A draft of the National Spatial Plan (NSP), which will outline the governance framework for the optimal and effective use and management of Jamaica’s natural resources, is to be completed by December 2019.

This was disclosed by minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Daryl Vaz, who said the drafting of this modern national physical plan under phase two of the NSP project will update the 1978 National Physical Plan which has been in existence for over 30 years.

“The plan will…provide the strategic spatial framework to guide national development and investment decision-making,” he said, while addressing the opening of the NSP Technical Symposium and launch of phase two of the NSP’s development at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston on Tuesday.

Vaz noted that the Plan will identify priorities for the spatial planning and development of human settlements, commercial and industrial developments, and improvement of infrastructure for public utilities and social amenities.

“It will support long-term development that promotes more sustainable land use patterns. The NSP will guide spatial planning and development at the national level and at the local level by guiding the preparation of local development plans and development orders,” he informed.

Vaz said the NSP, which will greatly improve the development application and review process, will also address the major challenges of disaster risk reduction and climate change response, while protecting the environment and enhancing the quality of the built environment.

“As a Government, we are committed to making development sustainable, as we adapt as best as we can to climate change and protect the environment while creating jobs to drive the engine of economic growth in Jamaica. The NSP: 2020-2040 will be an important tool towards this achievement,” he said.

The Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC) on Tuesday, August 20, launched Phase 2 of the National Spatial Plan (NSP), which is aimed at ensuring the optimal use of the nation’s land and marine resources and outlining the framework for their effective use and management.

The plan will also provide a strategic spatial framework to guide national development and investment decision making. 

Speaking at the launch held at the Spanish Court Hotel, Minister Without Portfolio in the Ministry, Hon. Daryl Vaz said the Ministry has placed a major focus on Climate Change and its impacts which pose a serious threat to economic development and growth. 

“It is clear therefore why the preparation of this National Spatial Plan is being done within the context of climate change mitigation and adaptation”, Vaz said, adding that it will address the major challenges of disaster risk reduction and climate change response, while protecting the environment, improving natural resources management and enhancing the quality of the built environment.

The Minister further noted that the Plan will also identify priorities for the spatial planning and development of human settlements, commercial and industrial developments, and improvement of infrastructure for public utilities and social amenities.

Minister Vaz, who has responsibility for Land, Environment, Climate Change and Investment, added that the NSP will greatly improve the development application and review process.

“We are in the age of information technology; and in this regard, this NSP is intended to go beyond being a paper document, and will be supported by a National Spatial Planning Information Technology (NSPIT) Platform”, he said.

The development of the NSPIT is funded by the World Bank and is currently being implemented under the National Competitiveness Project by JAMPRO.

The NSPIT Platform will be accessible to the general public and aims to ultimately provide all the spatial planning database and information to support online application and processing of development applications.

Minister Vaz added that all the ministries, agencies and departments involved in the development processes will, therefore, benefit from a state-of-the-art and dynamic IT-supported spatial plan.

The Minister commended the Adaptation Programme and Financing Mechanism for the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (AP&FM-PPCR), through which the NSP Technical Working Group formulated the terms of reference for the NSPIT.

The AP&FM is a US$19.8 million five year project which focuses on climate adaptation at the national, sectoral and community levels. It is responsible for the development and alignment of the National Spatial Plan, along with Vision 2030.

The Minister further thanked the Climate Investment Fund, and international donor partner, the Inter-American Development Bank for accommodating the preparation of the NSP; and the AP&FM-PPCR for conceptualizing and using a “sustainable, IT-based and climate-smart approach to developing the NSP”.

THE Nathan Ebanks Foundation (NEF) has partnered with several Government agencies to raise the level of inclusive planning required for effective and efficient service delivery to persons with disabilities in Jamaica.

The Jamaica Fire Brigade and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) are two of the principal agencies with which the NEF has collaborated.

“For the families of persons living with disabilities, the matter of disaster preparedness takes on a whole different realm when you look at how we live our day to day lives, how we move about, and how we live in our homes,” said NEF president and founder Christine Staple-Ebanks.

