The Jamaican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says Jamaica will be home to the region’s first coastal erosion monitoring tower, to be placed at the Hellshire Beach in the central parish of St. Catherine.
The tower will be installed under the “Impact Assessment of Climate Change on the Sandy Shorelines of the Caribbean Project”, which is an initiative of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).
The Ministry says the objective is to establish “a regional network for coastal erosion monitoring, geared towards understanding how climate change affects our region’s beaches.”
Enhance climate change adaptation
“Detailed erosion monitoring is particularly important to climate change adaptation. This is necessary for sustainable long term coastal protection solutions. Without such data, proposed engineering solutions sometimes exacerbate existing erosion problems. The data and models produced by this project will also help to build the case for provision of climate finance to SIDS (small island developing states) such as Jamaica,” the release stated.
Funded by Republic of Korea
The project is valued at US$4 million and is being funded by the Republic of Korea, through the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), with specialized technical assistance from the Government of Cuba.
The Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) is also working with Jamaica for the second phase of evaluation for the implementation of the project, which was discussed during the visit of a joint delegation of the three entities from August 7-10.
Other countries receiving support include Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago.
“The Government of Jamaica, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and the High Commission of Jamaica in Port of Spain accredited to the ACS, has expressed full commitment to this project which is expected to provide significant capacity building support in terms of shoreline monitoring. It will also complement the Government’s ongoing efforts to monitor and rehabilitate the Hellshire Community, and other parts of the island in need of shoreline replenishment,” the Ministry said.
