Jamaica hosts CIF regional forum on climate resilience and nature-based solutions

Jamaica launched the CIF Latin America and Caribbean Knowledge Exchange in Kingston, convening over 150 representatives from 13 countries to share climate-resilience and nature-based solution lessons. The forum highlights South-South learning models and concessional-finance approaches relevant to emerging economies, including India, pursuing climate adaptation and ecosystem restoration.

The Government of Jamaica, with the Climate Investment Funds, Inter-American Development Bank, and World Bank Group, launched the CIF Latin America and the Caribbean Knowledge Exchange in Kingston, gathering more than 150 representatives from 13 countries. Drawing on over 17 years of CIF-financed initiatives, participants evaluated two programmes: the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR), where $167 million mainstreamed adaptation across the Caribbean benefiting over 3 million people, and the Forest Investment Program (FIP), which channelled $216 million across Latin America improving land management on nearly 30 million hectares.

Governments, development banks, and climate-finance institutions across Latin America and the Caribbean are directly engaged, including senior officials from the Dominican Republic, Canada, IDB, and the World Bank. The PPCR mobilised an additional $443 million for disaster preparedness and institutional capacity, while the FIP brought in $758 million in co-financing targeting deforestation drivers. Jamaica showcased on-ground impact through a solar-powered agricultural hub and announced its forthcoming Blue-Green Facility to scale climate finance for ecosystem restoration and clean infrastructure.

Participants will assess programme outcomes to align lessons learned with future regional initiatives and the planned Blue-Green Facility launch. Stakeholders should monitor the facility's rollout and Jamaica's resilience benchmarks, including its 25% land conservation achievement and over 3 million trees planted. Regional governments and finance partners should track how PPCR and FIP co-financing models inform new concessional structures, with the Knowledge Exchange serving as a platform to translate shared experience into scaled, inclusive climate action across the region.

Key figure — PPCR funding: $167 million mainstreamed climate adaptation, benefiting over 3 million people