Last week we were in Portmore Jamaica to kick off the first of the CityLinks 2015 Climate Partnerships. Portmore Municipality, located in St. Catherine Parish and is one of the most vulnerable communities to climate change impacts on the island of Jamaica. Portmore is a densely populated area with nearly 200,000 people, living just 15 miles south-west of Kingston. Portmore is the fastest growing town in Jamaica with respect to human settlement; and one of the largest populations in Jamaica, second only to Kingston. Situated in a low lying area, Portmore is prone to flooding and will likely see, more intense and variable rains,  stronger storm surges and sea level rise as a result of climate change. 

During the week Dan Bader, of UCCRN, Chris Manning of Townsville, Australia and I met with government leaders at the local and national level as well as community members and other public sector stakeholders to better understand the needs of Portmore with respect to climate change adaptation. Over the next nine months we will all be working together to ensure that Portmore has the localized climate data it needs to make informed decisions about its future as well as tools to help them engage the community about climate preparedness. 

Keep an eye out for future posts from Dan and Chris! 

Municipal Engineer, Nigel Moore explaining the storm water challenges during heavy rains and tropical storms.

Hellshire Beach, Half Moon Bay Fishing Village

Representative from the Hellshire Beach Fishing Cooperative explaining the challenges of beach erosion.

 

High tide coupled with severe erosion at Hellshire Beach

Chris Manning of Townsville, Australia presenting the CityLinks partnership to a group of community leaders in Portmore.