climate resilience Jamaica

NEPA is expanding its monitoring of the Black River ecosystem under a coastal management programme, responding to sustained pressure on a wetland system that protects thousands of St Elizabeth homes from flooding. The morass is both an ecological treasure and a critical piece of housing infrastructure.

Plans for a coastal highway extension to St Elizabeth are generating optimism among Black River’s business community. For the property market, improved connectivity could be the structural shift that transforms the town’s residential and tourism investment appeal.

A newly commissioned amphibious excavator is cleaning and dredging the Black River Morass in St Elizabeth, providing flood relief to farming and residential communities that have been at recurring risk for decades. The investment points to deeper questions about land use, housing and the management of flood-prone areas.