Port of Spain, May 01, 2017 – The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) is reflecting on what role it plays as a values-driven non-profit regional technical institute catalysing and facilitating participatory approaches to natural resources management to deliver positive benefits in terms of environmental conservation and improved well-being of people across the Caribbean islands.

The Institute is reflecting on its achievements coming out of implementation of its 2011-2016 Strategic Plan. A few highlights include:

· CANARI supported rural development and poverty alleviation through: helping individuals and groups from rural communities in three Caribbean countries to identify 48 natural resources-based enterprises; assisting 40 enterprises with their initial set-up; and using capacity building, mentoring and small grants to provide additional support to develop products, services and markets for 37 enterprises. 35 of those entrepreneurs have been successful at generating income from their enterprises.

· CANARI supported delivery of US$6.9 million under the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund through grants to 68 civil society organisations working across eight Caribbean countries and at the regional level to deliver results for biodiversity conservation including: improving management of 593,967 hectares in 25 Key Biodiversity Areas; establishment of eight new protected areas covering 111,496 hectares; creation of two sustainable funding mechanisms; and development or strengthening of five co-management arrangements and nine public-private partnerships. Twenty-three stakeholder partnerships and initiatives were created or enhanced and fifty-eight civil society organisations have strengthened organisational capacity.

· CANARI led multi-sectoral dialogues with Caribbean stakeholders to develop a Caribbean vision and agenda for transformation to inclusive green economies. The Institute is focusing on strengthening of the small and micro enterprise sector as a key pathway to achieving this transformation.

· CANARI supported CARICOM negotiators during development of the new 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda including advocated for conservation of natural resources for supporting local livelihoods, economic development and building climate resilience in.

· CANARI developed key partnerships and is collaborating with regional and international agencies for development and implementation of ambitious initiatives to address key regional challenges such as management and sustainable use of the Caribbean Sea, strengthening the small-scale fisheries sector for food security, and building resilience of local communities and their livelihoods to climate change and natural disasters.

Even while it celebrates these achievements, to inform the development of the Institute’s new ten-year strategic plan, CANARI has begun a two-year reflection and learning phase. It will examine the successes and lessons learnt during the execution of the 2011-2016 plan, as well as assess current trends and issues in and affecting the Caribbean. This is in keeping with CANARI’s general approach of continuous learning and adaptation.

Initial reflection suggests that the new strategic plan strongly emphasise building resilience to climate change and risks from natural disasters. Not only are these pivotal issues for the region, but also technical areas that the Institute has invested heavily in, through the recent addition of climate and disaster experts to its staff. Scaling up CANARI’s innovative work on developing community micro-enterprises for poverty reduction and bottom-up economic development is also needed and CANARI has added small business expertise to its staff to support this. The new strategic plan will continue to emphasise linkages between sound management of natural resources and benefits for economies and local livelihoods, working through multi-stakeholder ecosystem based approaches and strengthening policy influencing measures. Capacity building to strengthen the role of civil society continues to be a high priority. CANARI will continue to strengthen its partnerships to enhance its impact. New thematic programmes are also under consideration, including a water resources management programme recognising that water security is a growing concern.

The Caribbean is facing a time of great challenges in the face of changes in global geopolitics, economic and social instability and continuing pressures from a changing climate. These are creating cascading impacts on our small islands. At the same time, the opportunities and priorities being reflected in new global 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and international priorities being agreed for financing sustainable development, transformation to a green economy and climate change mitigation and adaptation should be considered. Within the region there are actions and some progress, but much more remains to be done.

CANARI is excited to enter this phase of learning and reflection and looks forward to engaging with our partners in developing our new strategic plan.

About CANARI: The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute is a regional technical non-profit organisation which has been working in the islands of the Caribbean for more than 20 years. Our mission is to promote equitable participation and effective collaboration in managing natural resources critical to development. Our programmes focus on research, sharing and dissemination of lessons learned, capacity building and fostering regional partnerships.

IMAGES:

Figure 2: Participants at the first meeting of the Trinidad and Tobago Small and Micro Enterprise Action Learning Group (TT SME ALG) under the “GETT Going: Green enterprises in Trinidad and Tobago going forward” project[2].

Figure 1: Participants at the final evaluation workshop of the “Climate ACTT: Action by Civil society in Trinidad and Tobago to build resilience to climate change” project[1].