Final Marine Multi-Use Zoning Plan workshop to be held in Carriacou

The final workshop on the Marine Multi-Use Zoning Plan is scheduled for Carriacou on February 16 and 17.{{more}}

It is being organized by Sustainable Grenadines Incorporated and will bring together a number of marine resource users, government officials, academics, community-based organizations and other stakeholders to review the potential multiuse zoning scenarios developed. Almost 200 persons have participated in these events since it started over a year ago. These multi-use zoning scenarios will be used as a decision-support tool to assist the workshop group with the drafting of a marine multi-use zoning plan for the Grenadines. The consultant for the workshop will be Kimberly Baldwin of the University of the West Indies, who has spent almost five years working on developing a marine use information system for the Grenadines.

Since the second workshop (August 18-19, Union Island), several large maps of the various marine multi-use zoning scenarios were prepared for review. Following this, the marine resource users (MRU) sub-committee convened in Mayreau, SVG, in November 2011 to provide feedback on these scenarios, and a smaller number of feasible zoning scenarios was selected as the foundation for this upcoming workshop.

The development of this plan is important for the sustainable development of both countries, and spans all of the Grenadine Islands between the nations of Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines. It also supports the goals of both countries’ National Biodiversity Strategic Action Plans and will enable the countries to meet their obligations as signatories to the OECS

St Georges’ Declaration and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

This project is being implemented by SusGren, a Grenadine NGO, with funding from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP). For more information please contact SusGren (susgrenpm@vincysurf.com, telephone 784.485.8779).