Adapting together: A climate change journey in Jamaica’s Cockpit Country

Port of Spain, 27 June 2024 - Arlette Dunkley-Fullerton is a farmer in Jamaica's Cockpit Country KBA, and over the 20 years that she has lived there, she has been observing changes in rainfall patterns and the growing seasons of crops. "The work that Jamaica Environment Trust did to help us plan for climate change in our area was not just informative about climate change, it was an eye-opener, especially for the group members," says Arlette, who is also the Vice President of the South East Cockpit Country Local Forest Management Committee Benevolent Society.

This community-based group supports national forest conservation goals and promotes sustainable alternative livelihoods for residents of the southeast section of the Cockpit Country Key Biodiversity Area (KBA), many of whom have traditionally depended heavily on forest resources as part of their livelihood strategies.

Importance of the Cockpit Country

The Cockpit Country is important to Jamaica for several reasons. Forty per cent of Western Jamaica's water supply comes from the area. It is Jamaica's largest remaining contiguous rainforest. It has an estimated 1,500 vascular plant species, of which 400 are endemic, with many individual hilltops of the karst landscape displaying local/niche endemism. The Cockpit Country provides habitats for all 28 of Jamaica's endemic land birds and has the highest local diversity of amphibians and reptiles on the island. Thirteen of Jamaica's 21 bat species are obligate cave dwellers, including three of the four endemics.

This KBA also provides numerous communities with livelihood opportunities, especially for agriculture. Subsistence farmers cultivate the valley bottoms, with the primary crop being yams. In some cases, this practice has had a detrimental effect on the biodiversity of the Cockpit Country.

Understanding localised impacts of a global phenomenon

Although climate change has been considered a threat to Cockpit Country's biological diversity, no studies had been done to assess and properly understand the localised impact of climate change on this important area so that an adaptation plan could be prepared and communities empowered with the knowledge to adapt to climate change, maintain their livelihoods and preserve the biodiversity of the Cockpit Country for their survival.

In the face of this information gap, enter the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), a national advocacy and environmental education organisation that has been part of a stakeholder coalition dedicated to protecting and preserving the Cockpit Country and safeguarding its communities. With support from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), JET worked on enhancing protected area management and socioeconomic planning in the southeast section of the Cockpit Country. This involved drawing on scientific information and local knowledge to address the historical impacts of climate change on biodiversity and agriculture, particularly those resulting from prolonged drought cycles and intensified rainfall events.

Through a series of workshops, meetings and training sessions under the project, community members learned about climate change, how it is currently affecting the Cockpit Country's biodiversity and their livelihoods and how it will continue to affect them. They gained insights into the connections between climate change impacts on the environment and the consequences of farming practices.

During discussions and workshops, community members reflected on how crop types have evolved over time, revealing that while yam farming currently dominates, it wasn't always the primary form of agriculture. This historical perspective was useful in helping community members appreciate that with climate change, they may need to make further adjustments to include the cultivation of climate-resilient crops and adopt more climate-smart and sustainable farming practices.

JET brought in the Climate Studies Group Mona of the University of the West Indies to prepare a localised climate change assessment for the Cockpit Country and projections for three future timeframes: near-term (2030-2039), medium-term (2050-2059), and the end of the century (2080 - 2097). JET then translated the scientific and technical information into easily disseminated and digestible material for community meetings in the form of presentations, videos, and brochures on what climate change is all about and how they can adapt.

Community planning with scientific insights and local knowledge

Inception meeting in Troy, Jamaica. © Lauren Creary/JET

In a marriage of scientific information and local knowledge, JET and community members prepared a vulnerability assessment and local adaptation plan for communities of the southeast section of the Cockpit Country, including Troy, Wilson's Run, New Hope, Warsop, Litchfield, Wait-a-bit and Wirefence. The adaptation plan outlines actions that can benefit community livelihoods and maintain biodiversity.

The community greatly appreciated the participatory approach to developing the adaptation plan "as we got the chance to suggest our own solutions to the problem," says Arlette. Leading by example, she is establishing her own rainwater harvesting system, one of the adaptation methods discussed in community workshops.

Arlette notes that incorporating live trees into yam farming was yet another technique raised and discussed in community meetings. Building on the JET project, the South East Cockpit Country Local Forest Management Committee Benevolent Society has developed and secured approval from the CEPF for a follow-up project, focusing on encouraging the use of live yam sticks in yam cultivation.

Arlette believes that JET's involvement in the project to raise awareness about climate change was valuable, demonstrated by the enthusiastic response from community members. "They were so into [the sessions] and learning about climate change," notes Arlette. Several community members were able to identify things happening on their farms and in their communities and could now attribute them to climate change. "We are literally IN climate change now," says Arlette. "And as a group, we feel that this [type of project] is something that needs to be continued."

For further information, please contact: Wendy Dyemma-Harper, CEPF Communications and Information Management Officer, at [email protected].

Click on the link below to browse our interactive map of current CEPF grants in the Caribbean Islands Biodiversity Hotspot: https://bit.ly/3VlFCJC.

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