Planning for climate change

Earlier this week, I was pleased to have attended the public lecture put on by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) titled 'Building Climate Resilient Economies and Societies: the Way Forward'. It seems that the naysayers have now been laid to rest, and it is universally accepted that global temperatures are rising, with inevitable changes to our climate and way of life: sea levels are rising, hurricanes and tropical storms are now stronger and more frequent, germs and pests will multiply faster, and the human condition will become more desperate.

Countries like Jamaica ignore climate change and its effects at our peril and the peril of our grandchildren. We must know what to expect, and we must plan for it, so that we are not taken by surprise. It is good that the PIOJ is trying to lead the way.

Despite signing all of the global environmental treaties relating to the environment in the last 20 years - and ratifying most of them - the Government of Jamaica cannot be accused of leading the way in implementing sustainable development in this land. Our poor environmental record in several areas - overfishing and deforestation in particular - is world class.

Wrong policy decisions

But it isn't that we don't know what we are doing wrong, and what right things we should be doing. We know that it is the vastly increased emissions of greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide) that cause climate change, and that we should be making every effort to reduce them; and we know that burning fossil fuels is the major source of elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; yet our policy decisions over the last 20 years are geared to increase carbon dioxide emissions. Petrol-burning motor cars put most of the new carbon dioxide into the air, yet Jamaica has implemented a series of policies geared to increase the number of motor cars in Jamaica. Rather than spend our scarce resources on a rapid urban transit system (skytrain, metro-rail, people movers) like Manila or Bangkok or Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, we are widening our city roads and buying more buses.

As the world's oil resources diminish, and the price of oil goes up, and our dependence on petroleum increases, what sort of sustainable future is that? These highways will be underutilised, as the toll roads are now - a poor use of public funds. PIOJ: we have to plan a transportation future for Jamaica not based on motor cars and trucks.

Our national grid needs more electricity now; we will need much more in the future, and we are arguing whether to use 'clean coal' or liquefied natural gas (LNG) - both of them big carbon dioxide producers. PIOJ: where is the climate-resilient economy to come from? We won't get it with either clean coal or LNG. [And by the way, 'clean coal' is an oxymoron; there is no such thing as 'clean' coal; it is all spin and PR].

Need for coastal protection

As sea level rises a little more every day, we have to protect our shoreline so as to safeguard our coastal towns (like Port Maria, Lucea, Black River and Savanna-la-Mar) and those Jamaicans who live near the sea. The strategies for coastal protection are well known, and were all mentioned in the PIOJ lecture, including protecting mangrove wetlands and coral reefs (not because of the wildlife, fishing industry and tourism they support but because of the physical barrier they provide to storm surges and coastal erosion).

Yet, all a foreign investor (hotel or shipping) has to do is wave a fistful of dollars at the government (all Jamaican governments have been susceptible to this) and promise jobs, and we are prepared to cut down coastal forests and drain coastal wetlands and blast channels through the coral reefs. We may get some temporary jobs now, but in the process we are reducing our capacity to mitigate the worse effects of climate change on Jamaica's economy and society. There may be short-term political gain, but we are not being fair to our grandchildren.

Yes, PIOJ: we must build climate-resilient economies and societies, and the way forward is to change course: to choose low-carbon models of development. You have the power to block high-carbon projects. Otherwise, in 2030 Jamaica will not be the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and natural resource manager.