
- Best science
- Polluted Pays Principle

Special Initiatives
- Water Resources Development
- Low Carbon Development
- Disaster Risk Financing
- Ecosystem Protection
- Land Use Planning
- Communication

Document Title 7
5. Strategies and Actions

Jamaica will continue to actively pursue opportunities for the reduction of

greenhouse gas emissions through mitigation measures that are appropriate in
the national context such as
- energy efficiency
- energy conservation
- the use of renewable energy
- increased forest cover
Jamaica also seeks to increase the use of renewable energy as fuel in its energy
mix to 20 per cent by 2030 and since the MTF 2019-2021 a target of renewables
in electricity generation has been added of 30 per cent by 2030

Document Title 8
6. Implementation and Monitoring
In order to implement these projects and ensure that it can last long and will
have a big impact on helping Jamaica and AOSIS’s climate change lessen , We
should have proper fundings by the people of Jamaica and not only national
organizations , UNESCO and other international organizations can help as well.

Appendix A: links

https://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/carbon-pricing-jamaica.pdf
https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/jamaica#per-capita-how-much-co2-does-the-average-person-
emit
https://www.ta.org.jm/about
https://www.mining-technology.com/data-insights/bauxite-in-jamaica/?cf-view
https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/oil-spills-costing-the-caribbean-oil-billions/

Document Title 9