Insight Crime Investigations:

This report for InsightCrime was published on July 27.

For more than half a century, Ephraim Walters has fished the southern coast of Jamaica. But he rarely heads out any longer.  

With inland waters almost barren, Walters, who goes by the nickname Frame, said he must travel farther out to sea, some 100 kilometres, spending three to five days and using up to 100 gallons of fuel.

“Sometimes you go out and you don’t catch a thing, and you can’t buy back the gas you use to go out,” the father of nine told InSight Crime.

Jamaican fishers, many unlicensed and largely ungoverned, are taking what they can from the country’s waters, draining them of shad, yellowtail, parrot, snapper, and other types of reef fish. They use destructive techniques, including small-mesh nets that scrape the ocean floor of all life. Undersized fish are harvested indiscriminately, and there are no catch limits.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Jamaica

In deep waters, foreign vessels – some of them carrying dozens of divers – poach lobster and conch, a type of shellfish that was on the brink of collapse a few years ago, Jamaican fishers and conservation officials told InSight Crime.

“Honduran and Nicaraguan boats are there every evening, and then they go home in the early morning,” said Shawn Taylor, the head of the Jamaica Fishermen Cooperative Union.

Natural disasters and development have also decimated Jamaica’s fisheries.

Hurricanes have destroyed coral reefs, smashing, dislodging, and burying them under sediment. Development projects have drained wetlands and pumped sewage into the sea. Coral disease, sea-urchin die-off, and coral bleaching have also left reefs severely damaged. But the reefs are slowly recovering, said marine biologist Karl Aiken, Jamaica’s chair to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES), a treaty meant to regulate and monitor wildlife trade.

A combination of factors has led to declines in Jamaica’s fisheries, Aiken said, but “the most important one has been very high levels of intense fishing on the islands’ fish stocks, both on our own shelf but also offshore.”

Plenty of Fish in the Sea?

Some 30 years ago, Walters sailed his boat down the coast from his hometown of Belmont to Rocky Point, a community on the island’s south coast. He never left.

Fishers headed out to sea every day then, fishing in the shallow waters of the 24-kilometre wide sea shelf. They made enough to build homes, support their families and send their children to school, he said. 

“Dropping the net in the bay, we would pull it together onto the shore with a whole lot of fish,” he said. “But these days we have to go farther out to sea for far less.” 

Jamaica’s waters are composed of 274,000 square kilometres of maritime space, about 25 times the size of its mainland, according to André Kong, who served as director of fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture from 2011 to 2019.

“What makes it all so difficult is the amount of landing sites,” Kong said. “They land at many places at all different hours of the night, and there is no regulation for them to report even when they come back.”

The number of fishers registered in Jamaica is unclear. According to a 2020 Caribbean Natural Resources Institute report, citing data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), about 40,000 Jamaican fishers make their living from the sea. But Jamaica’s National Fisheries Authority has licensed only 26,000 of them.

Gavin Bellamy, head of the government’s National Fisheries Authority, acknowledges that data is lacking. But he said a new online registration system, which will create a database of boats and licensed fishers, will come online soon. He said this would eliminate weaknesses in data collection, monitoring, and enforcement. Fishers will also be instructed on new regulations. Proposals include quotas and catch sizes.

Current regulations limit specific techniques, such as spearfishing, and equipment, such as the size of fish nets. Fishing is prohibited in 18 sanctuaries. Three are in the Portland Bight Protected Area, which includes a significant portion of Jamaica’s shallow shelf. Ingrid Parchment, the executive director of the foundation that manages the protected area, said that nearly 70 per cent of boats stopped in the sanctuaries show no registration marks. The fishers themselves often lack any personal identification.

“We even have had cases where persons who are caught fishing in the sanctuary were charged and paid the fines, and then the following week they were back in the sanctuary with another boat,” Parchment told InSight Crime.

Poaching Conch Off Pedro Cay

Pedro Cay is a small cluster of islets, rocky formations, and uninhabited islands, whose southwest waters, known as Pedro Banks, are home to the country’s largest conch fishery. In 2019, conch harvesting was banned after a study revealed that the fishery was collapsing.

However, conch populations on Pedro Banks have slowly recovered, allowing for a five-month season, which resumed last year in April and ended in August. The season opened again this year at the beginning of March. There is a catch limit of 300 tons for industrial boats and 50 tons for artisanal fishers. The limits – while seemingly high – are still lower than the pre-closure quotas, said Aiken.

The waters around Morant Cays, islands on the east coast, also contain a conch fishery that has been decimated by overfishing, said Gladstone White, Jamaica’s representative to the Caribbean Network of Fisherfolk Network Organizations (CNFO). He criticized the decision to resume conch harvests, saying that the two-year ban was insufficient.

SEE ALSO: How IUU Fishing Plundered Latin America’s Oceans

Pedro Banks is vast, about two-thirds the size of Jamaica’s mainland. The country’s coast guard comprises only five stations, just one of which is offshore.

Fishers have reported boats from nearby Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic poaching the waters along the western end of the banks, with some staying up to a week. The vessels, mostly converted shrimp trawlers, carry large numbers of divers who vacuum the seafloor.

Between January 2011 and March 2019, authorities intercepted 10 foreign vessels, according to then Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw, who told regional officials last year that the arrests accounted for just a fraction of the foreign fishing vessels operating illegally in Jamaican waters during that time. 

On occasions when foreign boats are intercepted, authorities have found not just conch and lobster but sea cucumber in its holds. 

“They take everything,” Aiken said of the divers. “These poachers are highly irresponsible.”

Some Jamaican fishers have colluded with the foreign captains to help them elude the coast guard. Taylor, the head of the fishing cooperative, complained that the lack of licenses provided to fishers drives them to engage in such illegal practices.

“Because our fishers can’t get a license,” he said, “they work with foreign [vessels] to come and take up the things which are banned here.”

At 70, Walters still dives for conch and lobster when he receives his licensed quota. He also recovers fish pots that he sets 18 meters below the water’s surface.

Standing in his equipment-shed-turned-camp, Walters was surrounded by engines and other gear. The smell of a boiling pot of fish-tea permeated the air. Fishing is “hardly worth the effort,” he said.

The original story is here

*This report is part of a two-part investigation on IUU fishing with the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at American University. The second instalment, “Plundered Oceans: IUU Fishing in SouthAmerican Seas,” is set to be published on August 3.

Technology: A bridge to the Challenges and Opportunities of organic waste To Energy Solutions in the Caribbean and Latin America

By Zadie Neufville

The following article was first printed in the 6th Issue of CESaRE Journal -on June 22
Access to energy is one of the most significant challenges facing countries like Jamaica. High and fluctuating fuel costs make electricity prices in the Caribbean and Latin America among the highest in the world, according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).

The World Resources Institute (WRI) reports that in the last five years, more than 80 countries worldwide have committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, which makes waste-to-energy alternatives an urgent issue for the region. But the switch to and use of alternative energy sources could be expensive, depending on the technology. 

