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The Secretary-General Message on World Day To Combat Desertification And Drought M

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“Protect Earth. Restore land. Engage people”

Desertification, land degradation, drought and climate change are interconnected.  As a result of land degradation and climate change, the severity and frequency of droughts have been increasing, along with floods and extreme temperatures.  More than 50 per cent of agricultural land is moderately or severely degraded, with 12 million hectares lost to production each year.

The livelihoods and well-being of hundreds of millions of people are at stake.  Nearly 800 million people are chronically undernourished as a direct consequence of land degradation, declining soil fertility, unsustainable water use, drought and biodiversity loss.  Over the next 25 years, land degradation could reduce global food productivity by as much as 12 per cent, leading to a 30 per cent increase in world food prices.

Without a long-term solution, desertification and land degradation will not only affect food supply but lead to increased migration and threaten the stability of many nations and regions.  This is why world leaders made land degradation neutrality one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.  That means rehabilitating at least 12 million hectares of degraded land a year.

One important approach is sustainable, climate-smart agriculture.  This will not only help communities to build resilience to climate change, it will also support mitigation by taking carbon from the atmosphere and putting it back in the soil.  The transition to sustainable agriculture will also alleviate poverty and generate employment, especially among the world’s poorest.  By 2050, it could create some 200 million jobs across the entire food production system.

Our theme for this year’s World Day to Combat Desertification is: “Protect Earth. Restore land. Engage people.”  On this Day, I urge cooperation among all actors to help achieve land degradation neutrality as part of a broader effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and build a future of dignity and opportunity for all.

Please see the link to below to download the Message

SGMessage17 Desertification2016 

World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought

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Desertification, along with climate change and the loss of biodiversity, were identified as the greatest challenges to sustainable development during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Established in 1994, UNCCD is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. The Convention addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found. In the 10-Year Strategy of the UNCCD (2008-2018) that was adopted in 2007, Parties to the Convention further specified their goals: “to forge a global partnership to reverse and prevent desertification/land degradation and to mitigate the effects of drought in affected areas in order to support poverty reduction and environmental sustainability”.

The Convention’s 195 parties work together to improve the living conditions for people in drylands, to maintain and restore land and soil productivity, and to mitigate the effects of drought. The UNCCD is particularly committed to a bottom-up approach, encouraging the participation of local people in combating desertification and land degradation. The UNCCD secretariat facilitates cooperation between developed and developing countries, particularly around knowledge and technology transfer for sustainable land management.

As the dynamics of land, climate and biodiversity are intimately connected, the UNCCD collaborates closely with the other two Rio Conventions; the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to meet these complex challenges with an integrated approach and the best possible use of natural resources.

This year’s theme: Inclusive cooperation for achieving Land Degradation Neutrality to be celebrated on June 17, 2016.

Source: www.unccd.int 

LOCAL GOVERNMENT MINISTER URGES TOTAL COMPLIANCE WITH DISASTER EVACUATION ORDERS IF ISSUED THIS HURRICANE SEASON

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Local Government and Community Development Minister, Desmond McKenzie, is imploring persons living in at-risk communities to comply with mandatory evacuation orders issued during the 2016 hurricane season.

He is warning that “those who resist will face the full force of the law.”

Speaking at the launch of Disaster Preparedness Month 2016 by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), the Minister stated: “Whenever the warning is given, I don’t believe anybody should tell us they are not going to move. The law should take its course.” He noted that as the Government strives for growth and prosperity, people will no longer be allowed to live or build in non-designated areas.

The Disaster Risk Management Act outlines the powers of the Minister, on the advice of the Director-General of ODPEM, to declare any place as a Disaster Area and to order evacuations.

Minister McKenzie said that the message of compliance must be taken into all vulnerable communities and called on the church, social groups and influential persons to begin to “change the mind-set of citizens to do the right thing and save the country’s valuable resources.”

Disaster Preparedness Month is being observed under the theme: ‘Plan, Strategize, Prioritize: Disaster Impacts Can Be Minimized’.

The Launch also marks the start of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.

Projections are that it will be an average hurricane season.

STOP ORDER ON ROYALTON HOTEL PROJECT CONDITIONALLY LIFTED

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Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Desmond McKenzie, has announced the conditional lifting of the 30-day Stop Order on sections of the Blue Diamond Royalton Negril hotel project in Hanover. 

The Order was imposed by the Hanover Parish Council on May 10.

This is in keeping with the recommendation of the three-member Review Committee he had established, that works found to be structurally sound should be allowed to continue, once the developers provide a written commitment to comply with the building code. In this regard, the Committee found that that all the buildings, except the one that collapsed, were structurally sound.

The Stop Order remains in force, however, for the section that collapsed, as had been recommended by the Committee. In its Report, it advised that that the developers should address 12 specific issues at the project site before any order is given for work to proceed on the structure that collapsed, injuring five workers. “They (Royalton) have to accept and give timelines as to how they will adhere to the recommendations of the Committee.”

