Project Detail

Expansion of the Rescue Centre to Support In-situ Conservation of Jamaican Protected and Endangered Fauna and Flora through Capacity Building and Community Education

Jamaica, a small island within the Caribbean, with its unique bio-geography has developed flora and fauna with a great level of biodiversity. In fact, several of the island?s species are endemic and of great conservation significance. Biodiversity today is under a wide variety of threats, such as human persecution (illegal trafficking and hunting), loss of habitat through human development and agriculture and of course climate change.
The endemic Jamaica Iguana (Cyclura collei) is one such species which came very close to extinction but through concerted efforts from local and overseas conservation partners has managed to combat the effects of an ever-changing world. The initiatives to achieve these results include: Management of their habitat, Hellshire Hills, for biodiversity conservation, including control of charcoal burning and invasive species eradication; increasing the number of the Jamaican Iguana population through direct protection and reintroduction; Policy and legislative development to promote habitat protection and sustainable use; Public education and awareness and the development of alternative livelihoods. The species is a flagship species and efforts to protect its status will impact on other important endemic species such as the Jamaican Hutia (Geocapromys brownii) and the Yellow snake (Chalicotheres subflavus), listed by IUCN as endangered and vulnerable, respectively.

The head-start programme which removes hatchlings from the wild and grows these animals in a captive environment at the centre, has facilitated the reintroduction of over 400 animals back to the wild. These reintroduced animals have translated to an eight-fold increase in the number of nesting females, a record number of hatchlings and forty (40) percent of the wild population target for the species.

A key component of the in-situ reintroduction is the health screening exercises which evaluates reintroduction candidates for ?fitness?. Their qualification greatly increases the probability for survival allowing for a direct impact to increasing the number of animals in the habitat. Reintroduced animals enter the population at sexual maturity and are released before the laying season. This role of the centre will be supported by public education efforts through sensitization information (audio-visual media), stakeholder meetings and community workshops promoting alternative livelihoods to charcoal burners who are a direct threat to the survival of the species. Reforestation programmes will also help to restore and protect the habitat necessary for the continued survival of the species.

Project Objective(s) and Expected Results
The main objective of this project is to conserve a viable population of the Jamaican Iguana and its natural habitat through public awareness activities and alternative livelihoods for community members. The project will focus on three expected results as listed below.

Improved in?situ Reintroductions of the Jamaican Iguana in their natural habitats, and protection of other key species - The programme component of reintroduction somewhat spans a grey area between ex-situ and in-situ conservation. However, this component contributes significantly to the species recovery plan by directly impacting on population numbers, with more than 40% of the population target number coming from this activity as well as the indirect contribution through the timing of the introduction, where sexually mature individuals can potentially make an immediate impact on the next breeding season. One critical part of this component is to conduct the health screening exercises. This involves physical examination, weights and body length measures, blood chemistry values to determine diagnostic values such as total protein, calcium /phosphate ratios to name a few and genetic blood samples. The ability to conduct this is dependent on the necessary equipment and staff.

The strategy is to move to full local ownership of the programme both in technical expertise, support equipment and diagnostics. This will also involve some training of zoo staff to be involved in the execution of this component, namely through Veterinarian and Zookeeper exchanges with partners and on the site training.

Increased Public Awareness through the development of Educational Activities. As outlined in the Species recovery plan to IUCN (Grant. T et .al) , education is a key component and speaks to Education campaign directed at Jamaican School children to instil knowledge of and appreciation for the value of the Jamaican Iguana and its unique dry forest habitat; targeted outreach activities directed to communities close to Hellshire to emphasize the importance of Hellshire hills and Goat islands for the conservation of the Jamaican Iguana and its natural heritage.

Improved Livelihood Opportunities for Community Members
In the Hellshire Hills ? the home of the Jamaican iguana, is also the area where there is vast level of charcoal burning by community members for livelihoods. This greatly affects the habitats of these animals. Hope Zoo Preservation Foundation has been working with the community members, in collaboration with other key stakeholders and partners to establish alternative and sustainable livelihoods for residents. We have recognised the need for a balance, based on feedback from community members the most feasible livelihoods options that came up were ecotourism where residents could become registered tour guides for researchers as well as for recreational tourist.

Loading map...

