Climate Change - Kingston Communities (Attitudes and Perceptions)
During May 2021, residents from Port Royal and several downtown Kingston coastal communities were surveyed – as part of the KHEAM Project – to determine their Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) regarding Climate Change, Harbour Mangrove Ecosystems and Pollution. The majority of responders (73%) were young – in the 18-25 age bracket – with 60% being female. In addition to providing useful insights with these target groups, the study provided a baseline of information about the areas of focus of the KHEAM project.
Climate Change - Survey Findings
The majority of respondents (60%) had a general awareness of Climate Change as a topical issue and most connected it with changing global weather patterns. The main responses given for the causes of Climate Change were: burning fossil fuels (73%); cutting down trees (67%); improper garbage disposal (64%). A significant minority (34%) stated that Climate Change was “just a natural occurrence”.
The impacts of Climate Change – such as coastal erosion, landslides, flooding— were understood by many responders (60%) but only 33% thought such impacts were affecting their community presently. In addition, 55% reported no greater impacts from increased hurricane activity over the years. This could perhaps be attributed to their youthfulness since, during their relatively short lifespan, Jamaica has indeed been spared direct hits from Category 5 hurricanes.
Although a substantial majority (82%) stated that their were either “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about Climate Change, per se, the people surveyed were much more concerned about Kingston Harbour Pollution than Climate Change (64% vs 42%).
Implications - The Climate Change Agenda
Climate Change is a familiar topic in the public discourse but it is not seen as a priority warranting significant attention—somewhat removed from everyday lives. About half of the responders said they did not have enough information about the issues and were unaware of what actions they could take personally or as a community. Somewhat reassuringly, only one single responder said they were NOT interested in learning more about Climate Change.
The Community members had strong views about the next steps for corrective measures and the top suggestions were: Increased Public Awareness (70%); Compliance with Environmental Laws (70%); Prevent removal of, and damage to, Mangroves (70%); Develop jobs relating to Climate Change (67%); Encourage more Community Participation (61%).
The survey of the targeted Kingston coastal communities concluded that, amongst that youth group, Social Media (SM) dominated as their preferred source of information (61%). The other two leading media for information sources were Television (55%) and the Internet/WWW (36%). Within Social Media, the leading platforms used were Instagram (79%); YouTube (64%); TikTok (55%) and Facebook (52%). Only 12% stated that they did not have any access to the Internet.
Climate Change - Responding to the challenge via Social Media
The KHEAM project has been utilising every opportunity to share/disseminate the beneficiaries’ learning experiences, information and knowledge derived from the project activities over such Social Media channels. This approach has not only increased the awareness and knowledge of the Climate Change issues throughout the targeted Kingston communities, but it has engendered the development of personal and life skills sets amongst the participants. The youth involved (see photos) have testified to the important empowering and inspiring impetus derived from their project experiences through their own online postings. Some are seizing the opportunity to explore entrepreneurial avenues of earning income online through, for example, YouTube initiatives. Newer Worlds developed a hashtag identifier (#KHEAMproject) to publicise and reference content that all project partners generated, thereby making it easily accessible over Social Media. Additional promotional actions were conducted over LinkedIn giving the project greater international exposure and access to potential sources of international support.
Climate Change - Making it Real
In order to bring the reality of the existential threat Climate Change poses to Coastal Communities, the KHEAM Project Partner, Newer Worlds, conducted classroom based sessions with targeted beneficiaries utilising the audio-visual medium of YouTube clips. Supplemented by field trips across the Kingston Harbour – highlighting Climate Change impacts on Mangrove Ecosystems – these beneficiaries were subsequently trained in the skills of audio-visual production, utilising their Kingston Harbour environs as their “outdoor film studio”. This holistic approach achieved the project’s objective of empowering community beneficiaries to Champion and Implement ecosystem adaptation measures integrating the Climate Change context with the Harbour Mangrove Ecosystems vulnerability & Kingston Harbour Pollution impacts.
Climate Change "Front & Centre" - Connecting the dots
There are other ongoing projects in Jamaica relating to adaptation to Climate Change impacts such as the hard engineering solution at the mouth of Barnes Gully (see left). However it still appears that limited consideration is being given to incorporating nature-based “green” solutions to compliment these hard “grey” solutions. Global evidence has concluded that such grey/green solutions are the best adaptation solutions to address Climate Change threats.
Drone and satellite surveys done during this #KHEAMproject has revealed the propensity for mangrove mini-ecosystems to form/survive at the mouths of the 19+ gullies which periodically empty surplus (fresh) rainwater runoff into the Harbour from the city of Kingston. Efforts are underway by the project members to lobby the relevant authorities to incorporate “green” activities and budgeted actions into such “grey” infrastructure projects – providing more resilient solutions to the greater dangers posed by Climate Change: stronger hurricanes, storm surges & rising sea levels.