She emphasised the importance of first responders knowing how to treat with persons with disabilities, especially those with manifestations not readily visible or easily identified.

“It is important for the first responders assigned to various neighbourhoods to know which homes have a family member with a disability and how to manage that. If you have someone who is bipolar or has schizophrenia and is off their medication, that person looks like you and I, and trying to evacuate them will not happen. That’s a dangerous situation,” Staple-Ebanks said.

The NEF has also partnered with the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation through the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience in the Climate Change Division.

This partnership has yielded the publication of the foundation’s biennial Children and Special Needs Guide to Resource in Jamaica.

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Daryl Vaz today welcomed the re-launch of the Recycling Partners of Jamaica (RPJ) stating that he was proud to be the Minister who assisted in championing the initiative.

RPJ, the country’s designated National Recycling Entity, had said earlier this year, that it would be launching a larger, more comprehensive recycling programme in 2019. The re-launch was held at the AC Hotel by Marriot this morning (July 24).

Minister Vaz who has responsibility for Land, Environment, Climate Change and Investment,  emphasized that this Government is wholeheartedly committed to working with environmental Agencies in protecting Jamaica, and not just from plastic waste.

“We will continue working to ensure that our regulations and standards offer the necessary levels of protection to our natural environment and that these regulations are enforced.  Developing a culture of sustainability is difficult work and requires action, not only on the part of the Government but also buy-in from the private sector and the public, which is why the Recycling Partners of Jamaica (RPJ) is so special”, the Minister said.

“This organization has created a linkage between three integral groups that allows the policymakers, manufacturers, and distributors to combine their resources in order to engage and educate the public on recycling best practices and facilitate and incentivize waste collection,”  Minister Vaz added.

In the meantime, the Minister highlighted that to date, only about 11 per cent of Jamaica’s plastic bottles are collected for recycling, a level of recovery, that he said is woefully inadequate.

“We are however working to improve this, which is why the Government had made, under a Memorandum of Understanding, an annual contribution of JMD $50 million towards the operations of the RPJ,” he said.

He noted that the Private Sector has also ‘put their money where their mouths are’ by instituting a cess of JMD $1.00 per bottle which will allow for an initial Private Sector investment of JMD $850 million into this programme.

RPJ was founded in 2014 and is a registered non-profit organization that was designed primarily to channel the recovery, collection and diversion of plastics bottles (PET and HDPE) from entering Jamaica’s waste streams.

The organization was formed by a public and private partnership with the Jamaican government, via the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, and several private partners.

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Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator, the Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., was today (July 24) paid a visit by students participating in a summer programme being hosted by the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) Community Safety & Security Branch in the St Ann Division.

The call was made at the Ministry’s Dominica Drive offices.

The youths are drawn from the communities of Windsor Heights, Steer Town, St. Ann’s Bay, Lime Hall and Mansfield Heights, as well as other informal communities in the St. Ann Police Division.

The summer programme is being held from July 22 to July 26, 2019, at the St. Ann Police Headquarters and has been in existence for 14 years.

Minister Charles who has responsibility for Water, Housing and Infrastructure, encouraged the 105 youths, aged 2-17, to do well, adding that if they are uncertain about what exactly they want to do right now, they should do well in everything and choose a path later in life.

The Minister during a question and answer segment about what each child wanted to do, also volunteered to be the mentor to a 16-year-old male who was unsure about what path to take.

Minister Charles Jr. also thanked the Division for hosting such a selfless imitative. He encouraged Community Relations Officer at the headquarters in St. Ann’s Bay, Woman Constable Lorna West-Small and the other police officers working with her, to continue to not only be good police officers, but to be good citizens, and to continue making a difference in the St Ann Police Division.

The Branch said their aim is to continue working with the youths to improve the relationship between the Police in the Division, and young persons in the area.   

The children are being educated on topics such as how to identify Sexual abuse and Physical abuse, as well as the Juvenile Correction facilities and the importance of staying in school and getting a proper education.

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The National Competitiveness Council (NCC) which is managed and housed at the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), has played an integral part in the eradication of 16 Export Licences for 16 HS tariff and sub-tariff headings.