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

The Hope Zoo Preservation Foundation Limited

Country:

Jamaica

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity
Land Degradation

Operational Phase:

OP6 -Y4 (Jul 18 - Jun 19)

Grant Amount:

US$ 150,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 74,075.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 53,727.00

Project Number:

JAM/SGP/OP6/Y4/STAR/BD/2018/01

Start Date:

12/2018

End Date:

6/2021

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

Community participation will be invaluable to this project. We are in collaboration with both the educational and social communities through our partners and intend to use those relationships to make inroads into the relevant communities. Key geographical communities such as those in the Hellshire hills and fringe communities will be accessed to form part of the work directly and indirectly. In addition, the zoo will draw on its own community resource database, having established this over the years through previous projects. The intention is to involve community members in the following ways: ? Community based organizations such as church groups, parent teacher?s associations, sport clubs, citizen watch groups etc. ? Organized community or stakeholder meetings where ideas can be shared ? School events, presentations and talks, using children within communities to share information/knowledge with their peer. ? Community training workshops ? Use of the zoo mobile to stimulate interest and community participation ? Distribution of information through audio visual aids such as pamphlets ? Empowerment of women through training ? Offering incentives within these communities such as discounted attendance to the zoo, special exemption for educational programmes such as summer camps, sleep overs or petting zoos ? Use of experts in the field of education and communications to develop curriculum content and communication strategies

Gender Focus

Equal opportunity is given to men and women but the role of women in behaviour modification and project implementation has been well established. Their role will be solicited especially in areas of public education and the consideration of alternative livelihoods. The pre-existing partnerships of JIRG members with community members will be valuable in extending relationships of trust but efforts will be made to access persons through existing community groups or cooperatives and also through religious groups. Competence development will be through training programmes that incorporate: fact-sheets, talks by experts and participatory development. The process will be guided by the United Nations Facilitator manual on gender mainstreaming.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

Improved Livelihood Opportunities for Community Members In the Hellshire Hills ? the home of the Jamaican iguana, is also the area where there is vast level of charcoal burning by community members for livelihoods. This greatly affects the habitats of these animals. Hope Zoo Preservation Foundation has been working with the community members, in collaboration with other key stakeholders and partners to establish alternative and sustainable livelihoods for residents. We have recognised the need for a balance, based feedback from community members the most feasible livelihoods options that came up were ecotourism where residents could become registered tour guides for researchers as well as for recreational tourist. As per the NSC recommendations, we will also seek to include beekeeping as another possible livelihood option for community members with a hope of securing a designated area close to the Hellshire Hills for this activity. HZPF will rely heavily on the expertise of the Human Employment and Resource Training (HEART) and Tourist Product Development Company (TPDCo) to provide skills training and certification. Noting that stakeholder meetings will help to guide the process in the selection/participation of community members.

Notable Community Participation

The Foundation intends to work with tertiary institutions such as the University of the West Indies to establish tissue protocol to re-established plant species. These can be field tested at the zoo and will serve the added benefit of providing native plant species to the captive diets and ease the transition from ex-situ to in -situ. The long-term goal is to mainstream information of the species into the national curriculum by providing branded school literature reflecting information on the species and its habitat, develop school curricula at the secondary level particularly for CAPE level in conjunction with the Ministry of education to teach about ex-situ vs in-situ conservation using the Jamaican Iguana as the case study complemented with the field and zoo as outdoor classrooms. Providing the opportunity to see conservation in action and work with tertiary institutions such as UWI and UTECH to develop elective course on conservation or collaborate with existing ecology programmes to provide field credits for studies involving the species. This will also facilitate succession planning as we seek to stimulate new scientists and researchers to work with the species.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

The JIRG members have long established connections to communities in which they currently work. Those existing avenues will be revisited, and the project will seek to build on those relationships. New partners will be updated on the respective databases. Accurate documentation and filing of the project activities will provide access to information on the implementation process and lessons learnt should they need to be revisited and replicated. All in the context that information dissemination will be administered in accordance with SGP /GEF guidelines.

Planning gef grant

The alternative livelihood training is definitely worth replicating. This component could be upscaled to a medium - sized project for greater community development. Many community groups were open to exploring other income means that were less harmful to their environment. Our budgetary allocation could only extend to a few. In fact, we attempted to partner with another NGO to provide additional financial support. With respect to species conservation, it could be upscaled to a large GEF project. The Goat Islands have now been declared a protected area under the NRCA Act and the longstanding conservation plans to reintroduce the Jamaican Rock Iguana can now be seriously considered for implementation. This would involved habitat rehabilitation, trapping of invasive alien species and reintroduction and monitoring of headstart animals.