In a study titled “The state-of-the-art of organic waste to energy in Latin America and the Caribbean Challenges and opportunities” (2020), researchers Rodolfo Daniel Silva-Martínez, et al. propose the use of waste to energy technologies (WtEs) as an alternative that would be beneficial on a socio-economic level. 

They noted that while such technologies have been developed “they (the technologies) are still far away to significantly contribute not only to treat the ever-increasing waste volumes in the region but also to supply the regional energy demand and meet their national carbon emission goals”. The team examined the various technologies already being used in the region and proposed that governments look at the application of the most feasible. They also examined the challenges the region faced.

The researchers further noted that “the technical complexity of these technologies aligned with lack of research, high investment costs and political deficiencies” has not allowed for the implementation or deployment of suitable solutions in a few countries like Mexico and Brazil. In the Caribbean sub-region where there is substantial renewable energy potential in solar, wind and geothermal energy and growing investments in renewable energy, that cost could likely be a significant deterrent. 

In their assessments of the technologies, some of which are already being used, the researchers point to significant benefits of upscaling specific types, such as large and small-scale bio-digesters and methane capture from landfills. 

Notably, small-scale bio-digesters and incineration are already prevalent. The sugar cane industry has, for more than a century powered its operation using bagasse waste and sometimes wood. Both Jamaica and Belize are among the smaller countries that have experimented with ethanol. In Belize, the sugar factories continue to generate power to fuel their operations and have recently begun to look at the cultivation and use of a wild cane – the Arundo donax as a source of alternative fuel. 

Aside from the reduction of emissions, the proposed methods would also result in socio-economic benefits that come from safer and more sanitary landfills, cleaner air and the protection of groundwater supplies. A bonus is the potential earnings from carbon credits.

The researchers noted that up to 2011 more than 99 waste-to-energy landfills projects had been approved and financed just in the Latin American region through carbon markets associated with the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism. This resulted in the reduction of more than 19 million tons of CO₂  between 2007 to 2012. 

In its 2016 FOCUS magazine feature on sustainable energy, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) pointed out that an energy revolution had begun to take place in the sub-region of the Caribbean. Several countries from Antigua and Barbuda to Jamaica had begun to install solar and wind farms.

IRENA’s 2014-2015 report, also pointed to the 85 per cent growth in global renewable energy power capacity in the 10 years leading up to the report. The agency noted the more than 70 per cent reduction in the cost of technologies over the same period which made such technologies more competitive to produce electricity in many countries.

The proposals of Martinez et al. could be feasible in countries like Jamaica where the burning of garbage at landfills in Kingston and Montego Bay has become a social issue. There are already reports of the exploration of the development of organic waste to energy (OWtE) processes at the Riverton City Landfill in Kingston. 

The question remains, however: Are these small islands producing enough waste or the type of waste that is required to justify the applicability of large-scale OWtE plants?

On the other hand, with more than US $270 billion invested in renewable energy technologies up to 2014, which back then represented a 15 per cent increase compared to 2013, is there the political will to switch?

Poor Water Distribution Infrastructure Gives Jamaica a ‘Water Scarce’ Label

by Zadie Neufville
This article was first published by InterPress Service on Apr 26 2022
It will take billions of dollars and many years to fix a growing problem that has placed Jamaica into the unlikely bracket of being among the world’s most water-scarce countries due to the unavailability of potable water.

The worsening water crisis of the Kingston and St Andrew (KMA) metropolis results in rationing for months in some years. The lock-offs are exacerbated by droughts, broken pumps and the crumbling pipelines making up the water distribution system. At the same time, in the aquifers below the capital city, more than 104.3 million cubic meters of water, or about 60 per cent of the available resource, remained unusable due to pollution.

A 2020 study, Groundwater Availability and Security in the Kingston Basin found that high levels of nitrates in the city’s main aquifer were making the water unusable for domestic purposes. The study conducted by researchers at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus’ Departments of Chemistry and Geology and Geography, pointed to the contamination by effluent from the septic and absorption pits that litter the city’s landscape and saline intrusion from over-pumping as the cause of the pollution.

Lead researcher Arpita Mandal told IPS via email that the two-year study, which started in 2018, showed no “significant change” in the levels of chloride and nitrates during the period, noting: “The historic data is patchy, but the chloride and nitrate levels have always shown high above the permissible limits”.

The report concluded that there is an urgent need to address the continued contamination of the Kingston Basin, but Debbie-Ann Gordon Smith, the lead chemist in the study, noted that the cleaning process would be extremely lengthy and costly.

According to the study, many of the wells across KSA were decommissioned because between 50 and 80 per cent of the effluent from absorption pits and septic tanks goes directly into the ground. The report said the same was true for many Caribbean Islands, including Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada.

Noting the concerns for the quality and quantity of water in the aquifers of the KSA, the managing director of the Water Resources Authority (WRA) Peter Clarke pointed to the existence of several working wells in use by companies that treat the water to potable standards for industrial use.

He said that while the contamination from “200 years of pit latrines” (in KSA) continues to cause concern, “the hardscaping of car parks and roofs” means there is less water available to recharge the aquifer. Therefore, to preserve the continued viability of the aquifer, the WRA, Jamaica’s water management and regulatory body, is preparing to put a moratorium on new wells.

Clarke is confident that the island has enough water and reserves of the precious liquid for decades to come. He noted, however, that in Jamaica’s case, it is the distribution and access that makes water a scarce commodity in some areas.
“It is where the people are, where water is distributed, and access to the water that is important,” he said.

In 2015 the state-owned domestic distribution agency, the National Water Commission (NWC), announced an extensive 15 million US dollar programme to refurbish Kingston’s ageing distribution network. The programme included decontamination and recovery of old wells, decommissioning old sewage plants, and rehabilitation of water storage facilities.

In the process, the water company mended 40,000 leaks, which back then were reportedly costing the city 50 per cent of the potable water it produced. They also replaced the ageing pipelines installed before the country’s independence in 1962. The programme continues with the replacement and installation of hundreds of miles and pipelines.

Clarke explained that Jamaica’s groundwater supply is three to four times greater than that which runs to the sea via the island’s 120 rivers and their networks of streams and provides 85 per cent of potable needs. Jamaica uses roughly 25 per cent of its available groundwater resources and 11 per cent of its accessible surface water.

To satisfy the growing demand in the KMA, Clarke said, the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation is considering a new treatment plant in St Catherine among its planned and existing solutions. In 2016, an artificial groundwater recharge system was built at the cost of just over 1 billion Jamaican dollars or 133 million US dollars, on 68 acres (27.5 hectares) of what was once cane-lands in Innswood, St Catherine, to replenish the wells that supply the most populated areas of the metropolis and surrounding areas.

