Advancing Conservation in the Eastern Caribbean
The Need
The Caribbean Islands are located in a known biodiversity hotspot, providing valuable genetic and species varieties to the world. Some threats to biodiversity and the barriers to combat them are similar on various Caribbean islands, and some others are more specific to particular countries.
This project, funded by the GEF with UNEP as the implementing agency, aims to build and foster political will in four countries in the Eastern Caribbean to address conservation challenges that have been identified in the region.
The countries and specific areas in which CCN proposes to work are:
- Codrington Lagoon National Park in Antigua and Barbuda
- Cabrits National Park (and adjacent marine reserve) in Dominica
- Grand Anse Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Grenada
- Iyanola National Park proposed in Saint Lucia
Regional Perspective
Shortcoming with respect to investing in conservation of biodiversity and natural resources is the main issue, which is also shared with most other countries in the developing world.
This shortfall has been partially met through international assistance, but the lack of secure domestic support leaves conservation subject to the grant cycle and fashions in international assistance. Published research indicates that up to 90% of conservation funding in developing world countries comes from foreign sources. Conservation in the target countries will not be secure until it includes a larger share of domestic support. Such support is more likely and more sustainable when there is a genuine element of economic development that benefits local people in the plans for protected areas (typically stressing tourism).
Project efforts emphasize engagement with private-sector investors and with NGOs having experience in working with communities, for example on marine resources and artisanal fisheries.
Through the experience of CCN, building caucuses and fostering political will in both Africa and Latin America, we have found that engaging legislators on these issues helps to coalesce action around conservation challenges, and this is often a key component that must be addressed for sustainable conservation solutions. Islands are recognized as having exceptionally high numbers of endemic species, with 15% of bird, reptile, and plant species on only 3% of the world’s land area.
The conservation significance of islands is highlighted by global analyses showing that 67% of the centres of marine endemism and 70% of coral reef hotspots are centred on islands. The Caribbean is described by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund as a hotspot that supports a wealth of biodiversity within its diverse ecosystems. It includes about 11,000 plant species, of which 72 percent are endemics. For vertebrates, high proportions of endemic species characterize the herpetofauna (100 percent of 189 amphibian species and 95 percent of 520 reptile species), likely due to their low dispersal rates, in contrast to the more mobile birds (26 percent of 564 species) and mammals (74 percent of 69 species, most of which are bats). Species endemic to the hotspot represent 2.6 percent of the world’s 300,000 plant species, and 3.5 percent of the world’s 27,298 vertebrate species.
In PictureCEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility Carlos Manuel Rodríguez addresses legislators at an interparliamentarian roundtable hosted by the International Conservation Caucus Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Changes to biodiversity can have dire consequences for society and the world, such as reduced food, fuel, structural materials, medicine, or genetic resources.
Loss of species can drastically change community compositions and alter entire ecosystem processes that are crucial to human survival.
The impacts of these losses can be wide-ranging and costly. The loss of these critical ecosystems would represent a loss for all of humanity.
An innovative approach for trans-boundary cooperation on conservation
Our approach builds high-level political consensus for conservation Ans has been successful in the United States, Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia:
- This model is based on convening "conservation and ocean caucuses" in legislatures to help build political will and capacity to assess and address conservation and maritime natural resource challenges among the highest levels of government.
- The ICCF Group has led this model in supporting these caucuses to develop their conservation agendas into legislative action and policies, and through convening members of parliament with relevant stakeholders and experts.
- Caucus work is complemented by the engagement of land resource management experts from the U.S. and Canada who will engage with their peers in project countries to assist in assessing priority needs for effective protected area (PA) management, and then developing and supporting the implementation of PA management plans and associated capacity building activities.
In PictureLaunch of the Saint Lucia Conservation Caucus
Component 1
Build and enhance political will in support of conservation
This component is designed to close the gap between the long-term values of conservation and the short-term benefits from over-exploitation or poor management of ecosystem services and natural resources, including (inter alia) tourism development, IUU fishing, pollution runoff from development, and unregulated diving. To facilitate this goal and create a center of “political will” with potential to achieve progress on issues that until now have too often been intractable, the project will support the establishment of a regional Conservation Caucus of legislators genuinely interested in conservation, who will benefit from enhanced knowledge, experience, and a forum for development of their ideas and actions. While a regional assembly exists for the OECS, it only meets rarely and it is only empowered to make recommendations (actual legal authority remains with the individual states).
The project will facilitate the creation of a local secretariat that will support the Conservation Caucus, including defining its operational modalities and supporting ongoing caucus activities. The project will foster broader engagement by establishing a Sustainable Conservation Council of key stakeholders (i.e. local institutions, private sector companies, NGOs, communities, regional partners) to better define conservation needs and priorities.
Component 2
Capacity building (through technical support of the International Conservation Corps program) to support the management of Protected areas (PAs, MPAs, and MMAs).
Field missions by Conservation Corps (ConsCorps) experts, working in close cooperation with PA authorities and other relevant partners in each country, will be undertaken with the goal of assessing priority needs for effective PA management, and then developing and supporting the implementation of PA management plans and associated capacity building activities.
The PA management plans and capacity building programs will be designed in light of available financial and technical resources, and with a focus on interventions that can be replicated at other PA sites and/or up-scaled nationally. The ConsCorps experts will use their experience and knowledge to help local managers to adopt best appropriate practices on core PA management activities such as management / business planning, public outreach, interpretation, signage, ranger training, etc., as well as other PA management activities (as appropriate to each site) such as tourism management plans, including willingness to pay studies, carrying capacity studies, etc. Capacity building will be a key component of the work of the Cons Corps experts, who will be tasked with training local partners in developing PA management plans and other activities as those activities are being carried out. During the project, field missions to project PA sites will be carried out by Conservation Corps experts, who are among the most senior and respected park and marine protected site managers in the world, retired after decades of service in the United States and Canada. ConsCorps members have great expertise in aspects including overall park management plans, interpretation plans, ecotourism, community outreach, and ranger training, and many already have experience working in the Caribbean, where their work has been universally praised. Once the management and related plans have been developed/updated, the Conservation Corps will assist technically in their implementation through the project.
The goals of component 2 are:
- Approval of an Implementation Plan to assist management of the Codrington Lagoon National Park in Barbuda
- Approval of a Business Plan to promote sustainable financing of Dominica’s Cabrits National Park in Dominica
- Adoption of a Management Plan for Dauphin Estate in Saint Lucia to support a Voluntary Protection Agreement between the landowners and the Sustainable Development and Environment Division
Regional Headquarters