JAMAICA
Photo: Wolmadrian
Coffee Report June 2015
The Jamaica Observer reported on the launch of a new water security project being financed by the Inter-American Development Bank Global Environment Facility. According to the newspaper, environment minister Robert Pickersgill explained that coffee farming is a major contributor to soil erosion and landslides in areas that rely on the Yallahs and Hope River as watersheds.
The Integrated Management of the Yallahs and Hope River Watershed Management Areas project, which was financed as of October 2014, has entered the implementation phase. Its objectives include increasing "sustainable livelihoods, agriculture, forestry and land management practices in watershed communities."
In more specific terms, the project aims to improve security for water supply for the more than 650,000 people living in the Kingston area, to increase farm outputs through better use of water management, and reclamation of deforested lands.
Learn more: Jamaican Water Security Project