Blue Diamond Royalton Review Committee recommends conditional lifting of Stop Order at building site

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Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Desmond McKenzie, says the Committee that investigated the collapse at the Blue Diamond Royalton hotel site in Negril, Hanover, has recommended the lifting of a Stop Order on sections of the project found to be structurally sound, once the developers provide a written commitment to comply with the building code.

The Minister revealed that the Committee also recommended that the developers address 12 specific issues at the project site before any order is given for work to proceed on the section of the building that collapsed. “They (Royalton) have to accept and give timelines as to how they will adhere to the recommendations of the Committee.”

The Minister was speaking at a special sitting of the Hanover Parish Council yesterday, at which he discussed the findings of the review Report prior to a meeting with the developers of the hotel.

On May 10, the Council issued a 30-day Stop Order on construction at the site after a section of the building collapsed, injuring five workers. At that time, Minister McKenzie had commissioned a three-man team, comprising the CEO of the National Works Agency, the City Engineer at the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation and the Chief Technical Director at the Local Government Ministry, to review the circumstances leading to the incident.

The Minister says the Committee found that that all the buildings, except the one that collapsed, were structurally sound. He also said that while the Hanover Parish Council was cleared of any missteps in granting the approvals for the construction, it had not performed creditably in monitoring the works to ensure compliance.  “Ninety-eight conditions were handed down by the Council… But if that site was being monitored as it ought to, then what took place could have been avoided.”

Minister McKenzie also disclosed that the Committee found that the technical capacity of the Council’s Building Department should be strengthened, through the employment of two new Building Officers.

PRIME MINISTER CONFIRMS WASTE-TO-ENERGY AND DEVELOPMENT APPROVALS PROCESS AS LINCHPINS IN NATIONAL GROWTH AGENDA

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Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced that the Government will be placing special emphasis on securing private investor interest in its programme of waste to energy conversion.

In his contribution to the 2016/17 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, the Prime Minister noted that the Government will develop partnerships with a view to creating a waste to energy Plant, using the island’s Disposal Sites as the providers of the1.6 million tonnes of garbage that is deposited in them each year.

“The Riverton disposal site is situated on over 42 hectares (100 acres) of land in the western end of St Andrew. This site which serves Kingston, St. Andrew, and St. Catherine receives approximately 60% of the national waste deposits each day. The Government of Jamaica will undertake waste to energy developments, converting the waste at the disposal sites to useful energy for the country. The Government will develop an RFP geared towards attracting investors to develop a modern and comprehensive Waste to Energy System.”

The Prime Minister added that the Waste to Energy programme will strongly contribute to national energy security, vastly improved solid waste management and the maintenance of public health.

Currently, the management of solid waste is the responsibility of the National Solid Waste Management Authority, which is an Agency of the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development.

Mr. Holness also disclosed the intention of the Government to increase the speed of the development approvals process, for which the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development is responsible, as an investment incentive to drive infrastructure development and job creation as part of the Administration’s Prosperity agenda.

“The Government intends to make significant strides in improving the process for land development applications and approvals. We will increase the pace of implementation of the web-based software to Automate the Development
Application and Approvals Process (AMANDA). This will provide greater transparency, improved applications tracking and management and improved customer service. The Government will very soon amend the necessary regulations to make it a mandatory requirement for the electronic submission and processing of all building and land development applications.”

Amendments to Litter Act coming soon – Local Government Minister

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As the Government of Jamaica continues to implement public sanitation measures to deal with the threat of the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases, Minister of Local Government and Community Development Desmond McKenzie has announced that changes to the Litter Act are to go before Cabinet for approval shortly.

While participating in the National Labour Day Project at the Gregory Park Basic School in Portmore, St. Catherine, Minister McKenzie said the proposed amendments provide for, among other things, an increase in fines for littering. “While we are working to make the country clean, we have to bring to book those who continue to spoil the beauty of the country,” he said.

He noted the significance of the national project, which included major clean-up activities in the Gregory Park and Washington Mews communities, which have a significant number of mosquito breeding sites.

“Jamaicans have to recognise and accept that we are a tropical country, so we are prone to many of the problems associated with mosquitoes and it is going to be important that as a people we are committed to having a clean Jamaica.”

Labour Day 2016 was observed under the theme: ‘For Health’s Sake…Keep It Clean’.

STOP ORDER PLACED ON ROYALTON NEGRIL PROJECT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT MINISTER FORMS SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE TO GIVE FINDINGS IN 7 DAYS

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A Stop Order has been placed on the construction project at the Blue Diamond Royalton Negril.

This was disclosed by Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Desmond McKenzie, who has also indicated that the Order, which was issued by the Hanover Parish Council, will be in force for an initial thirty days, after which the status of the project will be reviewed.

The Minister also revealed that he has received a Preliminary Report from the Hanover Parish Council, into the circumstances surrounding the collapse of the building at the construction site.

