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First Meeting of Grenada’s Protected Area National Implementation Support Program (NISP)

Coastal Carriacou
Coastal Carriacou, Grenada
© RARE/The Nature Conservancy

St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands — September 1, 2005 — On August 25th,  2005, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) met with the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of the Health and Environment and the Ministry of Finance to start implementation of Grenada’s Protected Area National Implementation Support Program (NISP). This partnership program between TNC and the Government of Grenada aims to implement the Global Program of Work on Protected Areas that was developed under the Convention of Biological Diversity in February 2004, of which Grenada is a signatory since 1992. This NISP was formalized in February 2005 with a Memorandum of Understanding between TNC, the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of the Health and the Environment, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Carriacou and Petite Martinique Affairs.

The NISP aims to bring together everyone that has a clear role in protected areas management, into a forum where leverage can be increased, cross-agency projects designed and duplication of efforts minimized. It also aims to demonstrate to the international conservation community that Grenada knows its conservation needs and is committed in doing its fair share of preserving the planet’s biodiversity.

The Global Program of Work, spanning from 2004 to 2012, aims to implement a wide range of protected areas activities with the ultimate goal of significantly increasing protection of natural resources by 2012. Activities range from protected areas policy review to capacity building, monitoring of biological resources and evaluation of the effectiveness of management of these areas.

In the past few months, The Nature Conservancy collaborated with the Government of Grenada in translating the Global Program of Work on Protected Areas to Grenada’s reality. This lead to the drafting of an ambitious Grenada Program of Work on Protected Areas. This program of work brings together current and future activities that partners consider important to strengthen the protected area system but also includes very specific deliverables under the Global Program of Work on Protected Areas. Some examples of these activities include the development of a biological GAP analysis and of a Sustainable Finance Plan for the protected areas system in the country.

Since last February, TNC has acted as a catalytic facilitator that jump started the NISP and brought everyone together. But this NISP reached a point that it is important for the country to take the lead in the facilitation and coordination of this effort. To this end, TNC suggested that the group focuses initial efforts in hiring a strong national coordinator that has a track record and has been closely engaged in protected area management in Grenada. Among other things, this person would focus in the coordination of the program, convening experts and consultants and act as a liaison to funding agencies and fundraisers.

At this first meeting of the Partners, representatives from the government and TNC also acknowledged the need to coordinate well with other efforts and institutions developing projects that impact protected areas. Special care should be given to coordination with the Sustainable Development Council, with the National Environmental Management Strategy Effort and with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States OPALL project (Protected Areas and Associated Livelihoods Project). Partners also acknowledge that the amount and type of work is such that there will be need for additional support, not only from other ministries but also from the civil society, especially in-country and international NGOs and Universities. To this end, participants at the meeting agreed that the University of St. George’s and RARE are natural partners when it comes to strengthen the protected area system of the country and therefore should be signatories of this agreement.