The system currently injects an extra five million gallons of potable water per day to replenish abstractions from the supply wells. The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development announced last month that it is considering similar systems to store excess water for use in times of drought and to reduce evaporation from surface systems like reservoirs and dams in other water-stressed areas of the island,

Both Gordon Smith and Mandal agree that Kingston’s water shortage is worsened by climate variations, increased urbanisation, and the inadequate management of existing resources. In the last few years, a construction boom in the KMA has transformed the KMA, placing increased pressure on the available water supply.

The UWI’s Climate Research Group has warned of increased temperature and extremes in rainfall and droughts. Based on the 6th Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Group warned Caribbean governments to brace for more prolonged and more intense droughts and higher temperatures that will impact, among other things, food production and water supplies.

In the case of the KSA, the NWC has continued to build and upgrade the city’s sewage treatment capacity in the areas affected to end sewage and wastewater contamination of the aquifer. Hopefully, the aquifer will naturally flush itself when the work is complete.

“Jamaica is not short of water,” Clark said. “It’s a distribution issue”.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Tap Community to Stop Human Trafficking, says Survivor

by Zadie Neufville

This article was previously published by the IPS on January 31, 2022
A single line at the end of the United States State Department 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report made headlines in Jamaica and had many perturbed. “Some police allegedly facilitated or participated in sex trafficking,” it read.

While the report cited no incidents, investigations, or police officers’ convictions for sex trafficking, Jamaicans on social media called for investigations. People cited the increasing levels of sexual abuse reported during the COVID-19 pandemic as justification.

US authorities have categorised Jamaica as “a source, transit, and destination country for adults and children trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labour”.

Manager of the Trafficking in Persons (TiP) Secretariat Chenee Russell Robinson told journalists recently that more than 110 victims of sex trafficking were rescued in the last ten years. At an average of ten per year, she believes the number is far too high “because this number represents only the tip of the iceberg”.

Some matters are before the court, and investigations into other activities were ongoing, noting that while girls make up the majority of sex trafficking victims, there are a growing number of boys, too, she said.

Between 2015 and 2019, the number of teens reported missing on the island averaged approximately 1,400 a year, data from the Child Protection and Family Services Agency shows. With numbers increasing annually and the figures for those returning home or recovered declining, the spectre of a rising sex trafficking trade is becoming one of the biggest worries for local authorities.

Child protection activists believe that most missing children who do not return home are victims of sex trafficking. Here, it is not uncommon for families, including mothers, to traffic their girl children in exchange for monetary or material payment, police say. This form of child sex trafficking may be more widespread in some communities.

Experts say that children who are sent by their parents to live with their more affluent relatives in urban areas regularly become victims. And according to the State Department report: “Sex trafficking of Jamaican women and children, including boys, occurs on streets and in nightclubs, bars, massage parlours, hotels and private homes, and resort towns”.

So, while the report commends Jamaica for its strides and multi-agency approach to combatting human trafficking, it scolds the government for reduced spending, a fall-off in apprehension and training. It also criticised the absence of “long-term services to support victims’ reintegration, prevent re-exploitation, or sustain protection throughout lengthy court cases”.

The report noted that Jamaica “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.” These efforts included a trafficking conviction with significant prison terms and restitution paid to the victim, a national referral mechanism that aims to standardise procedures for victim identification, referral to cross-government entities services and an annual report.

Significantly, authorities hold up several improvements The Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Suppression and Punishment) Act, first enacted in 2007. Amendments speed up the prosecution of cases by introducing bench trials and increasing the penalties.

On July 9, 2013, the government amended the Act to increase incarceration periods to 20 years. The 2021 amendments removed the alternate and often controversial fine in place of imprisonment.

“Now a person convicted of trafficking can only be imprisoned or imprisoned and fined, so you cannot be fined only,” Russell explained.

Trafficking survivor turned activist, and consultant Shamere McKenzie told IPS in an interview that community awareness, involvement, and the use of technology to enhance the safety of possible victims could be the tools that tip Jamaica into Tier 1.

“There’s a lot we can do as a community to help our young people shape their morals and values and build their sense of awareness,” she said, noting that traffickers can recognise people with low self-esteem.

Since 2016 authorities have funded the development of two apps – Stay Alert and Travel Plan – to make it safer for especially young girls and women who use public transport. McKenzie believes communities and parents must learn to use technologies to keep their children safe.

“We should be teaching people how to protect themselves, how to memorise numbers, develop code words, develop safety methods and use text messages to protect themselves,” said McKenzie, who mentors survivors and educates others on how to spot and avoid the traps.

A former student-athlete, she was lured by someone she thought was a caring friend into 18-months of living hell. Sidelined by a serious hamstring injury, the young Jamaican’s athletics scholarship to a top United States university was suspended. She was forced to work for the extra money she needed for school fees and rent when she accepted a friend’s help.

The short-term offer of a rent-free basement apartment and ‘extra work’ at the trafficker’s nightclub turned into forced sex work after being beaten into submission by a man she believed to be her friend.

While this episode took place in the US, it is not uncommon for Jamaicans and foreigners to be lured young women into prostitution by offering them jobs or simply ’a better life’.

In 2016, a court sentenced Rohan Ebanks to 40 years and imprisoned and fined his common-law wife Voneisha Reeves after trafficking a 14-year-old Haitian girl. The judge convicted Ebanks for rape, trafficking, and facilitating trafficking in person while his co-accused had pleaded guilty to facilitating trafficking.

The fisherman had met the girl’s father on one of his many trips to Haiti and had convinced him to send her to Jamaica for a better life. Three years after the ordeal began, police rescued the teen from Ebanks and Reeve’s home, where she had been looking after the couple’s children.

As the pandemic progresses, Robinson and other members of the Traffic in Persons (TiP) task force warn parents that traffickers have gone online, making it more difficult to track them. They’ve also warned teens and their parents that families are also trafficking their relatives.

The 110 rescued by the TiP task force are among the .04 per cent of the estimated human trafficking survivors worldwide identified. The number is an indicator that most go undetected.

Experts conclude that assessing the scope of human trafficking is difficult because many cases go undetected. However, estimates are between 20 million and 40 million people n modern slavery today earn the perpetrators roughly 150 billion US dollars annually. Some 99 billion US dollars comes from commercial sexual exploitation.

“We must begin to teach our youth to use the technology we have to protect themselves,” McKenzie said.

This article is part of a series of features from across the globe on human trafficking. IPS coverage is supported by the Airways Aviation Group.

El Caribe se prepara contra futuros desastres

By: Zadie Neufville

This article was originally published on SciDev.Net. Read the original article
A pesar de sus diferentes capacidades nacionales y su exposición a peligros naturales, los países caribeños han mantenido progresos en el desarrollo a largo plazo y han registrado “buenos niveles” de preparación que les han permitido restaurar rápidamente las actividades económicas después de impactos como desastres naturales y la epidemia de COVID-19, según el Banco Mundial.

