Kingston, Jamaica (JIS) — The Government has received approximately $810.2 million (US$6.8 million) in World Bank grant funding support to improve climate and weather data collection and information management within Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
The undertaking is part of a package of projects, valued of approximately $3.57 billion (US$30 million), which are being financed in Jamaica under the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR).
The US$1.2 billion PPCR is a funding window of the US$8.1 billion Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), which assists developing countries to integrate climate resilience into development planning.
Improvement of the data platform aims to better position Jamaica to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change, characterised by among other things, extreme drought and abnormal rainfall patterns.
Finance and Planning Minister, Dr Peter Phillips, in welcoming the World Bank support, underscored the need to generate data that will adequately assist Jamaica’s preparation to deal with climate change.
He was addressing the signing ceremony held on Friday at his ministry’s National Heroes Circle offices in Kingston.
Dr Phillips said the climate data project, to be implemented by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), will be of “tremendous” benefit to the country, and particularly, key stakeholders such as farmers, planners, residents in food-prone areas, and tourism and health sector interests.
He noted that the availability of such data is also important “if we are to be able to …take advantage of the availability of resources within the Global (Green) Climate Fund,” which assists developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change.