United Nations Development Programme-Global Environment Facility (UNDP- GEF) has established an initiative to get community members in different regions to cope with climate change.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the community-based adaptation (CBA) mid-course conference at the Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston last Tuesday, Minh Pham, resident representative of UNDP to Jamaica, said the impacts of climate change were diverse and would affect different countries differently.

"While mitigation will continue to be an urgent priority to avoid the most severe impact, adaptation is critical to help the poor and vulnerable address those impacts that could be prevented," he said.

Sharing expertise

The five-day workshop allowed delegates to share experiences and expertise. The objectives of the sessions include providing ongoing training to project teams and to bring together key project stakeholders to discuss implemen-tation measures.

Minh added that the CBA project was an important global pilot and the lessons learnt from the imple-mentation would guide broader adaptation responses that would become increasingly critical as climate change progresses.

Small countries vulnerable

"Climate change is real, it is happening now and, therefore, must be addressed," he argued.

The UNDP representative further stated that small communities that depend on natural resources for livelihoods were the most vulnerable, yet least equipped to cope with change.

A release issued by the group shows that, in Jamaica, climate change is projected to increase the intensity of hurricanes and other storms, while decreasing overall annual rainfall. It is vastly increasing erosion and landslide risk and threatening the lives of community members, the long-term viability of local agricultural livelihoods and Kingston's water supply.