En su informe Resiliencia 360°: Una Guía para Preparar al Caribe para una Nueva Generación de Shocks (2021), presentado el 17 de noviembre, la entidad elogia a la región por su sistema de coordinación regional y sus programas de protección social que permitieron una rápida respuesta a la COVID-19.

Sin embargo, señala que a pesar del “buen funcionamiento de estos sistemas, la región sufre de pobreza continua y se vio afectada por los desafíos económicos causados por la pandemia”.

El informe evalúa los impactos históricos y futuros de las diversas perturbaciones naturales y climáticas de los 17 países que conforman la región del Caribe, sus brechas en la construcción de resiliencia y ofrece una serie de recomendaciones para los formuladores de políticas, como fortalecer la eficiencia de los gobiernos, empoderar a hogares y empresas y reducir los riesgos futuros mediante la mejora de la planificación espacial y la protección costera natural.

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Su lanzamiento se dio días después de la reunión presencial y virtual realizada en Kingston, capital de Jamaica, con ministros y representantes de alto nivel de 30 países de América Latina y el Caribe para continuar la implementación del Marco de Sendai para la Reducción del Riesgo de Desastres 2015-2030 en la región, y alinear sus acciones con los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible de la ONU.

El Marco de Sendai es un acuerdo internacional adoptado por los estados miembros de las Naciones Unidas y respaldado por su Asamblea General en 2015. Describe los objetivos y prioridades para reducir los riesgos existentes y lograr una reducción sustancial de los mismos así como de las pérdidas de vidas, los medios de subsistencia, la salud y los activos físicos, sociales, culturales y ambientales para 2030.

Al término de la reunión (4 de noviembre), que se realizó por primera vez en un país del Caribe, los participantes emitieron una declaración comprometiéndose a fortalecer las capacidades de sus países para responder y recuperarse de los desastres, incluida la pandemia, y poner a prueba su sistema de respuesta regional, elogiado por el Banco Mundial en el informe presentado el miércoles.

Entre otras cosas, los participantes se comprometieron a reducir la mortalidad, el número de personas afectadas por desastres, los daños a la infraestructura crítica y las pérdidas económicas y al desarrollo causadas por la pandemia de COVID-19 en la región.

Maurice Mason, economista ambiental del Instituto para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Universidad de las Indias Occidentales, mostró su acuerdo con la afirmación del informe del Banco Mundial de que “aunque la región estaba preparada para manejar los impactos, es muy vulnerable y depende de los cambios en la demanda turística mundial”.

“Con el 90 por ciento de nuestra infraestructura crítica a menos de 8 kilómetros de la costa, altamente vulnerable a las marejadas ciclónicas, el futuro de nuestros pequeños estados insulares debe ser en el corto –y también en el largo plazo– aumentar las restricciones a nuevos desarrollos [cercanos a la costa]”.

Maurice Mason, Instituto para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Universidad de las Indias Occidentales, Jamaica

Según él, invertir en infraestructura crítica –elementos o servicios indispensables para el desarrollo de un país– es la única manera de generar resiliencia en los países más vulnerables de América Latina y el Caribe.

“Con el 90 por ciento de nuestra infraestructura crítica a menos de 8 kilómetros de la costa, altamente vulnerable a las marejadas ciclónicas, el futuro de nuestros pequeños estados insulares debe ser en el corto –y también en el largo plazo— aumentar los obstáculos para nuevos desarrollos [cercanos a la costa]”, añadió.

Para poder alcanzar los objetivos del Marco de Sendai, los gobiernos de estos países se están asociando con el Fondo de Recuperación Resiliente del Caribe, mecanismo de financiamiento de subvenciones para ayudar en el largo plazo a los países a recuperarse y mejorar su capacidad de adaptación y resiliencia ante los desastres, como parte de su recuperación post COVID-19.

Dicho mecanismo es una asociación entre la Unión Europea, el Fondo Mundial para la Reducción de Desastres y la Recuperación, y el Banco Mundial, que proporcionará asesoramiento técnico, asistencia para las medidas de adaptación y para desarrollar la resiliencia así como para ampliar el seguro contra pérdidas.

“Nuestro turismo está basado en la costa por lo que nuestra economía es altamente vulnerable”, anota Mason, y señala que a pesar de la preparación, el nivel de inversión en seguros sigue siendo inadecuado para proteger a los países de las repercusiones de los impactos de eventos naturales como los huracanes; y muchas estructuras siguen siendo incapaces de resistir los embates de huracanes por encima de la categoría tres.

América Latina y el Caribe se encuentran entre las regiones más vulnerables del mundo a los desastres. Datos del Centro de Investigaciones sobre Epidemiología de Desastres indican que entre 1970 y 2019 se produjeron 2.309 desastres naturales que dejaron 510.204 muertos y 297 millones de personas afectadas o desplazadas, además de daños por US$ 437.000 millones. En no pocos casos se destruyeron economías, hogares y medios de vida.

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This article was originally published on SciDev.Net. Read the original article.

Caribbean Under Threat: Report Reveals Enormous Challenges for the Region

by Zadie Neufville
This article was first published by IPS on Sept 9, 2021 – Less than halfway into the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season, Jamaica and its Caribbean neighbours were already tallying the costs of infrastructural damage and crop losses from the passage of three tropical storms – Elsa, Grace and Ida. And after a record-breaking 2020 season, the region is on tenterhooks as the season peaks.

But while storm and hurricane damage are not new to the Caribbean, these systems’ increased frequency and intensity bring new reckoning for a region where climate change is already happening. According to data, the effects are likely to worsen in the next 20 years or so, earlier than previously expected.

What is more, the launch of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report (AR6) confirmed what regional scientists have said for years: the frequency and intensity of hurricanes will increase, and floods, droughts and dry spells will be more prolonged and more frequent. In addition, sea levels are rising faster, and heatwaves are more intense and are occurring more often.

AR6, the so-called ‘red code for humanity’, offers a frightening look at the global climate and what is to come. It also confirmed that for most small island states, climate change is already happening.

In a bid to bring home the reality of what is fast becoming the region’s biggest challenge, two leading climate scientists broke down AR6 to highlight the issues that should concern leaders and citizens of the Caribbean.

In a document named Caribbean Under Threat! 10 Urgent Takeaways for the Caribbean, co-heads of the University of the West Indies Mona, Climate Studies Group (CSG), professors Tannecia Stephenson and Michael Taylor warned: “We can now say with greater certainty that climate change is making our weather worse. It is affecting the intensity of heatwaves, droughts, floods and hurricanes, all of which are impacting the Caribbean”.

In a joint interview with IPS, Taylor and Stephenson noted, “Global warming has not slowed.”

They reiterated the IPCC’s warning that “The world will exceed 1.5 degrees between now and 2040” and urged Caribbean leaders to collectively lobby for deeper global greenhouse gas reductions at the upcoming 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the UN Convention on Climate Change. The gathering of world leaders and negotiators will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 31 to November 12, 2021.

