Presentation
by
Honourable Arnaldo Brown, MP
Minister of State,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade
at the
Sustainable Adaptive Gradients in the Coastal Environment
(SAGE) Workshop - Re-conceptualizing the Role of Infrastructure in Resilience
19th June 2015
Salutations
I am pleased to address you during the conclusion of your Workshop on Sustainable Adaptive
Gradients in the Coastal Environment (SAGE): Re-conceptualizing the Role of Infrastructure in
Resilience.
Last February, I was approached by Professor Webber to meet with Professor Elizabeth Hamin
and a small team from the University of Massachusetts Amherst to discuss the views of the
Jamaican Government on this concept. The discussion lasted for over an hour and the results
were mutually rewarding.
One may wonder why would the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade be asked to
participate in such a discussion, but let me assure you that the request was correct, the
opportunity timely.
In Jamaica where the entire island may be considered as coastal, there are many gradients from
beaches to mountains, from poverty to relative affluence, from squatter settlements to palatial
dwellings, from paddle boats at a fishing beach to transhipment ports and logistic hubs. With
the passage of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Act in 1991, which established Jamaica’s EEZ
and vested the Minister responsible for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade with the power to
implement the Act, Jamaica embarked on a path to better manage its coastal resources in
accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The creation
of the EEZ and the passage of the Act, also led the Government to scrutinise more closely the
use of its marine resources.
In this regard, Cabinet was requested to approve the creation of a National Council on Oceans
and Coastal Zone Management (NCOCZM). The Council has the following functions:
 Facilitating information sharing, policy formulation and functional coordination
between sectors, stakeholders and agencies that have an impact on the marine sector;

Developing an Action Plan for the management of Jamaica’s coastal zone and marine
resources;
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
Coordinating legal and technical studies across a wide range of areas to assist in
decision-making for environmental and marine policies; and

Developing a programme of activities to sensitise the public to the importance of the
marine sector to the sustainable development of Jamaica.
The NCOCZM has facilitated the development of a Coastal Zone Management Policy, the
establishment of a National Hydrographic Committee, the construction of a lighted structure on
South West Rock, the finalisation of Diving Regulations, installation of tide gauges and the
elaboration of guidelines for marine scientific research in Jamaica’s territorial waters.
It was, therefore, with great interest that the members of the Council, through the secretariat
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and the University of the West Indies
Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory, welcomed the SAGE Workshop to the shores of Jamaica. I
know you have been examining how to create a shared framework for better informing
decisions on resilient coastal infrastructure based on physical, natural and societal conditions.
This resilient infrastructure framework includes understanding communities as existing and
evolving within adaptive gradients; addressing spill-over and equity effects of infrastructure
decisions; using evidence regarding the impact of fast-onset disasters (e.g., hurricanes,
tsunamis) to improve practices and policies for chronic, slow-onset phenomena (e.g. sea level
rise), and tying the application of theory to increasingly available indicators of climate change
and local conditions. I look forward to your conclusions.
The attention to infrastructure choices is topical. For Jamaica, grey infrastructure has for years
dominated our coasts and in many places has saved lives and property. It provides the
foundation on which our communities, economy, and security are built and we have become
reliant on it. Most of us take the infrastructure, and its resilience, for granted – until something
fails or the cost of repair becomes exorbitant. In Jamaica, it is the grey infrastructure that has
provided the transshipment port and the engines of industrial production that surround the
Kingston Harbour. Much of our tourism resilience is built predominantly around grey
infrastructure. But, as Courtney Kimmel states “with mounting investments required to repair
and maintain the aging stock of grey infrastructure systems, and increasing environmental
pressures from expanding urbanization, the value of ecosystem services that have otherwise
been free are entering more prominently into town, city and regional planning and
management”.
We have in recent times seen the evolution from grey to green infrastructure, utilising the
provisions of the natural environment in infrastructural systems to provide an ecological
framework for social, economic and environmentally healthy surroundings. But, I am in no
position to speak to you, some of the world’s experts, on these matters. However, what I can
speak about with confidence are the changes occurring in the Jamaican landscape as they relate
to grey and green infrastructure.
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Jamaica’s coast has long been a magnet for urban expansion. Residential, industrial,
recreational and commercial uses all compete for space within a finite area between the
uplands and the sea, with the greatest concentrations occurring adjacent to the coast. Pressure
for coastal development has been exacerbated by the migration of people from rural areas to
coastal towns and cities. Haphazard, unplanned and undirected urban growth is a growing
threat to the sustainability of fragile coastal and marine ecosystems. To avoid irreparable
damage to natural systems, urban growth policy needs to be closely coordinated with policies
for the management of coastal and marine resources. Integrated planning is particularly vital
for lowland areas that are vulnerable to hurricane-induced storm surges and coastal flooding.
To protect people and property, inter-agency co-ordination in planning for natural hazard
mitigation has been receiving priority attention.
The coast has also traditionally been the preferred site for Jamaica’s industrial and commercial
development. Kingston Harbour supports the country’s only oil refinery, the cement company
operations, an ethanol plant, a power generation plant, commercial buildings, an international
airport, shipping and trans-shipment facilities and various other industrial concerns. Montego
Bay and Ocho Rios also support a high level of coastal industrial and commercial activity. Much
of this development has been constructed on land reclaimed from the sea, and by the filling of
biologically productive coastal wetlands.
