Stories written by Zadie Neufville
Zadie Neufville is a Jamaican-born journalist, communications and ICT specialist with more than 20 years of experience. She is a specialist writer on development issues, primarily agriculture, women, health and the environment. Zadie’s experience includes TV production, scriptwriting; as a print and radio reporter, sub-editor, magazine editor and lecturer/trainer. Zadie also specialises in media and consumer product development and is one of the principals in AhYaad Communications, a full service company offering services in all areas of development communication. Zadie currently works as an ICT Specialist combining new and traditional media technologies in the delivery of communication and public awareness solutions. | Web

Against the Odds, Caribbean Doubles Down for 1.5 Degree Deal in Paris

Negotiators from the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are intent on striking a deal to keep the global temperature rise at 1.5 degrees of pre-industrial levels, but many fear that a 10-year-old agreement to buy cheap petroleum from Venezuela puts their discussions in jeopardy.

Jamaica’s Aging Water Systems Falter Under Intense Heat and Drought

This past summer Jamaicans sweltered through their third consecutive year of reduced rainfall resulting in wild fires, a crop-killing drought and daily water cuts.

Jamaica’s Coral Gardens Give New Hope for Dying Reefs

With time running out for Jamaica's coral reefs, local marine scientists are taking things into their own hands, rebuilding the island’s reefs and coastal defences one tiny fragment at a time - a step authorities say is critical to the country’s climate change and disaster mitigation plans.

Caribbean Fights to Protect High-Value, Declining Species

Threats from climate change, declining reefs, overfishing and possible loss of several commercial species are driving the rollout of new policy measures to keep Caribbean fisheries sustainable.

As Jamaica’s Prime Forests Decline, Row Erupts Over Protection

For Jamaica, planting more trees as a way to build resilience is one of the highest priorities of the government's climate change action plan. So when Cockpit Country residents woke up to bulldozers in the protected area, they rallied to get answers from the authorities.

Jamaican Gov’t Sees IMF Successes but No Benefits for the Poor

For Jamaicans like Roxan Brown, the Caribbean nation's International Monetary Fund (IMF) successes don’t mean a thing. Seven consecutive tests have been passed but still, the mother of two can’t find work and relies instead on the kindness of friends and family.

Caribbean Community Climate-Smarting Fisheries, But Slowly

Caribbean nations have begun work on a plan to ‘climate smart’ the region's fisheries as part of overall efforts to secure food supplies.

Row Erupts over Jamaica’s Bid to Slow Beach Erosion

A plan that government says will slow the rate of erosion on Jamaica’s world-famous Negril beach is being opposed by the people whose livelihoods it is meant to protect.

Human Activity and Climate Change Threaten Tourism in Jamaica

Experts here fear that that the impact of climate change on Jamaica's fragile ecosystems will worsen the ravages of human activity and destroy the country's tourism industry.

Jamaica’s Rich Biodiversity Faces Multiple Threats

Jamaican authorities are going all out to achieve environmental sustainability as one way of minimising the expected impacts of climate change on the local biodiversity.

Inefficient distribution systems and losses contribute to Jamaica

High Oil Costs Drive Jamaica’s Clean Energy Agenda

A growing appetite for oil and some of the Caribbean region's highest electricity rates and petroleum prices are driving Jamaica's thrust toward clean energy alternatives.

Lacking organised solid waste collection, rural Jamaican communities burn their garbage. Credit: Credit: Zadie Neufville/IPS

Trash Disposal Complicates Climate Change Fight in Jamaica

For more than a week this past February, the city choked on the acrid smoke that forced schools and business to close. It racked up millions of dollars in lost production and an estimated 60 million dollars in firefighting costs as the city tried to combat yet another fire at Kingston's Riverton city dump.

Rocks and deposits from the watersheds above the Negro River in St. Thomas, where improper farming techniques triggered a rockslide in 2010. Credit: Zadie Neufville/ IPS

Working to Cope with Climate Change, Jamaica Calculates Costs

Jamaican authorities are aiming to transform an island that experts say faces one of the worst climate risks in the world into a nation "equipped to prepare for and respond to the negative impacts of climate change".

Jamaica to Galvanise Public on Climate Adaptation

A public awareness project that aims to foster wider understanding among locals about the linkages between the global climate and their social and economic wellbeing is Jamaica's newest adaptation strategy.

Jamaica’s Food Security Hinges on Shaky Agricultural Fortunes

Like its Caribbean neighbours, Jamaica is looking for outcomes that will address its food security challenges when world leaders meet in Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Jun. 20 to 22.

Eggs of the Jamaican Yellow-billed Amazon Parrot, above, a protected and endangered species, were recently smuggled out of Jamaica. Credit:  Ajani Francis/IPS

A Growing Illicit Trade Threatens Jamaica’s Wildlife

News of Vienna's Schoenbrunn Zoo's newest attraction shocked Jamaican authorities. The unlikely stars: a flock of 45 endangered Jamaican Amazon parrots, hatched from eggs smuggled out of the island in rum-cake boxes.

JAMAICA: New Technologies Extend Life and “Mobility” of Radio

In the last 25 years, there has been an explosion of commercial radio stations in what Jamaican broadcast professionals describe as "a revolution" that has extended the "mobility of radio".

JAMAICA: “Mama P” Faces Prejudice, Economic Challenges

Running on promises of job creation, economic growth and wider stakeholder consultations, Jamaica's most popular politician and the country's first female prime minister Portia Simpson Miller swept to power in a victory almost no one had predicted.

JAMAICA: Hazard Mitigation Funds to Rescue Tourist Mecca

In the latest efforts to mitigate the hazards associated with climate change, the Jamaican authorities are turning their attention to Negril, where decades of unplanned development is destroying the local ecosystem and eroding the famous beach.

JAMAICA: Waking Up to Urgency of a National Climate Policy

As increasingly extreme and erratic weather driven by the earth's changing climate exacts a heavy toll on Jamaica's population, economy and infrastructure, a consensus has emerged among scientists and policy makers here that adaptation measures must include hazard mitigation.

JAMAICA: Environmental Watchdog Breached Rules, Court Says

When Jamaica's environmental watchdog agency approved road expansion and coastal improvement works inside the Palisadoes Port Royal Protected Area without consulting the public, environmentalists took them to court and won.

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