Jamaica’s newly established Coalition for Forests is calling on the Government to increase the allocation for forest conservation and management in the 2024/2025 budget.

The Andrew Holness-led administration is also being urged to embrace participatory budgeting on every level and to recognise and support the value and economic benefits of civil society’s work on forest conservation and management.

The coalition, in a statement on Wednesday (March 6), recognised that Jamaica’s civil society does not have sufficient voice in determining priorities for budgetary support for forest conservation and management.

It however looks forward to assessing to what extent the 2024/2025 budget addresses this issue as a national priority for economic development, livelihoods and wellbeing.

The Coalition for Forests is being supported under the ‘Building Civil Society Awareness and Capacity to Engage in Participatory Budgeting and Financial Management for the Forest Sector in Jamaica’ project, with support from the European Union (FED/2021/428-620) which is being implemented by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), in partnership with the Caribbean Coastal Area Management (C-CAM) Foundation and the Jamaica Conservation Development Trust (JCDT).