While AR6 offered some hope, in that there is still time to limit global heating to between 1.5 and 2.0 degrees of pre-industrial limits, Stephenson noted that there is an urgent need for more drastic cuts in emissions.

That will not be easy, Taylor added, because although the Caribbean’s contribution to global C02 emissions is already low – according to some estimates below two per cent. “The region must drastically reduce its footprint even further, through greater use of renewables, the preservation of marine and land-based forests and by reducing emissions from waste and transportation.”

The takeaway for the Caribbean, Stephenson said, is that the region will face multiple concurrent threats with every additional incremental increase in temperature. Atmospheric warming and more acidic seas and oceans will impact tourism and fisheries and the future of the region’s Blue Economic thrust.

She added: “The Caribbean must prepare itself to deal with water shortages and increasing sea levels which has implication for low lying areas and the many small islands of the region”.

The 20-country grouping of the Caribbean Community has rallied around the slogan ‘1.5 to stay Alive’ based on the premise that viability of the territories here, is dependent on global temperatures remaining below or at 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. But with global temperatures already at 1.1 of the 1.5 degrees, warming is outstripping the pace of the region’s response.

“If there ever was a time to step up the global campaign for 1.5 degrees, it is now,” said Stephenson, the region’s only contributing writer in Working Group 1, of the AR6.

According to the IPCC AR6 report, net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by mid-century can limit global warming to 1.5 or 2.0 degrees within this century. However, the Climate Studies Group has warned that some individual years will hit 1.5 degrees even before 2040, when temperatures are expected to exceed that target.

The signs are everywhere. Last summer, the CSG reported an increase in the number of hot days and nights in the Caribbean. Forecasts also indicate that in the next ten years, the day and night-time temperatures in the region will increase by between 0.65 and 0.84 degrees.

At the same time, the CSG forecasted a 20 per cent reduction in rainfall in some places and up to 30 per cent in others. Trends are also reflecting an increase in the number of dry spells and droughts. Between 2013 and 2017, droughts have swept the Caribbean from Cuba in the North to Trinidad and Tobago in the South, and Belize, Guyana and Suriname in Central and South America.

Since AR5 in 2014, the abundance of evidence links the catastrophic changes to humans, the scientist noted, adding that the changes from human-induced climate change are visible in the extremes of heatwaves, heavy rainfall, droughts, and tropical cyclones. This past summer, wildfires and extreme rainfall caused deaths and forced evacuations in every region of the world, and a cold snap covered Brazil in snowfall and freezing rain.
These intensity and frequency of heat extremes are quickly becoming a cause for concern for the region as the extremes are likely to impact energy use, agricultural productivity, health and water demand and availability. Stephenson urged leaders to make water security a top priority in their mitigation planning.

Three of the world’s most water-scarce countries are in the Caribbean. Water scarce is the term given when a country has less than 1,000 cubic meters of freshwater resources per resident.

The region has a role in deciding how bad things will become, Taylor and Stephenson said. In their 10-point takeaway, they challenge leaders to intensify efforts to keep the current limits on global warming. They must have collective positions on mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage even as the world has already committed itself to some level of increase and impact.

In the run-up to COP26, regional leaders are not only continuing their support for 1.5, but they have also positioned themselves behind the Five Point Plan for Solidarity, Fairness and Prosperity, which calls for the delivery of the promises made in the Paris Agreement.

If nothing else, the region will continue to be severely impacted and must invest heavily to shore up critical infrastructure, most of which are along the coast, said veteran climate scientist Dr Ulric Trotz.

Using Jamaica as an example, he pointed to the US$65.7 million coastal protection works along a 2.5- kilometre stretch of the 14-kilometre-long Palisadoes peninsula in 2010 after the international airport was cut off from the capital city, Kingston, by back-to-back extreme weather events.

“The Caribbean must be prepared for the ‘new normal’ of climate intensities,” Stephenson said. “The stark message is that everybody has to be part of the solution”.

*The Climate Studies Group, Mona is a consortium member of The UWI’s Global Institute of Climate-Smart and Resilient Development (GICSRD), which harnesses UWI’s expertise in climate change, resilience, sustainable development and disaster risk reduction across all UWI campuses.

Is the Jamaican government giving BPO investors the “green light to disregard labour laws”?

by Zadie Neufville
(Equal Times first published this article on March 8, 2021 )
With tens of thousands of jobs linked to the tourism sector lost due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Jamaican government has heralded the island’s fast-expanding business process outsourcing (BPO) sector as a much-needed source of jobs. However, there are major concerns about the widespread breech of workers’ rights in the sector. Of the 40,000 BPO workers in Jamaica – whose roles vary from customer services to technical support, sales and more – nearly all are working on fixed-term and temporary contracts, and not one of the 70-plus companies operating on the island has allowed trade union representation within their firms.

As a result, thousands of young workers are lured into call centre jobs, enticed by promises of good salaries and skilled work within a high-tech, global industry, only to find themselves facing a completely different reality once the training is over and the contracts are signed. “Pretty quickly you realise that things are not what they said it would be,” says Sharon (not her real name) a 27-year-old who has worked at three different companies in the global services sector, as the BPO sector is also known.

An informal survey of workers by Equal Times indicates that companies frequently breach their basic contractual agreements on everything from pay to breaks, transport allowances and holiday allocation.

“My pay was supposed to be J$500 per hour as an experienced worker but it is actually J$250 per hour, and J$250 per hour as a performance incentive,” Sharon says. In some companies, wages are as low as US$2.50 per hour (approximately J$340) before tax. “This is barely enough for people with children to survive on,” she says.

Although employers often lament the high staff turnover in Jamaica’s call centres, the prevalence of short-term contracts means that there is no job security for workers. Workers who spoke to Equal Times under the condition of anonymity complained that while deductions for health insurance begin 90 days into their contracts, it can take up to seven months or more before insurance cards are issued, which means that in the middle of a pandemic, many workers can’t access this crucial benefit. They also described long hours, short or no breaks during busy periods, and environments where employers hire and fire at will, instilling a sense of fear that makes workers reluctant to speak up. Workers interviewed for this article also say that while not explicit, the language in their contracts implies that organising and collective bargaining are grounds for dismissal, even though freedom of association is enshrined in the Jamaican constitution.

Call centre operators “do as they like”

The BPO sector is one of the fastest-growing industries in the Caribbean. The region’s close proximity to the United States and large pool of young, English-speaking, skilled workers has made it an increasingly popular destination for global companies like Teleperformance, Xerox, itel-BPO and IBEX Global, particularly as coronavirus outbreaksin various call centres in the Philippines impacted business in the world’s top BPO destination.

