Brown questions disconnect between Jamaica’s climate ambitions and project delivery

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Despite $13.4 billion being allocated to five priority climate-change projects, only one has been completed, prompting questions about delays in work intended to strengthen Jamaica’s resilience to climate threats. Member of Parliament for St Mary South Eastern Christopher Brown questioned the slow progress at Tuesday’s sitting of the Public Accounts Committee, while Permanent Secretary Wayne Robertson pointed to staffing shortages, the effects of COVID-19 and procurement requirements as reasons for the delay. Brown said the repeated delays identified in the Auditor General’s report raised concerns about whether Jamaica was moving quickly enough to prepare for the effects of climate change, particularly at a time when the country was dealing with the impact of major hurricanes. “I sense a disconnect between our activism on the global circuit as it relates to climate change and climate resilience as against the local resilient infrastructure, both on the legislative as well as the operational and strategic projects that need to be implemented,” Brown said. He questioned why projects continued to stall despite funding being available, arguing that the delays could undermine efforts to protect Jamaica’s water resources and improve its ability to withstand climate threats. Brown said the slow pace of the work was particularly concerning given the importance of protecting the country’s water supply and the challenges posed by drought. “This is about protecting our water ecosystem. This is about protecting our water security. So if this arm is not operating at the resilient pace and speed, there is cause for concern,” he said. Responding to the concerns, Robertson said the COVID-19 pandemic had slowed implementation across the public sector, while the climate-change programme had also struggled with limited staffing. He told the committee that the unit had operated with just three officers for about two years before its staff complement increased to six and later to eight. “So we were never at full scale during the implementation period. That is significant because of the myriad work that was required at the time. So now we are seeing a difference in terms of being able to assign responsibilities to the individual officers so that there can be dedicated attention and focus on specific areas, adaptation, mitigation, climate financing, for example,” Robertson said. He also cited the need to comply with public procurement laws and guidelines, which he said had contributed to the time taken to carry out projects. Robertson acknowledged the delays but assured the committee that the ministry intended to increase the pace of its work and seek additional funding opportunities. “We can assure this honourable House and the people of Jamaica that moving forward, we will ensure that there is great vigour and vitality, speed and alacrity in respect of the work, greater effort to scan the international environment for funding opportunities, working with all the stakeholders locally, regionally and overseas to get this work done,” he said. He added that the ministry was working with partners to identify a system that would allow it to track projects and programmes, monitor their progress and assess their results. Schmoi McLean, principal director of the ministry’s Climate Change Branch, told the committee that the branch had also increased its staffing and was strengthening its ability to monitor emissions and climate-related spending. She said a greenhouse gas inventory officer had been added to help track carbon dioxide emissions and climate financing once a monitoring system was in place. The branch had also hired an educational communications officer to explain its work and plans in language that ordinary Jamaicans could understand. McLean said the changes were intended to address criticism that the public did not know enough about the branch’s work. The discussion came as Brown called for greater urgency in strengthening Jamaica’s climate resilience, pointing to the experience of hurricanes Beryl and Melissa. He said he hoped the additional staff, planned improvements and expected funding would translate into faster progress. Meanwhile, Robertson told the committee that Jamaica had submitted an application to the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage and was hoping to receive up to US$20 million by December. He said the expected timing had shifted from July to December.