Marine Protected Areas Corner |
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On 24 December 1999, the Government of Cuba passed a new decree establishing a legal framework concerning their National System of Protected Areas. This includes regulations regarding protected areas management categories, establishment, and protection measures, including regulation on types of activities allowed within the areas. This new decree makes specific reference to the Convention on Biological Diversity but makes no reference to other related treaties to which Cuba is Party such as the Cartagena Convention and the SPAW Protocol.
The world's coral reefs made a partial recovery last year after a dismal 1998 but remain threatened by overfishing and climate changes, scientists say. A 1998 survey indicated that 15% of the world's reefs had died off, but the latest survey by Reef Check found that a third of those reefs actually recovered from bleaching. Gregor Hodgson, founder and global co-ordinator of Reef Check, said "one reason the reefs' prospects brightened a little is that they are beginning to thrive in hundreds of marine parks around the world - including the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. In those areas, lobsters and other important sea creatures are coming back". All those species contain "a wealth of information we're only begining to tap into", said Michael Crosby, senior science advisor for marine and coastal ecosystems for the US Agency for International Development and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. "One coral reef species is being used in bone grafts, and another has helped develop pesticides", Crosby said. He went on to say "reefs affect not just ocean health, but coastal health as well. They serve as natural breakwaters protecting land from typhoons and erosion". The beauty of coral reefs, and all the life within them, is both a reason and a way to protect them. For further information, visit Reef Check on-line at http://www.reefcheck.org/.
The SPAW Programme of the Caribbean Environment Programme (CEP) is providing support (US$8,000) to the Soufriere Marine Management Area (SMMA) in St. Lucia to assist the marine protected area in the recovery from damages caused by Hurricane Lenny, as well as with the development of the research and monitoring programme for the SMMA appropriate for their management needs. As a follow-up to the CEP-sponsored workshop for the 'Training of Trainers for Marine Protected Areas' held in November 1999 and attended by Kai Wulf of the SMMA, CEP is providing support for the local training activities which are slated to be held in Soufriere. Training activities potentially include a structured course for management for SMMA/CAMMA personnel and Department of Fisheries (DOF) field personnel. The course will possibly include involvement of Marine Park personnel from St. Vincent, Union Island and Grenada. An Overview Institution Development and Management course for the new Board of the SMMA and a Scientific Monitoring course for marine wardens and DOF staff are also being considered. For further information, please contact Manager Soufriere Marine Management Area P.O. Box 305 Soufriere St. Lucia Tel. : (758) 459-5500/7799 E-mail: smma@candw.lc
The highest sea temperatures ever recorded, which scientists suspect were caused by global warming and the El Nino weather phenomenon, have destroyed coral in Belize for the first time in 3,000 years. American scientists, reporting in the science journal Nature, said temperatures reaching up to 31.5 degrees centigrade (88.7°F) bleached the Belizean barrier reef causing the coral to collapse thus endangering the fragile marine environment. "There is growing concern that global climate change is degrading coral reef ecosystems, with coral mortality increasing as a result of bleaching and emergent diseases: our results from Belize appear to justify this concern", said Richard Aronson of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama. Coral bleaching occurs when the single cell algae that gives the reef its colour has been forced out by rising sea temperatures or strong light. Aronson and his colleagues reported that there was no record of mass bleaching along the Belizean barrier reef before an episode in 1995 when most coral colonies recovered. In 1998, however, sea temperatures in the central section of the reef, which rarely exceed 29°C (52.2°F) were greater than 30°C (86°F) for months. Surveys done in 1999 and 2000 showed the most abundant coral on the reef, Agaricia tenuifolia, was killed and other species were also damaged. When the researchers used radiocarbon dating on 12 cores from the reefs, it showed nothing similar had happened for more than 3,000 years. The loss of earlier coral species to disease and Agaricia to bleaching "were novel events on a time scale of millennia", the researchers added. The research was published in the journal, Nature. For more information, please
visit the following sites :
The new Xcalak National Marine Park will become official 30 days after the public notification date of June 1, 2000. |
UNEP-Caribbean Environment Programme, Regional Coordinating Unit has launched the CaMPAM Small Grants Fund (SGF). The Fund is designed to provide strategic inputs required to improve management of MPAs in the Wider Caribbean Region. Information on the SGF, identification of eligible institutions, and application forms and procedures is available on the World Wide Web site of the Caribbean Environment Programme, at: http://www.cep.unep.org/programmes/spaw/MPA/mpa.htm.
The number of activities undertaken by institutional and individual members of the CaMPAM network has grown significantly. Following the successful training activities under the Training of Trainers in MPA initiative, new initiatives have been launched. To ensure that all MPAs in the Wider Caribbean Region are able to participate in the ongoing activities and opportunities, the CAR/RCU is updating the CaMPAM membership list. The CAR/RCU requests that all MPA managers in the Wider Caribbean Region update or submit their full contact addresses. The information should be sent to Alessandra Vanzella-Khouri at: avk.uneprcuja@cwjamaica.com .
On May 1-14, 2000, the Caribbean
Environment Programme of UNEP in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy's (TNC)
Caribbean Division, held the second phase of the Training of Trainers Course for
Marine-Protected Areas Managers - this time for the Spanish-speaking countries of the
Wider Caribbean. The course took place in Bayahibe, southeast Dominican Republic, next to
Del Este National Park ("Parque Nacional del Este"), and was attended by 15
coastal park managers and stewards from governmental agencies and non-governmental
organizations of 9 countries (Costa Rica, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala,
Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela). Five instructors from Colombia, Dominican
Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the U.S. covered the major issues of MPA management
(nature and threats of the marine environment, MPA participatory planning and management,
communication skills, research and monitoring) in lectures as well as classroom and field
exercises.
This is one of the findings of a five year study recently completed. When the United Nations declared the global importance of coral reefs through the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) in 1992, Jamaica was one of the first countries to sign the initiative and later to host the ICRI Regional Conference for the Caribbean and the Wider Tropical Americas in Montego Bay in 1995. As its contribution to ICRI, the World Bank Research Committee financed a valuation of coral reefs analysis in order to establish their economic and ecological importance to the global economy and to guide policymakers in their cost-effective management. Montego Bay was chosen as the primary site for this study and the Montego Bay Marine Park Trust has been working with a multi-disciplinary team of coastal zone management specialists from The World Bank for five years, to develop this economic/ecologic model which also looks at the cost of restoration of marine resources using coral reefs as an indicator of environmental health. The study has now come to an end and the results have been published in the form of a book titled "Integrated Coastal Zone Management of Coral Reefs: Decision Support Modeling", which was launched in Montego Bay in March 2000. The book includes a case study of Montego Bay and a chapter on the usefulness of the study for local managers. It is accompanied by an interactive computer model on CD ROM for Montego Bay. The Marine Park and the World Bank hosted two, one-day workshops in Montego Bay to present the book and discuss its findings and implications with senior policy makers, inviting participation from scientists and local stakeholders. For further information, please contact:Jill Williams Montego Bay Marine Park Trust Tel. (876) 940-0704
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