Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. November 26th, 2012 – The United Nations Caribbean Environment Programme has once more received endorsement for the continuation of the work of the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Ares and Wildlife (SPAW) which among other things work to strengthen the management of parks and protected areas in the Wider Caribbean.
At a critical biannual meeting held by the United Nations Caribbean Environment Programme (UNCEP) in late October key stakeholders examined the work of SPAW and signed off on a budget and programme of work over the next two years.
“The SPAW Programme has, since the entry of the SPAW Protocol into force in 2000, provided regional governments with support in the establishment, monitoring and management of protected areas,” said UNCEP in a post meeting release.
Since 1990 the SPAW Protocol, a regional agreement for biodiversity management and conservation in the Wider Caribbean Region and part of the regional Cartagena Convention, managed by the UNCEP, has been working to strengthen the management of parks and protected areas of the Wider Caribbean.
The Caribbean possesses 10% of the world’s coral reefs, of which 75% have a threatened status. Emblematic of so much of the Caribbean, the reefs attract visitors and contribute significantly to island economies. Along with mangroves (22,000km2) and seagrass beds (33,000 km2) they make up complex and fragile land-ocean interaction systems that support as many as 14,000 of the world’s species of fish and marine mammals, as well as the precious coastal and marine environments which sustain much of the tourism industry of most of the islands.
The designation of marine protected areas (MPAs) throughout the Caribbean is an effort to protect from further damage such valuable ecosystems and the species they support. However many existing MPAs exist only as “paper parks” where legislation is not enforced and resources for protecting and managing them properly are lacking.
The SPAW Protocol, through a dedicated network known as CaMPAM (Caribbean Marine Protected Areas Management Network and Forum), aims to:
• improve communication, information flow and exchanges between parks and protected areas within the region;
• assist governments and non-governmental organizations with the development of human capacity to increase the effectiveness of marine protected areas;
• to sensitize governments about the need and importance of financing protected areas, and promote the development of funding mechanisms and strategies for successful park and protected area management with the participation of the local communities and other stakeholders,
• and; promote protected areas in the context of conservation of important natural resources necessary for the sustainable development of the region.
On October 22-23, 2012, SPAW held two important meetings in Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic – the Fifth Meeting of its Scientific, Technical and Advisory Committee, and, the Seventh Meeting of the SPAW Contracting Parties, i.e. countries which have signed on to the agreement. Programme activities over the last two years were reviewed and work plans and budgets for the next two years discussed.
Since 2010, many of the activities undertaken through CaMPAM have been implemented to support a regional initiative with common objectives, the Caribbean Challenge (CCI), with funds from the Directorate General for Development Cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. CaMPAM was also assisted by the SPAW Regional Activity Centre, the National Park of Guadeloupe, the Gulf and Fisheries Caribbean Institute (GCFI), the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Coral Reef Conservation Program and the Ministry of Environment of Spain to support networking across the region using an Internet List and by implementing training workshops and learning exchanges between different sites.
The Caribbean Challenge involves eight island nations — The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Antigua & Barbuda, and Saint Kitts & Nevis. Of these, five countries have made formal commitments to protect at least 20% of the near-shore marine and coastal habitats by 2020. It supports the development of a biologically-representative, functional network of marine protected areas, capable of adapting to climate change.
Over 250 MPA managers and rangers received training on all aspects of marine environmental management through the Regional Train the Trainers Courses in Dominican Republic (2010) and Belize and Guadeloupe, French Antilles (2011). In addition, the Nature Conservancy, another CCI partner, held courses in most participating countries on Protected Areas financial sustainability to review a variety of sustainable finance mechanisms, including legislation and by-laws for creating national trust funds exclusive for Protected Areas.
Through a series of grants to MPAs in the countries, CaMPAM promoted responsible marine resource management practices including economic alternatives for fishers and better practices for effective marine managed areas.
In addition to the strengthened capacity of MPA staff, these activities resulted in more than 50,000 square kilometers of protected areas with marine and coastal components being designated, and 15 protected area management plans prepared, enhanced or completed.
In Grenada it has had a great impact.
”Through the support received by CaMPAM/UNEP to the Caribbean Challenge, Grenada was able to build meaningful capacity which helped significantly in providing more effective management for our MPA’s. Over the past eighteen months, the mid-grant was the only program that provided critical tangible support on the ground for Grenada MPA’s,” said Roland Baldeo, Grenada’s National MPA Coordinator.
Dr. Ruben Torres, President of Reef Check Dominican Republic, an NGO dedicated to coral reef research and management, was also very receptive of UNCEP’s work.
“UNEP-CEP and its CaMPAM program for the Caribbean Challenge islands have arrived in the Dominican Republic with perfect timing. We have joined forces with the Dominican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to develop a standard MPA management structure based on the success story of La Caleta Marine Park, which is managed jointly by Reef Check and the government,” he said.
It is expected that for the upcoming years, donors, governments, and their partners will continue to focus on five closely linked priorities:
• The completion of protected area master plans
• The establishment and capitalization of national protected area trust funds
• The creation of new sustainable finance mechanisms such as tourism-based fees and debt-for-resilience swaps
• The advancement of needed legal and policy actions
• The development and implementation of ecosystem based adaptation to climate change projects.
• The creation of a cadre of MPA managers that can assist as mentors the staff of other sites and countries.
• The adaptation of emergent, high-tech tools and methods to the Caribbean scenario to improve priority issues such as enforcement, more diversified livelihoods and the creation of environmentally-sound businesses for coastal communities. (END/26/11/12)
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