PRESS RELEASE - March 05, 2008

Jamaica is one of 13 participating countries in the region benefiting from a watershed and coastal management project funded by the Global Environment Facility. The Jamaican component of the project which is being executed by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is intended to develop and implement a model Watershed Management Area Mechanism (WMAM), that is, model environmentally friendly practices for Eastern Portland which applies lessons learnt and experiences gained from previous projects of similar nature. 

A watershed is an area of land that collects rainwater and drains it into gullies, streams, marshes, rivers, where it eventually ends up into the sea. 

The regional workshop being hosted by the Global Environment Facility at the Sunset Jamaica Grande, Ocho Rios, from 10 to 12 March, is part of the support mechanism for the Regional Project and is intended to help participating countries identify indicators and keep track of them throughout the life of the individual country projects. (See accompanying release from GEF-IWCAM Project, St Lucia). 

Nine (9) areas were chosen regionally as demonstration sites and will serve as models for best practices and lessoned learned in each island.  Ultimately, each demonstration site is expected to establish model Watershed Management Area Mechanisms. 

The Jamaican demonstration site is based in the Driver’s River Watershed Management Unit in Portland which is noted as the least degraded watershed in the Parish. It was chosen as a demonstration site because it is considered ideal for the introduction of interventions to prevent further degradation.