Jamaica is the region’s largest BPO market. Operators covering telecommunications, banking, insurance, health care, finance and accounting, gaming and tech support produced estimated revenues of US$230 million in 2012, rising to US$430 million in 2015. The sector is currently valued at approximately US $600 million, and it is for this reason that the government has made global services a priority in the island’s strategic development plan, Vision 2030.

Many of the sector’s workers are university graduates that struggle to find employment in a shrinking job market. Undoubtedly, the BPO sector has attracted significant foreign direct investment to Caribbean nations that are struggling to bounce-back from the economic downturn of 2008 and the recent Covid-19 pandemic. As professional jobs have dried up in the banana, sugar and manufacturing sectors, governments have embraced the BPO sector for providing economic growth and youth employment opportunities.

But Jamaica’s trade unions want to see better adherence to fundamental workers’ rights, particularly with regards to fixed-term and temporary contract employment.

There is a widespread feeling that “investors are given the impression that they will be afforded certain protections,” says Khurt Fletcher, island supervisor at the National Workers Union (NWU).

“I’m concerned that JAMPRO [the Jamaican government’s trade and investment agency] is not doing enough to advise them of our strict labour laws and union-friendly society,” he notes, particularly as many of the BPOs operating in Jamaica are not registered there. Phone calls and emails to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security made by Equal Times went unanswered.

There is also a perception that workers’ rights in the sector are impeded by conflicts of interest, with some BPO operators making financial donations to various political parties. This concern is borne out by the government’s own declarations. In an August 2020 press release on the BPO sector, the Jamaica Information Service said: “Jamaica’s BPO industry is built on a very strong partnership among the industry, industry players and the Government, which respond strongly to the needs of the industry…”. There is no mention of labour rights or social dialogue with the trade unions.

Many point to the sector’s designation as an essential service to bypass Covid-19 lockdown regulations at the height of the outbreak as further evidence of the industry’s undue influence over the government. It was only after an Alorica call centre in Portmore became a hotspot for coronavirus infections, with more than 200 staff testing positive for Covid-19, that the government instituted a 14-day shutdown of the sector, resulting in losses of approximately US$13.4 million. Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, almost 50 per cent of the BPO workforce has been working from home, and the government is considering new legislation to allow BPO workers to continue to do so.

Time for minimum standards

In April 2020, towards the start of the pandemic, the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) echoed calls from the largest BPO sector unions in Jamaica to observe minimum standards for the global services industry as proposed by UNI Global Union, the global trade union federation for skills and services workers. As well as measures to protect sector workers from the spread of the coronavirus (remote work where possible, especially for high-risk workers, social distancing for those who have to work in offices, the prohibition of hot desking, and paid leave for the sick and self-isolating, etc.) these standards include respecting the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Today, Fletcher of the NWU and John Lee, general secretary of the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE) are amongst the leaders of the country’s 12 largest unions backing the calls for adherence to labour standards, with Fletcher proposing that the International Labour Organization (ILO) updates its reporting requirements to make it essential that unions contribute to the country reports that are currently written by the government.

As the Jamaican government sets its sights on a target of 300,000 BPO jobs by 2030, unions fear that the government seems more concerned with the number of jobs created than the quality. BPO insiders reportedly made spurious claims that unionisation would cause a “mass pull-out” of outsourcing firms from the island.

But union leaders like Fletcher say that investors must follow the laws that protect Jamaican workers. “Investments must not take away from the rights of the workers,” he says.

Lee is also calling on the government to “state its position on the unionisation of workers in the sector” in response to comments from Gloria Henry, president of the Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ). Last October, Henry dismissed the importance of unions telling the Jamaica Gleaner: “Arguably, unions provide some value in addressing gaps in work environments where management is non-responsive to things such as poor working conditions and health standards, but this is not the case for BPO employees within the GSAJ.” The idea that “well-managed, highly motivated and, in many cases, competitively paid workers are in need of unions is outdated,” she continued.

Lee acknowledges the industry’s contribution “to the expansion of the telecommunication and digital industries, providing new opportunities and jobs in the rural areas”. But he agrees with Fletcher that government is not doing enough to ensure that investors understand Jamaica’s strong labour laws: “There is the perception that the BPO and other investors are given assurances that encourage them to operate outside the laws that protect workers.”

BPOs already have special privileges as they operate under Special Economic Zone (Free Zones) legislation as ‘public utility services’. This arrangement has resulted in a range of tax exemptions and anti-union laws: for example, there can be no strikes unless unions give employers six weeks’ notice. Describing the better-paying jobs in the sector as “the best of the worst,” Fletcher muses: “I wonder how much they are being helped to circumvent legislation and whether these investors are given the green light to disregard our laws?”

Jamaica increases emissions targets for green COVID-19 recovery

By Zadie Neufville

This article was originally published in Spanish on SciDev.Net. Read the Engish version  

[KINGSTON] Jamaica has overhauled its emissions milestones to create a post-pandemic recovery package anchored in stronger carbon emissions targets for farms and forestry — raising hopes other countries in the region will follow suit.

Jamaica hopes to cut emissions from the forestry and farming sectors by almost one third over the next decade, by optimising water and energy use and diversifying food production.

The announcement comes as countries worldwide struggle to manage their economies during the COVID-19 outbreak, often using measures many fear will set back sustainability goals.

“There will be a significant decline in regional emissions if countries with high emissions like Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic … take Jamaica as a precedent.”

Ulric Trotz, deputy director, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre

Jamaica has more than a million motor vehicles contributing to increased emissions.- Gleaner photo

This year, governments were expected to present ambitious climate plans to meet obligations under the Paris Agreement. Low- and middle-income countries have been leading the way, with Rwanda and Suriname among the first ten countries to submit or update their nationally determined contributions (NDC).

Una May Gordon, climate change division director at Jamaica’s Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, says the new policy — a revision of the country’s 2030 energy policy — includes assessments and modelling to take into account the importance of agriculture and forestry to the economy.

The previous policy reduced the island’s dependency on oil in its energy supply mix, from 95 per cent in 2010 to about 50 per cent at the end of 2019.

Farmers in the Blue Mountains. Bush fires have contributed to forest loss and land-use changes.

Under the new targets, Jamaica hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from changes in land use, for development and increased agricultural activities, and deforestation by up to 28.5 per cent by 2030. Agriculture contributes about six per cent to Jamaica’s total emissions, while land-use change and forestry account for 7.8 per cent of emissions.

Carlos Fuller, a climate negotiator attached to the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), says Jamaica’s new measures “will create new economic opportunities and generate employment for Jamaicans”.

“The COVID-19 recovery must include a shift to a less carbon-intensive economy under the Paris Agreement and [this is something] which Jamaica has pledged to do through these new, enhanced and more ambitious nationally determined contributions,” Fuller tells SciDev.Net.

“The activities required to achieve the more ambitious NDC provides Jamaicans with the opportunity to create new economic prospects, which will generate more employment, capacity building initiatives, development and deployment of new technologies, stimulate foreign direct investment and lead to a healthier and enhanced quality of life.”