Approximately two thirds of Jamaica’s population live in coastal towns and cities. Inadequate
urban infrastructure and high levels of poverty, combined with the concentration of population
in coastal locations have contributed to the pollution of coastal waters and the degradation of
coastal habitat. Low-lying residential areas in close proximity to the coast are particularly
vulnerable to damage from hurricanes and storm surges, as are public works infrastructure and
squatter settlements in river flood plains.
Of this we are all too aware, as the National Works Agency in 2010-2012, was forced to raise
the level of the Norman Manley Highway (Palisadoes main road). This project is one of our first
large scale combined green and grey solutions to climate change effects, which we believe is
appropriate for this scenario. Where better to implement this type of infrastructure than the
Norman Manley Highway, leading from one of the two international gateways into Jamaica.
I understand that your field visit to Kingston Harbour and Portmore yesterday provided visual
and graphic examples of some of the Jamaican coastal communities, which have been evolving
and are about to undergo even more changes. These communities, at the same time, are
vulnerable to both fast and slow onset disasters. We are aware that while we strive for
improved response to these events at the local activity level, it is at the more important policy
level that greater effort is required and demanded.
The Workshop’s goal to identify, test and revise the Gradient Framework, to develop
preliminary case study format, and to document your findings in articles for peer reviewed
papers and publications is a valuable step forward. Your deliberations and findings will be of
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much significance and should play an important role in advising Governments in the region, as
well as state governments along the United States eastern seaboard.
Here, I must pause to recognise the work of the University of the West Indies use of the Port
Royal and Discovery Bay Marine Laboratories in coastal restoration. Leading from the front in
coastal conservation, which is recognised as a first line of action, they have taken the bold step
to put into place coastal restoration activities, where development has resulted in the loss of
some natural ecosystems. You had the opportunity yesterday, to observe one such project of
the Port Royal Marine Laboratory (PRML) to create Mangrove nurseries.
It will not stop there as the plans also call for the UWI PRML to enlarge its coastal nursery to
establish sand dune ecosystems on the ocean side of the Norman Manley Highway. Again,
ecosystems of nature being called upon to provide a function in a better way than the
constructed solution could on its own. The Government of Jamaica embraces the blended
approach to green and grey solutions in coastal resilience improvement, as we embrace the use
of science and technology to drive policy decisions. This has been demonstrated by the recently
adopted Jamaica Climate Change Policy, the Jamaica Energy Policy, and of course the Coastal
Zone Management Policy.
We believe in balancing green, grey and now blue technologies in the development mix. The
recent multi-million dollar Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) funded project, right here at
the UWI’s Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory, seeks to identify those corals which have
demonstrated greatest resilience, to nurture them and create special nurseries to allow reef
restoration with those resilient species. This is yet another example of practical science meeting
national needs. As Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory perfects this technology it creates room for
policy development not only in Jamaica but throughout the region, and perhaps as far north as
the conditions of our neighbours, those with coral reefs on their coasts, will allow.
Furthermore, the actions of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) in the
approval process are giving rise to conditions, whereby permits and licences require restoration
clauses, as well as compensation where environmental breaches have occurred. The Natural
Resource Conservation Authority Act, a powerful legislative tool binds the crown, and ensures
that even the government must stay within the environmental guidelines as it attempts to
make social and economic progress. The requirement that there should be no net loss of
coastal ecosystems is now widely accepted.
One of the functions I carry out is in the Legislation Committee of Parliament where I am very
serious in facilitating “joined up government”. In this Committee, colleague Ministers, such as
Hon. Robert Pickersgill, Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change (whom you
heard from on Tuesday at the opening of the Workshop) and Dr. the Hon. Omar Davies,
Minister of Transport, Works and Housing, work together in the determination of housing and
construction solutions. Here, we have an opportunity to contemplate the use of grey and green
solutions and their joint implementation. The type of advice which will emanate from your
programme will enhance these discussions and decisions.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade represents that part of the Government
charged with signing international agreements, such as the MARPOL, RAMSAR and Cartagena
Conventions, and ensuring that their reporting requirements are met. In that regard, we have a
responsibility to support the guiding principles of these Conventions as we seek solutions for
enhancing economic growth and development.
In examining the three Conventions mentioned earlier, we have learnt some valuable lessons
from their implementation.
1. The need to ensure that the required policies and strategies are in place prior to the
ratification of international conventions;
2. The importance of interagency coordination; and
3. The need for public awareness of the implications of becoming a party to international
agreements.
Based on these lessons, we have determined that the involvement of local communities in the
implementation process, as well as multi-stakeholder collaboration is critical. There is also a
need for greater appreciation for the role of scientific and technical information in the
implementation process. In addition, significant difficulties in implementing the Conventions
can result from the socio-economic realities of the times. This has taught us that sustainable
financing mechanisms are necessary and ought to be contemplated in the elaboration of such
international agreements.
I should mention that for the revised MARPOL Annex V “Regulations for the prevention of
pollution by garbage from ships” adopted in July 2011, which include changes that have an
impact on ships and rig operations from January 2013, Jamaica is well on its way towards
designing the reception facility required by the Convention. A combination of grey and green
technologies is at the centre of these plans.
In conclusion, I believe that I have made clear to this group why the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and Foreign Trade would have a vested interest in this Workshop. As the Secretariat for the
NCOCZM, the entity to which SAGE recommendations would be best presented for
incorporation into policy, the Ministry plays a crucial role in ensuring that matters relating to
Jamaica’s marine environment are appropriately handled and where necessary, policies are in
place to protect these resources. As the Chairman of the Council, I am committed to be
attentive to your recommendations. I look forward to them as we build a better Jamaica, a
better Caribbean, a better region of the Americas and a better world.
Thank you.
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