PNP urges major climate resilience reforms ahead of hurricane season

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Opposition Spokesperson on Environment and Climate Resilience, Omar Newell, is calling for urgent improvements to Jamaica’s climate resilience systems ahead of the hurricane season.

Speaking during the 2026/2027 Sectoral Debate in Parliament, Newell said Jamaica can no longer rely on outdated infrastructure, slow preparedness measures and fragmented planning in responding to climate threats.

He argued that climate resilience must become a national priority affecting all areas of development, including roads, bridges, housing, drainage, agriculture and emergency response systems.

“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.

Newell also raised concerns about the country’s emergency shelter system, noting reports that large amounts of donor funding remain unused while many shelters are still vulnerable. He warned that some facilities may not be able to withstand a major hurricane.

He questioned whether shelters are structurally sound, accessible to people with disabilities and properly equipped with sanitation, backup power, water storage and reliable telecommunications.

The Opposition spokesman further argued that Jamaica must stop building infrastructure without considering climate risks. He called for mandatory climate-risk assessments for major public projects before approval.

Among his proposals were resilience audits, updated engineering standards, watershed reviews, flood and landslide vulnerability assessments, and annual resilience reports to Parliament.

“We cannot continue building twentieth-century infrastructure for twenty-first-century storms,” Newell said.

Referencing conditions in St Mary Central, he pointed to communities frequently cut off by heavy rainfall, worsening drainage problems and damaged roads, while residents and farmers grow increasingly concerned about changing weather patterns.

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