SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION FOR COMMUNITY-BASED ADAPTATION: A Comparative Study of the UNDP-GEF Community-Based Adaptation Portfolio in Jamaica

The UNDP-GEF Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) Programme in Jamaica works to address some of these challenges through the implementation of six demonstration projects geared towards capacity building and improved natural resources management to reduce the vulnerability of the community and their ecosystems to climate change variability and extremes, and to generate global environmental benefits. The CBA portfolio in Jamaica specifically focuses on agriculture and coastal ecosystems identified as priority areas by the first and second National Communications to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as well as the National Capacity Self-Assessment Project of the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

This report analyses and summarizes Jamaica’s experience in developing and implementing CBA projects and is a companion to similar analysis carried out for two other important CBA countries (Kazakhstan and Samoa). It builds on a cluster of three projects1 selected to reflect the entire Jamaica’s CBA portfolio. This report compares climate change risks and adaptation responses in selected CBA projects, resulting impacts on communities and their ecosystems, enabling factors to successful adaptation response, challenges encountered, dissemination and replication strategies and the lessons learned.