Jul 01 Five Caribbean destinations achieve marine protection goals ahead of schedule
ANTIGUA - Five Caribbean countries and territories were recognized for their early achievement of the ambitious marine protection target they committed to when joining the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI).
The CCI 20-by-20 Conservation Goal challenges members to conserve and manage at least 20 percent of their marine and coastal environment by 2020.
The Dominican Republic led the list of early achievers with approximately 75 percent of its marine area under protection, followed by St. Kitts and Nevis (50 percent), the U.S. Virgin Islands (44 percent), Puerto Rico (27 percent), and Haiti (23 percent).
"It is a momentous occasion to reach a conservation goal that will benefit the ocean and communities in the Caribbean for generations to come," said St. Lucia-based CCI Envoy Karolin Troubetzkoy, who honored the early achievers at a ceremony in Antigua last week.
The CCI is an innovative platform uniting government, the private sector and partners - such as funding agencies and NGOs - in a collaborative movement to conserve and sustainably manage the Caribbean's marine and coastal environments.
Launched in 2008, the CCI aims to incentivize Caribbean governments to meet their marine conservation objectives and to support them by catalyzing new funding and accelerating meaningful action. It also works to create more prosperous and stable economies - achieved through sustainable development and growth - to help ensure a more secure future for the entire region.
In congratulating the CCI "Early Achievers", Troubetzkoy noted that "recognizing these nations' successes in marine and coastal conservation is an important message to the other CCI members that getting to the 20 percent target by 2020 is not an impossible goal." She hoped to be celebrating with the remaining CCI destinations next year.
In addition to the awardees, four other Caribbean countries and territories were celebrated for taking steps to propose marine areas that will more than double their current levels of protection. These included the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Grenada and St. Lucia. The Bahamas recently announced that it will declare an additional eight-plus million acres of marine protection, which will more than double its area of protection and meet the CCI 20-by-20 target ahead of the 2020 deadline.
Source: https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/five-caribbean-destinations-achieve-marine-protection-goals-ahead-of-schedule
Nov 06 Beach Profiling Project re-launched by NIA's Department of Physical Planning
A Beach Monitoring Programme, which allows the Nevis Island's Administration's Department of Physical Planning, Environment and Natural Resources to collect data from the main beaches on Nevis and assess the changes to the island's coastline, has been re-launched.
A beach profile describes the landscape and measurement of the beach, both above the water and below it.
Environmental Specialist Lemuel Pemberton, in an interview with the Department of Information on October 30, 2013 at Gallows Bay, said the Department of Physical Planning had re-launched the Beach Profiling Project to re-establish markers on the island's main beaches and establish new points to determine changes to each beach over time.
According to Pemberton, the beaches which have been analysed so far by the Department of Physical Planning include New Castle, Nisbet's, Herbert's, Lovers' and Pinney's beaches, 'Garling', Dog, Black, Long Hall, Mosquito and Jacks bays, beaches north of the Sea Bridge, the beach near the Mariner's Pub, and beaches in Cotton Ground, Paradise and Jessups.
"What people, the Department of Planning and the government, over the years have been interested in are the changes in the main beaches on Nevis... so there can be comparisons. So when we speak about beach erosion or sand mining, any issues like climate change, we can be well informed because the data is there.
"Generally we have lost beach, definitely in the Pinney's Beach area. There were a number of palm trees, apart from the disease [the lethal yellowing] which has destroyed or caused the death some of the palm trees, some have been lost to storms. They are no longer there as markers so we have to re-establish some new points," he said.
Pemberton explained that the project which originally started during the 1980's was put on pause about six years ago. He said data collected, up to that point in 2007, reveals that some of the island's beaches had experienced some seasonal erosion.
"It showed that there was a considerable amount of erosion on most of the beaches. On some, there has been a little bit of accumulation but then what happens is that it is seasonal. So at some times of the year, you come here probably around December toward January then the beach will not be so wide but it would be wider at the southern end, so what you do, you attract seasonal changes.
"What you should also do is immediately after a storm, if there is a major storm, you check. You take the beach profile. In another three months, you will also check it again to see what changes have been made, whether the beach has recovered or that there has been no change," he said.
Also participating in the Beach Profiling Project are Physical Planning Officer in the Department of Planning Thema Ward, Geographic Information Systems Officer Joel Williams, and Environmental Officer Claudia Walwyn.
Source: http://www.sknvibes.com/news/newsdetails.cfm/81015
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