CARIBBEAN: USAID launches US$12.5 million Marine Biodiversity Program in Carriacou

In an effort to protect critical marine ecosystems and reduce threats to the region’s fisheries and tourism sectors, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched a USD$12.5 million Caribbean Marine Biodiversity Program (CMBP), to promote conservation in high priority areas across the Caribbean.

The five-year  initiative seeks to improve the management of marine protected areas (MPAs); reduce threats to the environment including coral reefs, mangroves, and sea grass beds; strengthen fisheries management, and promote sustainable livelihoods for coastal residents in four seascapes across five countries.

Against the backdrop of the picturesque Grenadine island of Carriacou, United States Ambassador to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean, and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Larry Palmer, on August 21, officially launched the Grenadine Bank component of the CMBP.

In reiterating the U.S. Government’s commitment to protecting the region’s key marine areas, Ambassador Palmer emphasized, “While we appreciate the tremendous beauty of this Grenadine seascape, we are very mindful that it is currently under threat.”

He told his audience, which included government Ministers, environmentalists, and other key stakeholders, that while the Caribbean region had been described as one of the world’s most important biodiversity centers, the region’s biodiversity was being degraded “at an alarming rate,” with coral reef coverage reduced by nearly one-third since the 1980s.

“Several reef-building species are acutely endangered or at risk of extinction. These changes have had an increasingly negative impact on the ability of the reefs to remain healthy such as spawning grounds and natural barriers that protect against storm surges and sea level rise. Economic sectors like tourism and fisheries, which depend heavily upon the quality of the marine environment, are particularly affected,” noted Ambassador Palmer.

The CMBP is primarily funded through a USD$10 million investment by USAID, with an additional USD$2.5 million contribution by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), which leads an NGO consortium charged with its implementation.

To read more, USAID launches US$12.5 million Marine Biodiversity Program in Carriacou

Taken from St. Lucia News Online