Government driving climate change policy

Cabinet Secretary Ambassador Douglas Saunders says that work is ongoing in the implementation of the Climate Change Policy Framework and Action Plan.

The policy seeks to provide a strategic and integrated approach to addressing the challenges and opportunities created by climate change while honouring the country’s commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and related instruments.

Among the priorities is the mainstreaming of climate change in policy and national development planning.

 “There is our own Vision 2030 – Jamaica National Development Plan in which outcome 14 speaks to hazard-risk reduction and adaptation to climate change,” Ambassador Saunders said.

 He further pointed to strides made in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.

Goal 13 of the SDG deals specifically with taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Ambassador Saunders was speaking at the opening of a training session for members of the Government Policy Analysts Network at the Alhambra Inn in St Andrew on Thursday.

The two-day workshop was staged by the Climate Change Division of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation in partnership with the Cabinet Office and the United Nations Development Programme.

It attracted the participation of policymakers from across ministries, agencies and departments of government.

The objective was to provide policy analysts with the elements relevant for climate change integration; improve the participants’ understanding of climate change impacts on Jamaica, and the need for mainstreaming climate change into national policies and action plans.

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