A biodiversity workshop held last month in the Cayman Islands will contribute to the development of a new biodiversity strategy for the UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs).

The workshop was hosted by the Cayman Islands Department of Environment (DoE) in partnership with visiting representatives from the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). 

The workshop included representatives from a variety of Cayman’s public, private and non-profit conservation organisations ranging in expertise from marine and terrestrial biology, environmental management and conservation sciences to community advocacy and environmental education.

Over the course of two days, participants worked collaboratively to identify priorities for biodiversity conservation action in the Cayman Islands through the lenses of species, habitats and ecosystems, pressures and threats, and barriers to addressing threats. 

DoE Director Gina Ebanks-Petrie said the information gathered in the Cayman Islands will feed into a longer-term project to update the 2009 UK Overseas Territories Biodiversity Strategy.

“We are very pleased to have been able to take part in this exercise to develop a new biodiversity strategy for the Overseas Territories which, collectively, are home to more than 94% of the UK’s endemic biodiversity,” she said. “Biodiversity underpins many of the life-giving processes we all depend on, including the air we breathe and the food we eat. It also supports economic opportunities, and leisure activities that contribute to overall wellbeing. Around the world, there is a growing recognition that biodiversity is in serious trouble so we all need to act cooperatively, urgently and purposefully to ensure our ecosystems can continue to support our communities, our businesses and our people.”

The JNCC will conduct similar workshops across the UKOTs and is expected to produce a final recommendation for the updated strategy next year.