In commending the Parish Council for its swift response, Mr. McKenzie also announced the formation of a three-member Committee, which will use the Preliminary Report as its initial point of reference to investigate the full circumstances surrounding the building collapse. The Committee will be comprised of:

  • Mr. E.G. Hunter, Chief Executive Officer, National Works Agency
  • Mr. Norman Shand, City Engineer, Kingston & St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC)
  • Mr. Dwight Wilson, Chief Technical Officer, Ministry of Local Government and Community Development.

The Committee will have seven days in which to investigate and produce a Report to the Minister.

“The gravity of the situation requires not only quick answers but also clear and accurate ones, in the context of actions taken in relation to any Approvals given and our laws and regulations, including the National Building Code. Given what I have seen of the Preliminary Report, this period is sufficient for the completion of a comprehensive investigation. I am aware that the Principals of the project are en route to Jamaica from overseas, and so I expect that there will be clear opportunities for them and for us, the various Ministry and Agency representatives of the Government of Jamaica, to meet and to develop a clear path to the resolution of this very serious incident.”

LOCAL GOVERNMENT MINISTER ORDERS IMMEDIATE AUDIT OF HANOVER PARISH COUNCIL, ASSUMES CONTROL OF ALL DOCUMENTS OF THAT PARISH COUNCIL

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Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Desmond McKenzie, has directed that the Hanover Parish Council is to submit itself to a comprehensive audit, which is to begin today (May 26).

The Minister, who is in Hanover and is still attending a meeting with the Council, stated that a team of senior officials from the Local Government Ministry, comprised of its Chief Internal Auditor, Procurement Officer and Director of the Agency Liaison and Monitoring Division, will conduct a thorough review of the conduct of the Council’s financial and administrative affairs. He said the Audit team will also be investigating the issue of the Council’s lands being sold to persons without approval from the Ministry.

The team will report to Mr. McKenzie in three weeks, and will present him with an interim Report in seven days.

According to the Minister, “The Ministry of Local Government with immediate effect is taking full control of all documents here at the Hanover Parish Council,” He also stated that he has advised the Chairman of the Hanover Parish Council, Wynter McIntosh and Secretary/Manager, David Gardner, to ensure the audit team is given “uncompromising support”.

The Minister chided the political and administrative arms of the Council for failing to carry out the mandate of Local Government with integrity, and added that it has flouted the recommendations of the Office of the Contractor-General (OCG), which were published in its Special Investigative Report of 2015.

Minister McKenzie also ordered that all Councillors at the Hanover Parish Council must provide proof they have made their annual submissions to the Corruption Prevention Commission, and said the Ministry will also be looking at the conduct of administrative staff members, as the OCG had raised concern about their role in aiding and abetting certain activities of the Councillors.

There has been increased attention on the Council since the OCG revealed in its most recent Report that two Councillors – Lloyd Hill of the Sandy Bay Division, and Anthony Walker of the Cauldwell Division – recommended government contracts valued at millions of dollars to family members and political affiliates. In 2015, the OCG cited former Mayor of Lucea, Shernet Haughton, for similar practices in its Report.

NSWMA to return to core Regulatory role… Local Government Minister starts National Clean-Up Programme in St. James.

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The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) is to be restored to its original core mandate, which is to function as the island’s Regulator for waste collection service providers.

Speaking recently at a special Town Hall meeting at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre in St James, Local Government and Community Development Minister, Desmond McKenzie, said plans are in place to separate the NSWMA from the day-to-day operational responsibilities of garbage collection.

“I’ve already had discussions with the chairman, Dennis Chung, and I’ve said to him that is going to be one of the areas that the new board must look at.” The Minister also responded to questions regarding who therefore assume collection responsibilities for the country’s waste, saying that there are already independent entities available to take on the responsibilities for collection operations.

According to Mr. McKenzie, these entities include Western Parks and Markets (WPM) Waste Management Limited, SPM Waste Management Limited and MPM Waste Management among others.

“We don’t have to establish a new system. The system is there. What we are going to be doing is to take NSWMA out of the business of collecting garbage for the agency to regulate.”

Issues regarding the Agency’s limited resources, particularly concerning an inadequate fleet of garbage collection units, were also raise at the meeting. The Minister noted that the previous Administration tried to secure 17 trucks, but the effort had not materialized due to procurement technicalities. He added that these matters are being addressed and the trucks should be available in short order.

“In this year’s budget, there is an additional $250 million that has been provided to purchase 17 more trucks. That will still not give the Agency what is required but, at least, there will be more units in the system that will help to give you better service.”

In related news, Prime Minister Andrew Holness recently established a National Task Force led by the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, to address cleanliness across the island, particularly in light of the serious threat of an outbreak of the Zika virus.

This inter-ministerial, multi-agency Task Force will implement the initiative through an island-wide National Clean-Up Programme across 14 parishes. Accordingly, the Minister and his team performed clean-up activities at Railway Lane as well as at the Anchovy Primary School and Bickersteth Primary and Infant School in St. James.