CBA Jamaica: Increasing Community Adaptation and Ecosystem Resilience to Climate Change in Portland Bight (CCAM)

Portland Bight Protected Area (PBPA) includes coastline from Hellshire to Milk River on the South Coast of Jamaica. The coast is fringed with the longest contiguous stretch of mangroves in the country, seagrass beds, coral reefs and cays. These form the country’s largest nursery for fish, crustaceans and mollusks (including conch, Strombus gigas). The beaches provide nationally significant nesting habitat for globally threatened sea turtles (principally Hawksbill Eretmochelys imbricata) while the many rivers that drain the hinterland provide habitat for the globally threatened American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) as well as endemic fish. The wetlands include habitats for the globally threatened West Indian Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna arborea).

Overlooking the coast are three tropical dry forests – Hellshire Hills, Braziletto Mountains and Portland Ridge – which also house a variety of globally-significant species and ecosystems. These areas are surrounded by agriculture (mainly sugar cane) with pockets of settlement and industry, including 3 ports. All these habitats are already showing apparent signs of stress from climate change, including increased hurricane damage, increased drought and flood cycles and increased risk of fire. The neighboring marine ecosystems are likewise showing signs of stress. For example, coral reefs have low levels of living coral combined with high algae overgrowth and regular bleaching events.

The Protected Area includes three towns (Old Harbour Bay, Lionel Town and Hayes) and about forty-nine residential communities—nineteen of which are directly on the coast. This project focuses on the area’s most vulnerable settlements, which are close to the Portland Cottage, Salt River, Cockpit and Old Harbour Bay. These populations encompass a total of about 20,000 people whose main livelihoods depend directly or indirectly on fishing, sugar or bauxite. These areas form the hinterland for three fish sanctuaries. The communities are all low lying, mostly carved out of mangrove swamps and wetlands and their immediate environs. All have recent history of being affected by floods and hurricanes, and therefore have a high level of receptivity to vulnerability reduction measures in these areas.

The people of the area are particularly dependent on the maintenance of natural ecosystems because of the natural services they provide. This is true for all coastal communities but in Portland Bight the linkages are particularly close. The forests of the limestone hills in the immediate vicinity sustain the aquifers that support many springs and wells, while further inland forest hills reduce the frequency of flash flooding and reduce erosion. The area’s mangroves protect the coastline and the infrastructure behind it while providing nursery habitat for fishable resources.

Climate change is likely to increase temperatures, reduce summer rainfall, and increase the frequency of hurricanes, fires and floods. This will result in loss and degradation of ecosystems including tropical dry forests, wetlands (especially mangroves), coral reefs and seagrass beds. This will result in loss of habitat for biodiversity including the critically endangered species that occur in the area. There will also be loss of ecosystem services such as coastal protection, fish nurseries, recharging of aquifers, control of soil erosion, natural regeneration of forests.

This Community-Based Adaptation project will reduce the threats to globally endangered biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services by seeking to empower communities to manage ecosystems more sustainably in the face of climate change. This will include increasing awareness of ecosystem importance and contribution to the economy, as well as promoting sustainable and alternative uses. The project will include awareness-raising on the impacts climate change presents for globally endangered biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services (and hence livelihoods). It will advocate for integrating ecosystem services into development frameworks at the local and national levels.