These include pimento, live animals, bauxite, alumina and gypsum ores, and petroleum products. 

The disclosure was made Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC), Hon. Daryl Vaz who was making his contribution to the 2019 Sectoral Debate in Gordon House on Tuesday (July 16) under the theme, “Creating a Sustainable Path for the New Jamaica”.

Minister Vaz, who has responsibility for Land, Environment, and Climate Change,  said the process, in terms of time and cost of exporting these items,  has been significantly reduced.

The Minister, who also chairs the NCC noted that the Council “continues to play a key role in creating the sustainable path for the Jamaica we all want to realize.”

The NCC is a public-private partnership body established in 2010, to advance policy advocacy, research and public awareness of reform initiatives that facilitate the creation of an enabling environment for business in Jamaica.

Initiatives monitored and facilitated on the NCC Business Environment Reform Agenda are specifically focused on enhancing Jamaica’s performance in key international indices such as the Doing Business Report, the Global Competitiveness Index, and the Logistics Performance Index.

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The Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation and the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) have been mandated by Cabinet to prepare a Master Plan for a section of Negril near to the Negril/Westmoreland border towards Lucea, in order to see the feasibility of developing the area for tourism while managing its natural resources.

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC), Hon. Daryl Vaz says the Master Plan will, among other things, declare the viability of developing the area and determine (unlimited) building heights, all subjected to the carrying capacity of the area, geology and soil conditions, available infrastructure and services as well as other environmental factors.

“This Master Plan will serve as an important planning tool in assisting to solve several of the development challenges facing this particular section of the Island”,  Minister Vaz said.

He noted that the Master Plan will also benefit from wide stakeholder consultations, extensive research and data gathering.

“It will include environmental studies, infrastructure studies, socio-economic studies and a carrying capacity study”, he added.

Meanwhile, the Minister disclosed that as part of this Master Plan, the National Water Commission (NWC) will also undertake four projects for the Negril Water Supply and Wastewater Service. They are the Negril / Savanna-la-Mar Water Supply Improvement; the Negril/Savanna-la-Mar Non-Revenue Water; Negril Sewage Treatment and Non-Pariel Water Supply Improvement.

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The Water Resources Authority (WRA) and the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, (MET Service) this morning (July 17) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate the sharing of hydro-meteorological data and information that will allow both entities to plan for the impacts of climate change.

The project, which is funded through the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR), will allow both entities to receive real-time streamflow and rainfall data. 

Speaking at the signing, at the offices of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Minister without Portfolio, Senator the Hon Pearnel Charles Jr said the new data gathering platform will aid in minimizing the effects that will inevitably come with climate change.  

“One of the important steps is for us to improve our capacity to collect and collate climate data as well as for us to improve information management and early warning capabilities. It is for us to advance this effort to build our resilience as a country in a joined-up way. This partnership to facilitate the sharing of data and information will certainly allow both entities to plan for the impacts of climate change”, he expressed.

He said the Government is “moving towards utilizing better, more proactive mechanisms that are going to allow for us to foresee what we know is bound to come and to put the country in a position to protect itself and maximise its ability to gain benefit over any damage”.

Under this MOU both parties will, among other things; Share hydro-meteorological data from rainfall, intensity and streamflow stations across the island; Support each other through the exchange of data, information and technical expertise, to include capacity building; Seek to establish, where necessary, relevant committees and/or working groups to facilitate speedy data access/transfer.

Managing Director of the Water Resources Authority, Peter Clarke, said the platform “will establish better security of life and property. It will also assist the WRA in refining floodplain maps; in conducting feasibility for Flood Early Warning Systems; and prepare flood inundation reports whenever flooding is reported across the island”.

Director of the Meteorological Service, Evan Thompson added that the Met Service will see immediate benefits from this partnership.

“The Met Service will benefit immediately from access to a platform that will allow for the visualization of data and we will be better able to see the increased levels of water on the ground. It will also help us to ground-truth the information coming from our radar”, explained Mr Thompson.

