Jamaica (CU)_Mount Airy, a rural area in central Jamaica, is already oppressively hot at nine in the morning. Chocolate-brown dust clouds erupt from behind the back wheels of vehicles as they travel down the region’s unpaved roads.
The Mount Airy Farmers group is meeting here in the morning, 500 meters above sea level and 50 kilometers west of Kingston. There are about two dozen people there, and they all express the same sentiment: they are trying to maintain the productivity of their plots in the face of decreasing rainfall, a consequence of climate change.
“The weather here’s a lot drier for longer these days,” says Althea Spencer, the treasurer of the Mount Airy Farmers group, which is based in Northern Clarendon. “If you don’t have water, it makes no sense to plant seeds because they will just die.”
However, the farmers have just received some assistance in their search for water. A two-story shed with a drainpipe on the top that directs rainwater into a tall, black tank is located just a few meters from where they are gathered. This mountain range is home to more than twenty reservoirs. They are a part of a programme to assist Mount Airy farmers in adapting to climate change, which is supported by six United Nations (UN) entities.
“This partnership among the UN and with communities is exactly the type of activity needed to address the day-to-day and practical impacts of climate change,” says Vincent Sweeney, Head of the Caribbean Sub-Regional Office at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “As we look beyond the Glasgow Climate Change Conference, it is vital that we… adapt to the new realities of a warmer planet in order to protect lives and livelihoods in Jamaica and the Caribbean.”
The difficulty is not specific to the area. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the effects of climate change, such as droughts, floods, and the expansion of pests, are endangering agricultural production all over the world. In a world where nearly 700 million people go hungry every year, that could be terrible.
Small-hold farmers, who operate more than 80% of all farms worldwide, will require assistance to be resilient in the face of climate change, according to experts.
