CEPF staff checks in with the team helping to implement conservation strategy
When imagining the Caribbean, does your mind conjure up postcard images of white-sand beaches, clear waters and swimsuit-clad people lounging under palm trees? These images are part of the reality of the Caribbean Islands, but just as important are the realities of the governance, socioeconomics and cultural norms of the region that impact the status of these biodiverse ecosystems.
The Caribbean Islands are classified as one of the Earth’s 34 biodiversity hotspot because they hold at least 1,500 endemic plant species and may have lost at least 70 percent of their original habitat.
The islands within the hotspot, which are located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and North America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America, are quite distinct from each one to the next—and are more complex than what most postcard images might lead you to believe. While idyllic coastlines and a slow pace of life are common, there is also an urgent battle under way to conserve the area’s vital ecosystems and unique species. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) is supporting a major investment in these conservation efforts.
I recently flew to Port of Spain, Trinidad with former fellow grant coordinator Malick Keita and grant director Michele Zador of the CEPF.
Malick, Michele and I spent three days with the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), a regional nongovernmental organization that is serving as the CEPF Regional Implementation Team (RIT) during the investment in the Caribbean over the next five years.
CEPF is providing $6.9 million in grants to the region to address four conservation strategies:
1. Improving protection and management of 45 priority key biodiversity areas;
2. Integrating biodiversity conservation into landscape and development planning and implementation in six conservation corridors — strategically located regions that link key species habitats, including protected areas;
3. Supporting Caribbean civil society to achieve biodiversity conservation by building local and regional capacity and by fostering stakeholder collaboration; and
4. Providing emergency support to Haitian civil society to mitigate the impacts of the 2010 earthquake.
The RIT is composed of a five-person team from CANARI who are based in Trinidad and three country coordinators (one based in Jamaica, one based in Haiti and one based in the Dominican Republic).
As the RIT, CANARI is the extension system of CEPF in the field. It supports the various aspects of managing CEPF small grants (less than $20,000) and large grant contracts. This includes facilitating learning exchanges between grantees and stakeholders, identifying leverage opportunities for CEPF, and collaborating with other donors and their conservation projects.
Nicole Leotaud, the executive director of CANARI, says the key to successful conservation in the Caribbean is understanding people first and then learning their conservation needs. “Without that mentality,” she said, “we get nowhere for conservation or civil society empowerment.”
Civil society organizations conducting conservation-related activities in the following Caribbean countries are eligible to receive CEPF funds: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Bahamas and Barbados. In the coming months, successful grant applicants will begin implementing projects in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.
“CEPF's focus on engaging and building civil society capacity to conserve critical ecosystems provides a unique opportunity for the Caribbean,” said Anna Cadiz, the RIT manager. “Traditionally, the region has not been at the forefront of funding conservation driven by civil society.”
CEPF funding is even more important as donor priorities have shifted in the region, and funding for conservation efforts by civil society has declined in recent years. “Consequently, civil society in the region has a lot to offer,” said Cadiz, “and CEPF's approach of both helping to build organizational capacity and helping to facilitate regional networking will help tap into invaluable resources for conservation in the islands.”
Regional background
With the exception of Haiti, the region enjoys moderate to high income rates; however, economic imbalance is quite high even in the wealthier countries, and poverty is a major concern across the region. If current trends continue, the region’s limited natural resources will dry up as demand outpaces what the ecosystems can provide. Predicted rates of population growth, increasing urbanization and rising poverty add to the strain on the ecosystems and the biodiversity of the region. These realities make CEPF funding increasingly critical.
The Caribbean Islands have an exceptional array of ecosystems ranging from montane cloud forests to cactus scrublands, and house dozens of highly threatened species, including two species of solenodon (giant shrews) and the mountain chicken (Leptodactylus fallax), which is not a chicken, but rather one of the largest of all frogs. The threats to this biodiversity require immediate attention and financial support.
Throughout the Caribbean, most people live close to the ocean, so coastal ecosystems like mangroves, beaches, lagoons and cays are essential not only for biodiversity, but also to buffer the effects of the tropical storms, which are a regular part of life in the islands. In addition, these ecosystems provide habitats for commercial fish species as well as a base for recreation and tourism—which are crucial to the economies of the Caribbean.
Night of the Leatherback
On our last night in Trinidad, Malick, Michele and I caught a taxi to Matura Beach on the northeastern coast, where the awe-inspiring leatherback turtles come ashore just once a year to nest, laying and burying their eggs for hatching. We took advantage of the timing of our trip to witness this rare occasion.
Leatherbacks are enormous—measuring up to 12 feet in length and up to 1,200 pounds (nearly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle car). Female leatherbacks come ashore at night to nest, staying inland for about an hour to dig a hole in which each will lay up to 100 eggs. Females will return to the beach about half a dozen more times over the coming months to lay eggs.
These turtles are a vital part of the Caribbean ecosystem and provide many key services, including feeding on and regulating the jellyfish population. Today international trade of all sea turtle products and sub-products is forbidden under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). However, the use of the leatherback meat, oil or eggs is allowed in some nations as part of internal traditional customs or rituals.
According to the IUCN Redlist, leatherbacks are Critically Endangered, but they are proving to be a conservation success story of the Caribbean. In the past, residents traditionally poached and harvested the turtle egss, but with recent support of local conservation groups and volunteers, they have gained notoriety and increased protection. Today in Matura, volunteers protect the eggs from human and animal predators for two months until the babies hatch.
To witness these creatures in action is both humbling and inspiring. As I glance at the photo of that night sitting on my desk, I am reminded why conservation matters. If we’re not careful, amazing creatures like leatherbacks will be lost for future generations and the ecosystem relied on by all forms of life in the region will be weakened.