Latin America & the Caribbean

Jamaica

• © UNESCO/A. Rossi

The country hosts a UNESCO Cluster Office in Kingston, which covers Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saints Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

Jamaica is vulnerable to many of the risks common to small island states: sea level rise due to climate change, natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes and coastal degradation, and is involved in UNESCO initiatives that tackle these issues.

As the ocean and coastal areas provide livelihoods for a large part of the country’s population, Jamaica is participating in two projects that promote the integrated management and conservation of coastal areas for sustainable living. One of these aims to reverse the massive overfishing trend in Portland Bight through training and empowering stakeholders and the creation of a protected area.

Below you can access the projects that are currently being implemented in the country within the framework of UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Sector.

Earth Sciences

- Seismic Microzoning of Latin American Cities (IGCP, Project 487)

- Quaternary Land-Ocean Interactions (IGCP, Project 495)

Oceans

- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Sub-Commission for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (IOCARIBE)

Coasts and Small Islands  

- Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity Program (CARICOMP): sustaining coastal biodiversity benefits and ecosystem services

- Sustainable livelihoods for artisanal fishers through stakeholder co-management in the Portland Bight Protected Area More

- Youth Visioning for Island Living initiative

• Photovoice: My Island through My Eyes More
• Enviro-Kids Programme at Holywell More

- The Small Island States Universities Consortium on Capacity-Building to implement the Barbados Programme of Action (BPOA), established in 2006 at the University of the West Indies, Secretariat to the Consortium More