By Tyrell Gittens
This story was first published on the Cari-Bois Environmental News Network. It appears below as part of a content-sharing agreement.
If the Caribbean is to successfully conserve 30 percent of its biodiversity by 2030 in keeping with the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), regional environmentalists will have to recognise the value of working together. This was the message at the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Environmental Funds (RedLAC)'s 26th annual Congress, currently taking place in St. Lucia.
Keynote speaker Professor Dale Webber, a coastal ecologist and former principal of the University of the West Indies, listed community engagement and regional cooperation as key priorities to advancing the 30×30 goal in the Caribbean. “Achieving these ambitious conservation goals requires more than just setting targets,” he said. “It demands effective collaboration, inclusive strategies and careful consideration of various social, economic, environmental — and, for us in the Caribbean — historical and cultural factors.”
From the region’s diverse ecosystems that span from coral reefs to rainforests, the effectiveness of environmental activists’ work in the conservation trust fund space can benefit from cross-sector support. Working directly with local communities, for example, especially Indigenous people, can help conservation trust funds identify and support projects which incorporate traditional knowledge and community-based management that are central to inclusive and sustainable conservation outcomes.
“The interconnected nature of Caribbean ecosystems requires strong regional cooperation,” Webber continued. “Transboundary conservation initiatives, shared resources, and collaborative policies will be crucial for achieving the 30×30 goal across the region.”
Stressing the importance of 30×30 strategies expanding to include new areas, he added that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and other regional bodies could — and should — play a pivotal role in coordinating these efforts. Given the Caribbean’s vulnerability to climate change, the protection of natural buffers like mangroves and coral reefs can help mitigate the impact of sea-level rise and storms. When conservation efforts are designed from this angle, to withstand changing environmental conditions that have such widespread impacts, it becomes easier to get greater buy-in — both from funders and the general public.
Naturally, reaching the 30×30 goal requires significant financial investment, so the region plans to explore innovative financing mechanisms, such as blue bonds, payments for ecosystem services, and public-private partnerships to fund conservation efforts. In an interview after Webber presentation, CEO of the Saint Lucia National Conservation Fund, Craig Henry, said the SLUNCF and similar organisations must create a “groundswell” of enthusiasm by creating strategic partnerships with grassroots organisations, local community movements and other initiatives: “When we do this, we can channel the types of investments and resources that will strengthen not only our own capacity, but the capacity of these communities.”
“Without community involvement and engagement, we cannot forge environmental stewardship,” Henry explained. “When we speak of climate resilience, biodiversity restoration and sustainable livelihoods, what do those things mean to the folks at the community level […] to fisherfolk, seamoss farmers and community leaders?” The answers to questions like these will help stakeholders understand regional needs and determine funding priorities. CEO of the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF), Karen McDonald Gayle, added that while many may think 30×30 is a distant goal, it’s actually an urgent priority that requires all hands on board:
“Particularly relevant to our work today is the collaboration with our partner national conservation trust funds [to help] create a Caribbean sustainable finance architecture [that] isn’t just about securing funds [but] about building resilient finance mechanisms and systems.”
They hope to build the capacity of conservation trust funds in areas like environmental and social safeguarding, gender mainstreaming, governance and grant-making, since these are the areas that drive the accomplishment of environmental targets. “Every hectare protected, every species conserved, and every community engaged,” Gayle emphasised, “moves us closer to a sustainable future.”