By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica is getting a boost to its efforts to improve its resilience to climate change.

The country has been provided $17 million from the Inter-American Development Bank under the bank’s Adaptation Programme and Financing Mechanism for the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience.

The funding will help the second phase of the government’s climate resilience programme, including the creation of financing mechanisms to help small businesses; adjustments to weather-related occurrences and a public education campaign to heighten awareness about the challenges associated with climate change.

“It is focused on, perhaps, the most important issue of our times, which is climate change, and the development of climate resilience in Jamaica,” Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips at the signing ceremony for the new funding. “We are seeking to adapt to this particular predicament …to which we are particularly vulnerable. As a consequence, we are faced with the need to undertake adjustments, which are costly. To that extent, we are particularly pleased to be the beneficiary of (this) financing arrangement.”

According to Ian Hayles, the country’s State Minister for Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, the programme is a “very important contribution” for Jamaica’s adaptive response to climate change.

“I, therefore, welcome the signing [of this] agreement, and see this as an excellent opportunity to build on the work that has already begun in fostering strong action on climate change,” he ssaid.