There is hope the country will pave the way for a regional trend towards improved emissions policies.

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CCCCC deputy director and science advisor, Ulric Trotz, says: “There will be a significant decline in regional emissions if countries with high emissions like Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic … take Jamaica as a precedent.”

Predictions for the island’s economy are bleak. The new energy policy could prove crucial to Jamaica’s economic recovery, says Helen Mountford, vice president for climate and economics at the World Resources Institute.

“Jamaica is taking the kind of action needed both to tackle climate change and rebound from the COVID-19 crisis in a way that will strengthen its resilience to future shocks,” she says.

The COVID19 Epidemic has resulted in increased agricultural production, PIOJ reported at the end of May 2020.

Jamaica’s government is projecting a 5.1 per cent economic contraction as critical sectors like tourism, mining and transport are hit by the pandemic, while the Planning Institute of Jamaica has forecast the lowest economic growth for the country in 40 years.

“Despite the serious economic pressure that Jamaica is facing from the COVID-19 crisis, this small island developing nation is demonstrating leadership on climate change that the world needs right now,” Mountford says.

 

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Jamaica reducirá aún más sus emisiones

By Zadie Neufville

Este artículo fue publicado originalmente en SciDev.Net. Lea la versión original aquí.
En medio de la pandemia de COVID-19, Jamaica amplió su objetivo de reducción de emisiones, asumido en 2015, para incluir el uso de la tierra y los bosques.

The COVID19 Epidemic has resulted in increased agricultural production, PIOJ reported at the end of May 2020.

Jamaica has more than a million motor vehicles contributing to increased emissions and traffic jams like this one at the Highway 2000 off ramp at Marcus Garvey Drive.- Gleaner photo

Los nuevos objetivos comprometen a Jamaica a reducir entre 25,4 por ciento (sin el apoyo de los donantes) y en un 28,5 por ciento (condicional al apoyo de los donantes) las emisiones del uso de la tierra, el cambio de uso de la tierra y la silvicultura —que se sumarán a las reducciones ya comprometidas de energía— con un escenario de negocios para 2030.

La Directora de la Unidad de Cambio Climático de Jamaica, Una May Gordon, explicó por correo electrónico a SciDev.Net que el plan mejorado constituye una revisión de la política energética del país para 2009-2030, con nuevas evaluaciones y modelos que toman en cuenta la importancia de la agricultura y la forestería para la economía. Y añadió que ya se está desarrollando un plan de inversión para apoyar la implementación.

La política de reducción de emisiones, que se incorporó al marco de planificación del gobierno de Jamaica, hasta ahora ha reducido la dependencia del petróleo para la generación de energía de 95 por ciento en 2010 a casi 50 por ciento a finales de 2019.

Los planes para reducir las emisiones de los sistemas de transporte público y masivo incluyen la continua expansión de fuentes alternativas para reemplazar el combustible fósil en la mezcla de energía, e incentivos para apoyar el despliegue de vehículos eléctricos.

“Al comprometerse a seguir reforzando su objetivo general de reducción de emisiones e incorporar el cambio de uso de la tierra y los bosques en su plan, Jamaica está adoptando el tipo de medidas necesarias tanto para hacer frente al cambio climático como para recuperarse de la crisis de la COVID-19 de tal manera que refuerce su capacidad de recuperación ante futuras perturbaciones”.

Helen Mountford, Vicepresidenta de Clima y Economía, Instituto de Recursos Mundiales

Los nuevos objetivos abarcan una serie de actividades de mitigación y adaptación en los sectores agrícola y forestal e incorporan iniciativas para lograr sistemas y tecnologías más eficientes a fin de mejorar el uso del agua y la energía; el almacenamiento y la producción de alimentos y la diversificación de las técnicas de producción de alimentos. También hay planes para ampliar la agroforestería y la acuicultura.

Estas medidas adicionales mejorarían las oportunidades de empleo y las perspectivas de desarrollo posteriores a la COVID-19 a la vez que amortiguarán futuras conmociones que pudiera sufrir la isla, al crear nuevas oportunidades de inversión, coincidieron expertos regionales e internacionales consultados por SciDev.Net.

Debido a la pandemia, el gobierno de Jamaica ha proyectado una contracción del 5,1 por ciento en su economía al haber cerrado sectores críticos como turismo, minería y transporte. En una actualización económica del 27 de mayo, el Instituto de Planificación de Jamaica pronosticó un crecimiento negativo de entre -4.0 y -6.0 por ciento para el año fiscal 2020/2021, el más bajo en 40 años. El crecimiento del primer trimestre de 2020 fue 0,1 por ciento.

Hasta el 14 de julio la isla registraba 762 personas positivas a COVID-19 y 10 muertes. La mayoría de contagios son importados principalmente de los EE.UU.

“Sería imprudente volver a los negocios como antes. La recuperación de la COVID-19 debe incluir un cambio a una economía menos intensiva en carbono en el marco del Acuerdo de París y que Jamaica se ha comprometido a realizar a través de este nuevas, mejoradas y más ambiciosas contribuciones nacionalmente determinadas”, dijo por teléfono Carlos Fuller, negociador climático regional y enlace con el Centro de Cambio Climático de la Comunidad del Caribe.

Al tiempo que instó a otros países a tomar nota del “ambicioso” ejemplo de Jamaica, Fuller continuó: “Las actividades necesarias para lograr contribuciones más ambiciosas brindan a los jamaiquinos la oportunidad de crear nuevas perspectivas económicas, que generarán más empleo, iniciativas de creación de capacidad, desarrollo y despliegue de nuevas tecnologías, estimularán la inversión extranjera directa y conducirán a una más sana y mejor calidad de vida”.

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“Al comprometerse a seguir reforzando su objetivo general de reducción de emisiones e incorporar el cambio de uso de la tierra y los bosques en su plan, Jamaica está adoptando el tipo de medidas necesarias tanto para hacer frente al cambio climático como para recuperarse de la crisis de la COVID-19 de tal manera que refuerce su capacidad de recuperación ante futuras perturbaciones”, señaló por correo electrónico Helen Mountford, Vicepresidenta de Clima y Economía del Instituto de Recursos Mundiales.

El director adjunto y asesor científico del CCCCC, Ulric Trotz, también señaló la importancia de que otros gobiernos regionales adopten medidas similares.

“Habrá una disminución significativa de las emisiones regionales si los países con altas emisiones como Trinidad y Tobago, Cuba y la República Dominicana, así como Belice, Guyana y Surinam, países con emisiones significativamente más altas por el uso de la tierra, toman a Jamaica como precedente”, dijo.

Gordon confirmó que Jamaica continuaría su labor en relación con los compromisos de 2015, lo que indica que los esfuerzos por reducir las emisiones del transporte y la generación de electricidad -que representan la parte más importante de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero- siguen su curso.

 

Este artículo fue publicado originalmente en SciDev.Net. Lea la versión original aquí.

