Jamaicans are being urged to give more serious attention to climate change as the phenomenon continues to subject the planet to increased temperatures, rising sea levels, drought, and natural
disasters.

The appeal was made at the First National Climate Forum on Monday at Courtyard by Marriot hotel in New Kingston. The forum was designed to help guide the Government’s plans to mitigate the effects of climate change.

“Climate change is the crisis the developing world speaks most about,” Matthew Samuda, the minister with responsibility for the portfolio, told the forum.

“Ultimately, we need to be able to assess our current climatic realities if we are to better plan, if we’re to insist and ensure that our infrastructure meets the needs that we need it to. I’m very happy that this event is happening… because this is a critical issue,” added Samuda.

“Jamaica, last year, faced its worst and most severe drought… and this year we’re already seeing the impacts of not quite as severe a drought but, certainly, a drought with severe impacts, especially in the western part of the country,” he said.

Marianne Van Steen, the European Union’s ambassador to Jamaica concurred, pointing out that the island has experienced water challenges, seasonal fires, and coastline erosion due to climate change.

With most presenters at the forum stating that rising temperatures and the possibility of drought are among the greatest risks of climate change, climatologist at the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology Cedric Van Meerbeeck told the Jamaica Observer that this is why the Caribbean, on a whole, needs to take climate change seriously.

“The Caribbean has a very high incidence rate of climate-related hazards so that means we are exposed and vulnerable to very frequent episodes of hazards of climate… the other problem is, as our climate changes globally, the local imprint in the Caribbean is really and truly seeing more heatwaves and drought” Van Meerbeeck said.

Last year, the Meteorological Service of Jamaica forecast more than 15 heatwaves for the year. Additionally, a report from the Climate Studies group at The University of the West Indies, Mona, confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year on record.

Meteorological Service of Jamaica Principal Director Evan Thompson pointed out that the drought had a severe effect on the agricultural sector “…not only that there was scarcity, but also the changes in the prices of these agricultural produce and products”, he said.