Economic incentives in Jamaica for watershed management

CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center), in collaboration with several Jamaican government agencies, designed a monetary incentive program to motivate small farmers to implement solutions to improve soil and water retention on their farms. This includes the use of natural barriers, agroforestry systems, the protection of forested areas and other actions aimed at increasing and protecting soil cover. These investments will improve the productivity of the farms and, therefore, the well-being of the families of participating farmers. They will also generate important co-benefits to other users of the basin, particularly to the water company that provides services to homes and industries in Kingston and other nearby cities, as well as an increase in the resilience capacity of the area in the face of extreme weather events. .