BEST: 16 projects financed in the Caribbean

The BEST initiative has moved into high gear. As the phase for the identification of ecosystem profiles on all of the European islands in the Caribbean has been completed, the final document has been approved by the European Commission, and is now available for the public to consult on the Commission’s website.

Currently, BEST is entering into the operational phases for financing of field projects for the preservation of the region’s biodiversity. Four such projects have already been validated after the first call for projects launched in September 2015 throughout the Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, and will benefit from funding as high as 400,000 €. The projects comprise: saving the marine turtles in Anguilla; creating coral nurseries in Sint Maarten, Saint Eustache, Saba, and the Turks and Caicos; to create a marine park in Aruba; and to fight against invasive species in the British islands of the Caribbean. A new call for projects was launched in April 2016, once again directed at the Overseas Territories (PTOM), for maximum funding of 100,000 €. Twenty eligible projects were presented, 18 of which were preselected. As the dossiers can be complicated to complete, a capacity building workshop offering help was held in Saint Martin on July 21 and 22 at the Beach Hotel in Marigot, in order to train and support the candidates, whose projects were due by August 29. Bermuda, The Cayman Islands, Saint Eustache, Anguilla, Montserrat, Bonaire, Saint Barth, Saba, and Sint Maarten all participated. On September 19 and 20, a committee of four experts comprising Cyril Barnerias from the Global Environment Facility; Eric Newton, a biologist based in Curacao; Paul Hoetjes, coordinator for the nature policies for the Dutch islands; and Yves Renard, a biodiversity expert based in Sainte Lucia, met in Saint Martin to evaluate the propositions. Each project was presented to the European Commission, which retains the 12 best, for a total of 1 million € in funding. Among these projects are such topics as reforestation, protection of the Petites Antilles iguana, the fight against lionfish, and the restoration of coral reefs. All will be undertaken in 2017, and the final call for projects will be launched in 2017, once again for PTOM’s. The European BEST initiative is coordinated in the Caribbean by the Spaw-Rac and the Réserve Naturelle de Saint-Martin. Les