Project sustainability

The mission of the Hope Zoo Preservation Foundation speaks to promoting the conservation of key local species. This mission is reflected in the zoo?s strategic and operational plan to support, through its own budget and other external funding, long-term conservation goals. As such, the Foundation and Hope Zoo are continuing to work with long-term partners who currently work within target communities. In addition, the group has forged new partnerships with key stakeholders to support the project?s long-term goals through technical advice and further financial support. We have attached some correspondence /agreements with new and existing partners.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

The nature of the project facilitates the cooperation of multiple organizations and the existing JIRG has well established methods of information sharing. The following approaches are planned ? Institutional memory, through the retained staff from previous administrations. ? Documentation in various forms will include but not be limited to, emails, minutes from project meetings, reports, audio-visual media such as videography and photo-documentation, social media (Facebook, Whatsapp groups, Instagram etc.) press releases, workshops, lectures, operational manuals and protocols as well as communications strategies etc. ? Monitoring and Evaluation exercises that will document best practices and give insight into strength and weaknesses of the project implementation process. ? Development of a Case Study with support/guidance from the National Coordinator

Policy Influence

The project has directly influenced the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action plan 2003, specifically the Implementation and preparation of recovery strategies for critically endangered species. GEF SGP has directly impacted positively by providing improved structures , equipment and trained staff to facilitate the work of recovering the endangered Jamaican Rock Iguana and other key protected species such as the Jamaican Yellow Snake and Jamaican Hutia. During this project, the recovery programme was able to reach a major milestone of releasing more than five hundred (500) Jamaican Rock Iguana to the wild since its start.

Replication of project activities

The project impacted on the work of the Jamaican Iguana Recovery Group, which has its secretariat at the National Environmental Planning Agency (NEPA). The project funding provided much support to field efforts including supplies for Technicians (boots, communication devices etc), predator traps for controlling Invasive Alien Species and training for technicians in health screening protocol.

Planning non gef grant

The project supported larger public awareness projects promoted by NEPA and the Ministry of Education by targeting the primary and secondary school curricula, through the production of the Jamaican Rock Iguana Fun Workbook, Three Stars of Hellshire Brochure and other resource materials.

Project Results

A large output of the project was directed towards building community awareness and required local stakeholder support to be successful. Public awareness and sensitization was directed towards users of the natural resources, particularly the components related to alternative livelihood training as well as influencing behaviour modification by targeting school children and youth.

Mass communication methods were used for a broad spread of information and this included social media, organization websites and print media. For more on the ground awareness and sensitization, the group worked with Environmental NGOs and Community based organizations to facilitate talks and presentations. Local community organizations were perhaps the most effective, as they already had community groups many of which had Whatsapp groups and were able to communicate very easily.

Equal opportunity was given to men and women but the role of women in behaviour modification
and project implementation was noted. Special effort was given to soliciting their involvement in
areas of public education and alternative livelihood training. Their role in developing content for
public information was significant.

Local capacities were enhanced at several levels. For the Hope Zoo Foundation, equipment was significantly increased in terms of local capability to conduct the heath screen as well training for the staff vet and other local vets. This proved to be very critical when COVID-19 travel restrictions prevented overseas vet partners from attending health screenings. Fortunately, the staff vet along with another local vet from the earlier trained group were able, with some virtual assistance from the
overseas vets, to conduct successful health screens. Secondly, capacity development at the community level where persons were certified in Team Jamaica offered through TPDCo and local community members were trained and equipped to do beekeeping as a business venture. This contribution may not be able to be evaluated now but success is expected in the next 6-12 months when persons will be producing honey for sale. It is expected that this alternative income will reduce some practices such as generating income from charcoal burning.

By providing alternative livelihoods, this helped to prevent persons from continuing negative environmental practices. For example, charcoal burners now see the need to preserve trees as they are now more aware that those trees produce food for the bees they will now be rearing. Overall, there was more awareness and they were now equipped, through their increased knowledge, to spread the information to other community members.

The project, given one of its objectives of increase public awareness and sensitization about the
target species, produced a number of communication materials as listed below:
1. Jamaican Rock Iguana project historical documentary - the primary purpose of the
documentary was to give a historic account and especially highlight the role of local
persons in the programme. The aim is to promote local ownership of the programme and
hopefully stimulate the succession of local scientists and supporters.
2. Jamaican Rock iguana Donor/fundraiser video ? this was to highlight the success and
achievements of the programme with a clear intent to seek further support both financial
and technical.
3. Jamaican Rock Iguana interactive Powerpoint for primary school children- this was modified
from an existing presentation in response to COVID restrictions which limited face to face
meetings. This edited version includes the use of multimedia clips and a child narrator. The
original was used widely before for school presentations.
4. Brochure on three target species ? simple fold out brochure aimed at the wider public to
increase their awareness about these species.
5. Jamaican Rock Iguana fun workbook ? a colourful and stimulating workbook for primary
school children to introduce them to the species and the conservation work surrounding
them. This of course done in a fun way.
All materials were developed in a collaborative way, with stakeholders contributing to content
development and/or review of the finished output.

+ View more

Indicators

Biophysical

Number of globally significant species protected by project 2

Biophysical

Number of national policies informed in biodiversity focal area 1

Empowerment

Number of CBOs / NGOs participated / involved in SGP project 5

Livehood

Number of individuals (gender diaggregated) who have benefited* from SGP project 35

Back to search results

Countries

Regions

Project Snapshot

SGP Country office contact

Address