JAMAICA | PNP Calls for Urgent Climate Resilience Overhaul Ahead of Hurricane Season

KINGSTON, Jamaica, May 22, 2026: Opposition Spokesperson on Environment and Climate Resilience, Omar Newell, MP, is warning that Jamaica cannot continue responding to climate threats with outdated infrastructure, delayed preparedness, and fragmented planning as another hurricane season approaches.

Delivering his contribution to the 2026/2027 Sectoral Debate in Parliament, Newell argued that climate resilience must now become a whole-of-government priority touching every aspect of national development, from roads and bridges to housing, drainage systems, agriculture, and emergency preparedness.

“In a climate-vulnerable island, every road is climate policy. Every bridge is a climate policy. Every drainage system is a climate policy,” Newell stated.

The Opposition Spokesperson said recent national discussions about emergency shelters have exposed wider weaknesses in Jamaica’s preparedness systems, particularly with significant donor funds still reportedly sitting unspent while critical infrastructure remains vulnerable.

“With hundreds of millions of dollars of donor funds sitting unspent, a significant number of our shelters are unprepared for a strong breeze, let alone a major hurricane,” he warned.

Newell questioned whether shelters across the island are structurally resilient, accessible to persons with disabilities, equipped with adequate sanitation systems, backup power, water storage, and telecommunications resilience.

He also stressed that Jamaica can no longer afford to build infrastructure without accounting for worsening climate realities, arguing that climate-risk screening should become mandatory for all major public projects before approval is granted.

Among the proposals advanced by Newell were resilience audits, climate-adjusted engineering standards, integrated watershed reviews, flood and landslide vulnerability assessments, and annual resilience reporting to Parliament. “We cannot continue building twentieth-century infrastructure for twenty-first-century storms,” Newell argued.

Drawing from conditions in Central St. Mary, Newell described communities repeatedly cut off after heavy rainfall, worsening drainage failures, collapsing roads, and growing concern among residents and farmers about changing weather patterns and climate vulnerability.

“Environmental neglect kills opportunity,” he said. “And so our response must be urgent. Not performative. Not temporary. Not political. Urgent.”

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