One aim of the project is to provide affordable energy for the inhabitants of this Caribbean municipality, to be generated through the park. The park compound is being built on a cleared brownfield site that is centrally located. The park’s trees, green structures and water areas will mitigate the effect of this inner-city heat island. The park will thus make a contribution towards carbon reduction and offsetting, and at the same time serve as a recreational area. All the buildings are to be made of wood: the main building, a conference room and learning stations. The park will also be directly accessible to travellers arriving at the new central bus station.
The project will also focus on providing educational and learning elements, and demonstration objects on climate change mitigation. This will involve installing photovoltaic and solar thermal power systems, as well as small wind turbines, to supply the irrigation, pumping and waste water recycling system with renewable energy. In conjunction with modern control and regulation technology, the green electricity produced will also be used to power the park's LED lighting system in the evenings.
A greened training and utility building will also serve as an event and exhibition space for climate change mitigation-related themes such as global warming and rising sea temperatures, hurricanes, disaster risk management, energy saving, mobility, waste separation and recycling, biomass utilisation, lifestyle, global issues and the climate partnership. This building will also be designed as a demonstration project. This means it will be able to withstand major hurricanes, and possesses greater stability than most types of building on the island. In the outdoor area of the park there are plans to create a phenological path to also illustrate the impacts of climate change on the plant world. Citizens are to be officially involved in designing their park. The city of Portmore will thus receive its new centre.
Leon Thomas, Mayor of Portmore, Erik O. Schulz, Mayor of Hagen, Thomas Huyeng, Councillor for Environmental Affair, and all actors of the partnership are delighted by the funding provided by the BMZ – the ministry is making available some 250,000 euros to support the establishment of the Climate Change Park.
