INTASAVE-CARIBSAVE Regional Workshop held in Jamaica

On July 23^rd-24^th The INTASAVE Partnership and CARIBSAVE, and the Climate & Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) had the pleasure of hosting a workshop in Jamaica, aimed at improving the communication of research findings to Caribbean policy makers to ensure that climate change is part of day-to-day decision-making.

Attending the workshop were several local and internationally-based Research Partners and Stakeholders from The CARIBSAVE Partnership and CDKN projects, with representatives some several countries including Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Belize, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mauritius, and Seychelles.

The event provided a unique opportunity to share experiences and foster South-South knowledge exchange and collaboration from several projects currently being implemented by The INTASAVE Partnership and CARIBSAVE, amongst experts from the Caribbean region, national institutions, as well as experts from Mauritius.

Presentations and documents coming out of the workshop are available on the Presentations and Brochures page under the CARIBSAVE and CDKN Research Partners Workshop and Writeshop banner.

(Photo: Nikki Hassell/INTASAVE-CARIBSAVE)

Beach Profiling

La Digue Students Learn how to Profile Beaches

GIVRAPD partners, Dr Danika van Proosdij and Mr Greg Baker from St. Mary's University facilitated an educational outreach session on La Digue Island among secondary school students. The activity was reported in the Seychelles Nation on 20 May 2013.

Press Release: Major Study Highlights Threat to Caribbean’s Coral Reefs and Opportunity for Saving Them

Written by:

Dr Owen Day (Director of Ecosystem-based Adaptation and the C-FISH Project, CARIBSAVE) and 

Dr Ulric Trotz (Deputy Director, Caribbean Community Climate Change Center)

(Excerpt from the press release...)

A BBC news item called “From Despair to Repair:  Dramatic Decline of Caribbean Corals Can Be Reversed” published last week is a resounding call to action for anyone interested in the future of the Caribbean . The news item was based on the publication of an important report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which found that most Caribbean coral reefs may disappear in the next 20 years, primarily due to the loss of grazers.

The report, Status and Trends of Caribbean Coral Reefs: 1970-2012, is the most detailed and comprehensive study of its kind published to date – the result of the work of 90 experts over the course of three years.

It contains the analysis of more than 35,000 surveys conducted at 90 Caribbean locations since 1970, including studies of corals, seaweeds, grazing sea urchins and fish.  This landmark report highlights the risks faced by coral reefs from climate change, but emphasized that restoring populations of parrotfish and reducing excessive coastal pollution would halt their decline and help them recover by making them more resilient to the impacts of climate change, such as mass bleaching events caused by rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification caused by the dissolution of carbon dioxide in the ocean.

Caribbean coral reefs, spanning a total of 38 countries, generate more than US$ 3 billion annually from tourism and fisheries.  Their loss would be disastrous for the economy of Caribbean islands, which rely on tourism as their main source of revenue.  Beach erosion would accelerate, as reefs would no longer be able to protect the shoreline from storms.  The Caribbean’s famous white sand, which is constantly being produced by living coral reefs, would also eventually disappear.   The loss of reefs would also mean the loss of countless jobs in fisheries, and further threaten the region’s already vulnerable food security.

“The rate at which the Caribbean corals have been declining is truly alarming,” said Carl Gustaf Lundin, Director of IUCN’s Global Marine and Polar Programme. “But this study brings some very encouraging news: the fate of Caribbean corals is not beyond our control and there are some very concrete steps that we can take to help them recover.” The authors explain that climate change does pose a serious threat to coral reefs by making oceans more acidic and causing coral bleaching, it is the loss of parrotfish and sea urchins – the area’s two main grazers – that has, in fact, been the key reason of coral decline in the region.  Reefs protected from overfishing, as well as other threats such as excessive coastal pollution, tourism and coastal development, are more resilient to pressures from climate change, according to the authors.

(Continue to read the full press release on the recently relaunched C-FISH website here: http://c-fish.org/major-study-highlights-threat-to-caribbeans-coral-reefs-and-opportunity-for-saving-them/)

[CLOSED] International Call for Post-Doctoral Fellows in Climate Change Research

The Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) invites applications for Post-Doctoral Fellows to participate in a 5-year international interdisciplinary research programme on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation in the Semi-Arid Areas of South Asia. Appointments will be for a year, extendable to two years. 

These Fellowships are part of a multi-million dollar, 7-year IDRC/DFID funded frontier international research programme: CARIAA (Collaborative Adaptation Research in Africa and Asia) that builds on the recent IPCC Assessment Report 5 and focuses on three climate hotspots across Asia and Africa: (a) semi-arid regions (SARs) (b) deltas and (c) glacier and snow-pack dependent river basins.

IIHS leads the South-Asia regional research programme as part of the ASSAR (Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions) consortium, led by the University of Cape Town. It includes other international partners like the University of East Anglia, Oxfam and START. Within India, ATREE, IITM and WOTR are IIHS sub-grantees working across three Indian states and multiple transects:  the Bhavani basin region in Tamil Nadu, Ahmednagar in Maharashtra and Bangalore in Karnataka. The programme PI is one of the Coordinating Lead Authors of the IPCC Assessment Report 5 (2014).

ASSAR aims to deepen our understanding of climate vulnerability and adaptation in SARs and explore what is needed to transform current reactive adaptation practices to be more proactive, and enable widespread impact. Its main research themes are: i) socio-economic, political and governance dynamics; ii) climate and biophysical impacts; and iii) adaptation practices, options and strategies across the rural and urban areas.

It includes year-long Regional Diagnostic Studies (RDS); a two year Regional Research Programme (RRP) based on qualitative and quantitative field based research; development of climate scenarios; and formulation of adaptation strategies in conjunction with public agencies and local communities.

For more information on the Call for Post-Doctoral Fellows, please visit http://iihs.co.in/about/careers/post-doc/.  The selected candidates are expected to join from 1 October 2014.

(Photo: IIHS Bangalore City Campus, from iihs.co.in)

Forest Area Management Capacity Building in Jamaica

The Dolphin Head Forest Area is a key biodiversity area (KBA) in Jamaica which has regional and global significance with respect to species biodiversity. This forest area is recorded to have a higher density of local endemic plant species and rare or threatened flora per unit area than anywhere else in Jamaica. The protection, conservation and sustainable management of the forest resources are therefore critically important to local and international stakeholders.

The CARIBSAVE Partnership, with funding from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, has embarked on a project entitled "Strengthening Institutional Capacity of the Local Forest Management Committee - Management Plan Implementation in the Dolphin Head Key Biodiversity Area in Jamaica". In this project, CARIBSAVE is partnering with the Dolphin Head Local Forest Management Committee (LFMC). This volunteer organisation was recognised in the 2013 Dolphin Head Forest Management Plan (DHFMP), drafted by the Forestry Department, as championing forest stewardship amongst local community members.

In order to secure the sustainability of this organisation and support the objectives of the DHFMP, the goal of this project is to strengthen the Dolphin Head LFMC's capacity to deliver critical forest management functions to the KBA. The project activities include a capacity needs assessment, training sessions and the development of a medium-term action plan to evaluate and build institutional capacity. Using the conservation priorities identified in the action plan, additional projects will be developed to continue the institution’s essential stewardship role in the Dolphin Head Forest Area. The project will be executed over a one-year period until July 2015.

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation. More information about the Fund and associated activities can be found online at www.cepf.net.

For further information this initiative, please contact Dr. Donovan Campbell at donovan.campbell@caribsave.org.

(Image: Yard Edge-www.yardedge.net)