Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon has become the first Jamaican selected to serve on the Steering Group of the Coastal Cities Coalition (3C), placing the city at the table where global strategies for coastal climate resilience are being shaped.

The invitation, extended by the Global Centre for Climate Mobility following the launch of the Coalition at the Third United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, places Vernon among a select group of international leaders responsible for setting the Coalition’s strategic direction, mobilising partnerships and advocating for greater support for coastal communities confronting rising seas, erosion and increasingly severe climate events.

For Vernon, the appointment represents far more than personal recognition. He said it gives Montego Bay, and by extension Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, a voice in shaping global responses to some of the most pressing challenges facing coastal communities, including rising sea levels, coastal erosion, flooding and increasingly severe climate events.