BRADES, Montserrat, January 15th, 2013 – His Excellency the Governor Adrian Davis announced Monday that his office will be contributing 10,000 pounds to the Coral Cay Conservation project which is to come on stream here in May.
Speaking to a gathering of more than 100 residents of the island at his home in Woodlands, Governor Davis said conservation doesn’t trump growth and the two things can come together for the benefit of Montserrat.
The governor hosted two representatives of the Coral Cay, which is a charity established in 1986 to help protect the world’s coral reefs. Alistair Cole, Chief Executive Officer and Tristan Brown, Head of Operations spoke to the gathering about the programme which will run for three years.
Cole explained that Coral Cay is self-funding and has been able to maintain its projects around the world through a successful ‘citizen science’ approach by using international volunteers to help collect the scientific data needed to develop and implement effective grass-roots conservation solutions.
The volunteers pay to work for the organisation for between two weeks to six months on expeditions, which in turn allows for CCC to offer scholarships to local residents to learn about coral reef conservation.
“We are committed to involving local stakeholders so that the communities we work with can benefit directly from our conservation efforts. We rely on a ‘bottom-up’ approach to conservation, with the belief that the only way to successfully preserve endangered ecosystems is by involving the local custodians throughout the process,” Cole said.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) which has been working in Montserrat for many years will be partnering on the programme with Coral Cay. From Ridge to Reef, will allow volunteers to study and gather data about Montserrat’s mountains, down to the coast line and the ocean.
Tristan Brown says they take a collaborative process to gathering data and will be working with local fishermen and boat operators to learn about the waters around the island. Boat owners, caterers and compressor operators are some of the services that the project will also be utilising to support the management team as well as the volunteers.
More information on the project can be found at coralcay.org.
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Montserrat News