St Ann-based farmers Erica Lewis-Palmer and Jermaine Allen are pleased with the decision by government and the local representative of the Japan-Caribbean Climate Change Partnership (JCCCP) project to channel US$600,000 of the earmarked US $1.8 million into community-based pilot projects, specifically sustainable agriculture and water resource management.

“It is great to know that the importance of agriculture is being recognised and measures are being put in place to protect our livelihood and also the country’s food supplies,” Lewis-Palmer, who is from Cascade, told the Jamaica Observer following the launch of the Jamaica-component of JCCCP at the Spanish Court hotel in Kingston last week Wednesday.

Cascade is one of the farming communities being considered for the project.

“As farmers, I recognise that we need to use proper farming techniques to ensure that we do our part in mitigating the effects of climate change. This project will be very important to farmers not only because of food security but importantly, the topic of water management will be addressed. If they come into our community to install and of course help us with the technologies to harness water from the various springs and water sources in our area, it would be far-reaching, especially in the time of drought,” Lewis-Palmer reasoned.

The regional project, which covers eight Caricom countries, is being implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with funding amounting to US$15 million provided by the Japanese Government. The other countries are Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname.

According to Japanese Ambassador to Jamaica Masanori Nakano, the project, which was designed to build capacity to mitigate against climate change in light of the Caribbean’s inherent vulnerabilities, is not merely an effort to ensure cooperation towards sustainable development for small island states, but to deepen and expand the bonds founded on exchanges of friendship as well as to encourage cooperation to address challenges of the international community.

Lewis-Palmer’s colleague, Allen said that the project is a big win for farmers, who he says are already bearing the brunt of climate change.

“In the past couple years, especially since 2010, we have seen the adverse effects of climate change. Now we have to look at how to sow, when to sow, what to sow because we lose when we sow seeds for a particular crop and then there is no water or rain so even if the seed germinates it will die so it’s a waste of time and effort. But the plants are not the only things that suffer. Your family suffers — pickney to go school, rent to pay and you want to get your necessities — so this project would be great news for the farming community,” Allen said.

Minister without portfolio in the ministry of economic growth and job creation Daryl Vaz said he was equally pleased with two areas identified for focus.

He charged that while stakeholders continue to do research and devise plans and programmes to alleviate the effects of climate change, which are projected to worsen if the world doesn’t rein in the rate at which the atmosphere is warming, it should be the concern of every citizen to understand how they can best assist with the process.

For his part, UNDP Resident Representative Bruno Pouezat, said his agency’s participation in the JCCCP reflects a long-standing commitment to work with the Caribbean to address the threat of climate change.

“Our global, regional and national focus on climate change reflects our conviction that sustainable development cannot be achieved if this challenge is not addressed at all levels. This is why at the global level, climate and disaster resilience is one of the four focus areas of UNDP’s strategic plan and for UNDP in the Caribbean,” he explained.

The JCCCP project has three outcomes. The first focuses on policy frameworks, the second deals with the community-based project, and the third encapsulates building networks and designing creative knowledge dissemination channels to educate nationals.