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Romain Renoux was invited by the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) to attend a regional coordination meeting in Saba on April 24 - 26.
Invited by the RAC-SPAW and the only representative of the French West Indies, the director of the Réserve Naturelle de Saint-Martin shared his professional experiences with the managers of protected sites in the Dutch islands, and in return profited from their knowledge.
He met with Eugene Holiday, the governor of Sint Maarten, and Tadzio Bervoets, director of the Marine Park of Sint Maarten, and congratulated them on their commitment to the protection of natural sites.
They evoked the idea of creating a protected marine zone to the southeast of Sint Maarten.
This zone, which comprises several small islets that serve as havens for marine birds, is located alongside waters already under the jurisdiction of the Réserve on the French side and could serve as important coastal protection for both sides of the island.
This project will figure on the agenda of the next meeting between Saint Martin and Sint Maarten on the subject of regional cooperation.
The DCNA, What is it?
The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) serves as an advisory technical and financial help for the six Dutch Caribbean islands - Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Stacia, and Sint Maarten - in terms of environmental protection.
Its mission is to preserve the biodiversity of these islands, on land and at sea, and to help those who run protected sites to have better tools to obtain better results.
Financed by the Dutch Ministry Of The Interior and a Dutch lottery - all lotteries in Holland are obliged to give part of their proceeds to NGOs - the DCNA has real means which benefits the 13 protected zones throughout the Dutch islands.
A look at their website, dcnanature.org, shows that the DCNA is on the cutting edge of environmental protection, from financing the creation of a protected zone to creation of management programs, by way of installing GPS chips on sea turtles to the creation of pedagogical kits for students.
