Department of Environment (DoE) officials will be announcing on Friday (2) details of Phase 2 of public consultation for Marine Parks enhancement.

The officials will include DoE Director Gina Ebanks-Petrie, DoE Deputy Director for Research Tim Austin and DoE Senior Research Officer Croy McCoy.

The proposals for an enhanced system of Marine Parks arose from the Darwin Initiative to Enhance an Established Marine Protected Area System, Cayman Islands project.

The project was initiated to ensure coastal protection for human settlements and future tourism income by enhancing the protection of coral reefs thereby allowing rehabilitation of supporting ecosystems, and increased resilience to climate change.

The Darwin Initiative was announced by the UK Government at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and assists countries that are rich in biodiversity but poor in financial resources to meet their objectives under one or more of the three major biodiversity Conventions: the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES); and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), through the funding of collaborative projects which draw on UK biodiversity expertise.

The Darwin Advisory Committee, consisting of experts from government, academic, science and the private sector, advises Ministers on development of the Initiative and makes recommendations on applications for funding.

Darwin projects are diverse. Typically, they may address issues in the following areas:

institutional capacity building

training

research

work to implement the Biodiversity Convention environmental education or awareness

The Darwin Initiative heads the Overseas Territories (OT) Environment and Climate Fund known as Darwin Plus and brings together existing UK Government funding on OT environmental projects from Defra (previously through the Darwin Initiative) and DfID and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (previously through OTEP).

The creation of this fund was announced only recently by UK’s Environment Minister, Richard Benyon who was attending the Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Announcing the new fund in Hyderabad Richard Benyon said:

“Our Overseas Territories are home to many plants and animals that are found nowhere else in the world. These unique species are particularly precious at a time when we are suffering such a high rate of biodiversity loss around the globe.

“The UK has a responsibly to protect the vulnerable wildlife and habitats in our OTs, and this fund will help us do just that. Otherwise rare species like the Cayman Brac Parrot will be lost forever.”

Mr Simmonds, Foreign Office Minister said:

“I am delighted to welcome the launch of this new Fund. It is an excellent example of how we are meeting our White Paper commitment to provide co-ordinated Government support to the Overseas Territories and a signal of how important we consider the environments of the OTs to be. I hope this Fund will provide the platform for the delivery of innovative environment and climate projects in the OTs.”

It has just been announced that Scoping Awards up to £3k are available to support partners to get together and develop a full Darwin proposal with a deadline 14th Jan 2013.

There will also be fellowships to provide funding for promising members of recent or current Darwin projects to gain further skills and training. The deadline for this is 4th Jan 2013.