Rashaed Esson
Staff Writer
October 3 – Regional Organisations, the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), are collaborating on a new USD48$million, four year Blue Economy Project, funded by The Global Environment Facility (GEF), to strengthen Marine Biodiversity and Fisheries resilience in the Caribbean.
“The project’s objective is to maintain and preserve cultural heritage through sustainable fisheries management, improved livelihoods as well as alternative livelihoods,, while at the same time, building and fortifying the integration of fisheries and ecosystem management to restore, safeguard and maintain marine biodiversity, productivity, and also the resilience of marine ecosystems.
It is titled, “BE-CLME+: Promoting National Blue Economy Priorities Through Marine Spatial Planning in the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem Plus”
GEF, in November of 2022, endorsed the initiative and provided a sum of US$6.2 million towards it.
There are three main components to the project.
First there is, implementing cross-sectoral marine spatial planning and area-based management tools; then inclusive, climate-smart sustainable seafood value chains; and regional coordination, project management, and knowledge management.
Reports say the Inception Workshop and First Regional Steering Committee Meeting for the initiative was held from September 27th-29th, 2023 in Panama City, Panama, and the expectation is that several important documents are give the greenlight, including the first year’s work plan, and that the commencement of field activities are confirmed.
Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Panama, and Saint Lucia are the participating countries alongside CAF, FAO, CRFM, and UWI-CERMES, University of Florida, which has committed co-financing of approximately US$41.7 million.