Minister Charles concluded that “as a Small Island Developing State (SID), we must ensure that our policies are driven by empirical data, not just by speculation. So, in so far as we can introduce technology that guides us of our current state and the indicative future it is always going to benefit us in crafting policy and action plans and to assist our citizens to be able to function within the developing space”.

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The Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC) is now in the process of preparing a programme to alleviate drought conditions across the island as temperatures are expected to rise in the coming months.

The programme is to be presented to Cabinet shortly.

This was disclosed by Minister without Portfolio in the MEGJC, Hon. Daryl Vaz who was making his contribution to the 2019 Sectoral Debate yesterday (July 16) in the House of Parliament, where he noted that in addition to the extreme heat, there is drought across much of the island.

Minister Vaz who has responsibility for Land, Environment, and Climate Change noted that a sample of data taken from weather stations in all 14 parishes shows that all stations experienced higher extreme temperatures in June this year when compared to June 2018, with more than 50 per cent of these recording increases of 1.5 degrees or more. 

In some cases, he noted, the increase was almost four degrees.

“Given all that is happening, the Climate Change Division (CCD) of my Ministry has been pro-active in ensuring that we take the necessary and concrete steps to make the island climate-resilient.  The CCD has, inter alia developed mechanisms to remove barriers and unlock financing for private sector engagement in climate action”, Vaz told the House.

“A couple of Saturdays ago, Jamaica experienced an unprecedented 102 degrees Fahrenheit.  Researchers say these record breaking temperatures are made five times more likely by the effects of climate change”, he said.

The Minister further noted that in a traditional year, by this time in July “we would have encountered a Dry Season running from December to about April with just a few incidences of rainfall occurring mainly over Portland and sections of St.  Mary, and then gradually impacting Parishes in the west, before the real Rainfall Season begins in May”.

He added that this year has shown a distinct shift in pattern where north-eastern Jamaica, including Portland and parts of St. Mary, have generally been receiving less than half of their normal rainfall, while parishes in the west have, in most cases, been enjoying above-normal activity. 

“This has had dire consequences for the availability of water for the majority of consumers who reside in Kingston and St. Andrew.

“A moderate to severe drought is affecting sections of St. Elizabeth, Manchester, Clarendon, St. Catherine, Kingston & St. Andrew (KSA), St. Thomas, Portland, St Mary, and St.  Ann, almost 70 per cent of the country”, he said.

The most recent projections from the Meteorological Service’s seasonal climate forecast model for the next few months through to September 2019, indicate that temperatures are likely to remain hotter than normal with near-normal to below-normal rainfall. 

Temperatures in Jamaica are expected to be at their highest during July or August each year, and the next peak in the traditional rainfall profile for the country is not expected until October 2019.

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Jamaica has formally requested support from the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Partnership to undertake a revision process of its current NDCs.

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator Pearnel Charles Jr made the revelation on Sunday (June 30) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, at the preparatory meeting for the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit to be held September 23, 2019.   

He said the “NDCs are connected to the country’s national development plan and have monitoring indicators to ensure that they are integrated adequately”.

Minister Charles Jr told the gathering that the island is also assessing additional sectors of interest such as transport, waste, forestry and water. “We hope that through this process these new targets will be incorporated as we raise our ambition”.

In preparation for the Climate Action Summit, Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, mandated Prime Minister Andrew Holness and President of France, Emmanuel Macron, later joined by the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheik Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani, to  lead a process of climate finance mobilization of the international donor community.

The Minister noted that on June 4, 2019, Jamaica officially joined the Coalition of Finance Minister for Climate Action, which confirms the country’s endorsement to the Helsinki Principles promoting national climate action, especially through fiscal policy and the use of public finance.

The Coalition aims at driving stronger collective action on climate change and its impacts.

Minister Charles Jr and a technical team are representing the country at the meeting, which is being attended by governments, private sector, civil society and other international organisations to develop ambitious solutions in six areas: a global transition to renewable energy; sustainable and resilient infrastructures and cities; sustainable agriculture and management of forests and oceans; resilience and adaptation to climate impacts; and alignment of public and private finance with a net zero economy.

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