Sustainable Futures for Jamaica: Policies and Actions for Socioeconomic Recovery Post-COVID-19
Regenerative and Sustainable Futures for Latin America and the Caribbean
ISBN: 978-1-80117-865-5, eISBN: 978-1-80117-864-8
Publication date: 27 January 2022
Abstract
As a Small Island Developing State, Jamaica merits special consideration in discussions on climate change. This reality has arguably been heightened by COVID-19, forcing even more attention to identifying recovery measures which do not exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. Using future scenarios methodology, the chapter identifies four possible scenarios for Jamaica, highlighting the limitations and opportunities for socioeconomic recovery post-COVID-19. In so doing, it also identifies the means, actors and actions for achieving the most desirable scenario from the perspective of resilience and adaptation to climate change (SDG 13) and the preservation of biodiversity (SDGs 14 and 15). It concludes that Jamaica is currently on a trajectory which does not sufficiently consider the risks of climate change and biodiversity loss. Notwithstanding, there is optimism that the government will implement policies to arrest the current trajectory, including integrating economic development planning with the imperatives for climate change adaptation and protecting biodiversity and giving more voice to non-governmental stakeholders.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the Centro de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible para América Latina y el Caribe (CODS) for partial funding of the research from which the chapter has been derived. We acknowledge the support of the Mona School of Business and Management at the University of West Indies, as well as the partners in the wider research project who contributed insights into the development of the overall project and hence this chapter. These include the project lead, Professor Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez, and her team of researchers as well as Cyntia Calixto, Miguel Cordova, Freddy Coronado, Fabiola Monje-Cueto and Karla Nava-Aguirra. The chapter is dedicated to the team of experts who attended our four workshops and without whose knowledge and experience this outcome would not have been possible.
Citation
Minto-Coy, I., Hoilett, A., Claudius, T. and Lambert, L. (2022), "Sustainable Futures for Jamaica: Policies and Actions for Socioeconomic Recovery Post-COVID-19", Gonzalez-Perez, M.A. (Ed.) Regenerative and Sustainable Futures for Latin America and the Caribbean, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 187-208. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80117-864-820221009
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022 by Emerald Publishing Limited