Project Detail

Restoration and Conservation of Threatened Coastal Habitats in Carricaou, West Indies.

As a local community-based effort, the project seeks to identify critically threatened coastal habitats in Carriacou and establish comprehensive monitoring, restoration, and educational initiatives around these areas with an emphasis on soil conservation, mangrove forests, and endangered sea turtles.

The project objectives are to promote soil conservation practices to slow or prevent erosion and protect existing coastal habitats (particularly mangroves and sea turtle nesting beaches) by:
- establishing terrestrial and coastal vegetation within critical areas

- restoration planting and protection of damaged, remnant, and impacted mangrove stands within critical areas

- protection of two critically endangered sea turtles through nesting and hatching turtle monitoring on Mt. Pleasant and Petit Carenage beaches (two key sea turtle nesting beaches)

- on-site training of 8 guides in turtle and beach monitoring methodologies

- Implementation of an active advocacy and public awareness strategy aiming at transforming community people, especially the youth, into conservation advocates and environmental stewards.

This project is considered phase 1 of a three phased project and the other two phases are expected to be funded by up-scaling to a Medium or Big GEF.

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

YWF-Kido Foundation Inc.

Country:

Barbados

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

Phase 3

Grant Amount:

US$ 47,616.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 17,542.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 41,396.00

Project Number:

BAR/OP3/06/05/05

Start Date:

6/2005

End Date:

7/2006

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

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Project Characteristics and Results

Gender Focus

As a community project, it encourages full participation by both males and females in all project activities.

Project sustainability

Kido Foundation intends to continue to restore and conserve the Carriacou coastal areas and to continue to monitor nesting sea turtles. The organisation is also exploring the possibility of upscaling to a medium GEF

Capacity - Building Component

The SRSC has made it an approval condition that the organisation builds capacity in the community.

Replication of project activities

The example of mangroves growing in a severely eroded coastline and the community?s determination to carry on the project with the help of scientific expertise has helped other groups in Carriacou to pursue similar conservation projects. A pond and a nature trail were restored; and a booth with information on endangered species was built in the village area between Dover and Mount Pleasant

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

The project hopes to build awareness of the coastal erosion problems in Carricaou which would later support new policies or policy changes.

Notable Community Participation

The project was designed through a particiaptory process in consultation with the community. Representatives of several community groups and stakeholders have participated in preparatory meetings about the social and environmental conservation priorities and needs of the project areas. The meetings were designed to involve the communities in the planning and implementation of the resulting project. A steering committee of nine persons was also formed to participate in the decision making process (participants included members from four different Community based organizations and from YWF-Kido Foundation). In addition the project proposal was drafted following the recommendations from scientists from the University of New Hampshire and the outcome of the meetings with the involved communities who live around the project areas. The draft was reviewed by the researchers and validated by the involved communities before being finalized for submission to GEF/SGP.The process was well documented in the Planning Grant Reports.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

This project will train 8 guides whose role will be, among other things, to monitor the coastal environment and act as guides for visitors to the site.

Project Results

Extracted from the Final report Prepared by Gregg E. Moore and David M. Burdick, submitted to GEF/SGP (Barbados and the OECS) February 19th 2007.

Over the course of the project over 1,000 individual mangroves were planted with the direct assistance of the community, including red, white and black mangrove species. Additional salt-tolerant species were also planted, including almond, batis, and seagrape. A significant number of transplants have survived and are flourishing particularly at Bogles, Petit Carenage, Windward, and Dover/Limlair. These plantings should lead to the establishment of stable mangrove stands in locations around the island threatened by erosion.

Of equal importance, has been the surge in community involvement and investment in coastal protection and restoration since the project began. As a direct result of this project, fourteen (14) stakeholder/community meetings were conducted (including a four-day session during summer camp in 2006). Additionally the project resulted in seven (7) public trainings, eight (8) school sessions, six (6) days of summer camps in 2005, and initiated restoration and monitoring activities at six (6) distinct coastal locations cumulatively involving over 750 members of the community. The public, local environmental groups and NGO?s, as well as members of government agencies were encouraged to be involved in all public meetings and restoration/management activities, demonstrating the true community-based nature of this effort.

Furthermore, the work has led to important spin-off projects, including a call by the community to restrict further sand mining in Tibeau, Mount Pleasant/Grand Bay area and the island as a whole, as well as many requests by individuals for additional mangrove planting efforts throughout the island.

One of the most significant achievements of the Project was the provision of a springboard for community action by providing opportunities for direct public involvement in site selection, planning, implementation and monitoring of coastal habitats in need of protection.
By establishing restoration sites that were of ecologically importance and of significance to the community and providing both on-site training and published training manuals, the future of environmental stewardship in Carriacou looks bright.

In fact, one of the major project objectives was to transfer practical methods and procedures back to the community so that they could maintain and develop continued coastal protection projects needing little to no outside expertise. Such a goal is ambitious, but there is evidence to suggest that Carriacou is moving towards a sustainable, community-driven environmental stewardship program with the continued guidance provided by efforts such as this Project.

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