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New Approach to Funding Tertiary Education: Shaping the 21st Century Mona Campus

KINGSTON: Nov 2016 [MONA News}: The leadership of The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, is on a mission to make this the region’s most modern and sought-after institution, using a development model which could become the go-to for other campuses and institutions.

In recent years, there have been several changes: a new medical building, new halls of residence, restaurants and banking facilities. Strapped for cash but determined not to borrow, Mona’s Principal Professor Archibald McDonald and his team are pursuing a series of public/private Partnerships that have breathed new life into the 68 year-old institution.

The slow steady pace of development is being ramped up: old buildings are giving way to new ones, old facilities refreshed and equipment upgraded. The plans are as ambitious as they are optimistic and expensive, but the University is racing full speed ahead. Surprisingly, the institution is not spending a single cent. Speaking with Mona Magazine recently, Professor McDonald outlined a raft of initiatives that aim to reshape the sprawling Mona Campus into an ultra-modern institution offering its students a world-class education in line with corporate needs, the very best in accommodation, student services and comfort.

Mona’s student housing development model is now seen as the standard for cash-strapped colleges and institutions, and is to be rolled out across the entire UWI system. Who would have known that a rather contentious induction speech just over three years ago would result in a prolific and rewarding relationship between the Mona Campus and the private sector.

“During my induction speech I noted that governments over the years had not done enough for the University… and I challenged the private sector to do more. It has paid off,” Professor McDonald said with a chuckle. He noted that the “relationship between the private sector and the university has never been closer”. On one hand, UWI is getting what it needs in development: technological and industry support through several Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) and Private/Public Partnerships, while the investors salve their corporate responsibility needs and makes a profit.

A partnership between The UWI, Mona and 138 Student Living – a subsidiary of K-Limited – to refurbish, remodel and operate its halls of residence, has revolutionised the management of student housing. Irvine Hall is being refurbished, demolishing some of the old buildings to make way for new ones, adding another 1,100 rooms to bring world-class accommodation and ‘home comforts’ to campus living. And this is only the beginning.

The agreement for the construction of 1,584 houses at a cost of $4 billion over three years should increase the number of rooms on the Mona Campus to about 6,000. The first 480 units have already been delivered, 500 will be handed over soon and the balance, scheduled for handover in 2017. This makes the University the largest single owner of ‘hotel’ rooms on the island.

“Because of the cash flow problems we have not been able to maintain the facilities properly, so outsourcing gives us the opportunity to do the renovations which are necessary and have world-class accommodation for our students,” Professor McDonald explained.

New housing is only one component of the overall strategy to increase revenues, Mona’s principal continued: “We are trying to increase the number of international students. It has been slow, but what we have done is to attract more regional students especially from Trinidad and Tobago. Whenever you bring students from outside of Jamaica, you need to provide accommodation for them”.

K Limited and UWI’s other partners will recover their investments from the savings and earnings. Ambitious as this is, it is only the tip of the iceberg.

The next three to five years will see major changes on Campus, among them the conversion of the 15-room Mona Visitors’ Lodge & Conference Centre into a 150-room hotel; and the development of College Common. Replacing the Mona Visitors’ Lodge will improve the offerings at what is already a “very nice place for weddings” to provide modern conference facilities and a one-of-a-kind wedding location.

Over at College Common, the UWI-owned residential property, things are about to change. The 100-acre property which is currently home to some of the University’s senior academic and adminstrative staff, is a laid-back community of colonial-style homes on up to an acre of land. Its current layout makes it difficult to secure and maintain, Professor McDonald said, noting: “College Common has been there for 60-odd years, it is exactly as the British left it, only it is much worse as the houses are in disrepair.”

A mix of town houses, apartments and up-scale homes, some of which will be offered as high-end rentals to companies and Embassies, will replace the run-down old houses, provide staff with updated facilities and the university with much-needed revenue to continue funding the extensive development plans that are being rolled out.

There is no doubt this project could reap big benefits. After all, the Mona Campus sits on some prime lands, in a coveted zip code. And pulling everything together, an ultra-modern Campus/Student centre housing a modern auditorium for university functions including the annual graduation exercise, the housing of the students’ union, a place where students meet, study or just hang out. In addition to the coffee shops, meeting and reading rooms, the centre is expected to be a hub of activity for the 18,000 students on roll.

But plans would not be complete without an adequate supply of water and cost-effective energy. In fact, the co–generation plant that is already cooling several of the buildings on campus will also provide electricity. Once completed, the plant is expected to only reduce the campus’ dependence on the national grid, and slash energy costs by as much as 50 percent – that translates to roughly $50 million dollars in monthly savings.

In addition, the University’s well-publicised water woes are about to disappear. A new well providing 750,000 gallons a day will more than satisfy the campus’ 500,000-gallon daily requirement, saving an additional $20 million in water charges. With all these coming together, Professor McDonald is delighted.

“If you were to look at our audited statements we would not be able to afford all of this,” he said. But the private/public partnership agreements have allowed the University to improve campus facilities and the value of the services on offer.

“I see this as a new model for the funding of tertiary education,” McDonald said, noting that institutions need money to stay competitive amidst growing competition.

And how much will all this development cost? On the conservative side, more than US$2 billion. What is important, however, is that The University will not spend ‘one red cent’, as the saying goes. As Professor McDonald puts it, Corporate Jamaica is finally seeing the value of partnering with the institution.

The benefits are mutual, ranging from product design, development and testing to skills transfer, professional development and income generation; and for students, industry-specific training, internships and scholarships.

Investors including local corporations like the Jamaica Public Service, the French giant Total, and US marijuana company CITIVA, all fund projects that improve their products and outputs, and add to their bottom line. And the improvements to the Mona Campus are not all.

Over at the University Hospital of the West Indies, in addition to the installation of a fully computerised medical filing system, slated for completion early next year, architectural designs for a major rebuilding project are on the ‘drawing board’. Several buildings will be demolished and replaced, Professor McDonald said.

This year, as the University prepares to begin clinical trials of marijuana extracts to treat epilepsy in children and chronic pain; the expansion and relocation of the Western Jamaica Medical Campus has begun and negotiations are underway for the construction of a modern medical facility on the site of the new campus to take advantage of the growing medical tourism market.

Even so, The UWI Mona continues to look for ways to leverage the many opportunities available, with entrepreneurs with the acumen and fortitude to take up the challenges. Take the Usain Bolt Track for instance. There are plans for a gym and winter sports centre around the state-of-the art running track.

“We just need someone to manage the process, but then that might be for my successor,” Professor McDonald said thoughtfully.

And there are so many things to do. With world-class athletes and universities lining up to experience the training that made the ‘Big Man’ a legend – and the opportunities presented by an Olympic-sized swimming pool –Mona’s standing as the home of the athlete dubbed the ‘Living Legend” is destined to soar.

-Zadie Neufville