Catch & Release - GOJ/GEF/IDB Yallahs Hope Project July - September 2017 | Page 6

THE forest cover of the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park is ever more important today as the Integrated Management of the Yallahs and Hope River Watershed Management Areas (Yallahs Hope Watershed) Project seeks to pave the way for Jamaica to enter the carbon stock trading movement.

Human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas, have caused a substantial increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. The increased levels of CO2 is causing measurable global warming which leads to a rise in sea-level; increased frequency and intensity of storms, floods, and droughts in Jamaica. The country will also see changes in the amount, timing, and distribution of rain, and disturbance of our coastal, marine and other ecosystems.

In order to lessen the severe impact of climate change, many countries have begun to control the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere through a combination of reducing emissions and increasing its storage (sequestration).

Some 47 developing countries are sequestering CO2 under the Forest Carbon Participating Facility. They include Argentina, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Columbia, Fiji, Guyana, Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Nepal, Pakistan, Suriname, Thailand, Uganda and Vietnam.

Now, through the Yallahs Hope Project, Jamaica will pilot a terrestrial sequestration (sometimes termed “biological sequestration”) system. Terrestrial sequestration is typically accomplished through forest and soil conservation practices that enhance the storage of carbon (such as restoring and establishing new forests, wetlands, and grasslands) or reduce CO2 emissions (by reducing agricultural tillage and suppressing the slash and burn farming practice).

Jamaica Charts New Frontier in

Carbon Stock Monitoring

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