News & Updates

Climate change threatens the planet's survival — and Caribbean nations are on the front line.

That was the response given by Judith Slater, British High Commissioner to Jamaica, when asked why the United Kingdom decided to fund the Mangrove Restoration project.

The forecast by local scientists that hundreds of people living in Clarendon's southern coastal region could be exposed to a disaster of cataclysmic proportions if the island gets hit by a major weather system this year is frightening. 

DON'T blame it on weather systems alone.

Scientists have said that the impact of human activity has also contributed to some of the die off of mangroves in southern Clarendon, where about 45 per cent between Milk River and Salt River are dead.

Hundreds of Jamaicans living in Clarendon's southern coastal region could be exposed to a disaster of cataclysmic proportions if the island gets hit by a major weather system this year. 

MINISTER with responsibility for the environment, Senator Matthew Samuda says work to protect mangroves should have started decades ago but because of a lax approach, Government and other stakeholders are scampering to put things in place to restore those that are either dead or dying. 

The mission: Save the mangroves.

Trouble is brewing, and The University of the West Indies (UWI) Solutions for Developing Countries (SODECO) says it had to step in.

Professor Terrence Forrester, chief scientist at The University of the West Indies' Solutions for Developing Countries (SODECO), last week dramatically described the circumstances which led to the lifeless state of the mangroves in Peake Bay as "death by one thousand cuts", and underscored that their full restoration might not be achieved until long after the present generation of Jamaicans.

https://www.uwi.edu/sodeco/sites/sodeco/files/gleaner_article_jan292023.pdf

A rescue effort has been launched to restore Jamaica’s dying mangroves through a $360 million British-funded project to be implemented by University of the West Indies (UWI) scientists.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) recently signed an agreement for mangrove restoration with the UWI’s Solutions for Developing Countries (SODECO) led by Professor Terrence Forrester, chief scientist.

The 'Blue Carbon Restoration in Southern Clarendon' project is designed to restore more than 1,000 hectares of degraded mangrove forests.

THE Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has signed a landmark agreement for mangrove restoration with The University of the West Indies (The UWI)-based Solutions for Developing Countries (SODECO).

The agreement — signed by Therese Turner-Jones, the IDB's country representative for Jamaica, and Professor Terrence Forrester, chief scientist at SODECO — will enhance Jamaica's ability to adapt and increase its resilience to climate change through a technical assistance programme on mangrove restoration.