From Antigua Observer

UNITED NATIONS, May 27, CMC – The United Nations says it is supporting several projects in the Caribbean to underscore the connection between life on land and life below water. As the vital role of the world’s oceans in human well-being and development is being highlighted, the UN will host a global conference early next month aimed at protecting these resources.

On Friday, it said that conserving the marine environment is among the objectives of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) , “which seek to achieve a more just and equitable world for all people and the planet by a deadline of 2030.”

“SDG 14, Life Below Water, and the Ocean Conference ,” to be held from June 5-9, has particular resonance for countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, according to Rissa Edoo with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in the capital, Port of Spain.

“The ocean is vital to us because we are a small island developing State,” said the National Coordinator for the Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) Small Grants Programme, which has funded more than 100 projects since 1995.

“Most of our resources are along our coast, and most of our industry is also along our coast,” Edoo added. “So, it is very important for us to understand the connection between life on land and life under water.”

The UN said among the recipients is Nature Seekers, a non-profit organization that has become a model for marine conservation in the Caribbean over the past 27 years.

The group is based in Matura, a fishing village on Trinidad’s north-east coast, where nesting leatherback turtles were being slaughtered for their meat.

Today, it said the 2,000 residents “proudly protect” the female sea turtles that come to the local beach every March through August to lay their eggs.

The UN noted that leatherback turtles are the largest turtle species on Earth and can grow up to seven feet long and weigh up to 2,000 pounds.

Esther Vidale, Project Director at Nature Seekers, described them as a “keystone species” in the marine environment.

When Nature Seekers began in 1990, up to 30 percent of leatherback turtles that made it to Matura Beach were being maimed or killed by poachers, the UN said.

Suzan Lakhan Baptiste, the group’s managing director and driving force, recalled that the beach once resembled a “graveyard.”

“I live in the community and when I went out onto the beach I saw all these huge turtles with just all the eggs in the stomach, with just a few pounds of shoulder meat missing. I remember seeing turtles with chops all over and no part thereof missing. And I said ‘I have to be a part of doing something and curbing this,’” she told the UN.

Since then, Nature Seekers has educated the village of Matura about the importance of conservation and showed how the turtles are a resource that can enhance livelihoods.

The UN says residents have been trained as guides to patrol the beach to monitor the nesting leatherbacks which are tagged, measured and weighed, “thus contributing to global research on the species.”

As a result, Matura has become an eco-tourism destination, as the group also works on issues such as forest management and sustainable livelihoods, emphasizing what Ms. Edoo called “the ridge-to-reef connection.”

The UN says that today, the greatest threat to the leatherback turtles lies in the water, as they can get entangled in fishing nets as by catch, a term used to describe species caught inadvertently during commercial fishing.

Through UNDP, Nature Seekers is exploring alternative fishing methods such as using Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) which allow trapped turtles to escape from nets.

Meanwhile, the UN said residents on the sister island of Tobago are also working to preserve the stunning environment that surrounds them.

For example, community-based organizations located in the north-east are being empowered in co-managing natural resources, the UN said.

It said the region is rich in diverse eco-systems, with coastal communities bracketed between the Main Ridge Forest Reserve – the oldest on record, according to the UN cultural agency (UNESCO) – and the Caribbean Sea.

“(In Tobago) The site that we are trying to improve management to is the North East Marine Tobago area, which is the home of the biggest brain coral in this part of the world,” said Neila Bobb Prescott, of the Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO), the chief technical advisor for a national project funded by the GEF, covering six sites throughout the country.

“We have just concluded studies showing that we have two species of endangered sharks there and the studies show that we have juvenile species, so there may be other reasons to pay attention to these areas,” she said.

For the past three years, the UN said the Environmental Research Institute Charlotteville (ERIC) has been supporting area residents in making informed decisions about their future through taking an active role in contributing to natural resource conservation.

ERIC is another recipient of the GEF Small Grants Programme, the UN said.

Aljoscha Wothke, the group’s director and chief executive officer, said their activities include providing eco-diving training to a handful of local fishermen who then check and monitor reefs and sharks.

“And at the same time, we train them to be community communicators because we believe that in small communities, people trust the people they grew up with much more than if they get messages from somewhere outside or messages that are dropped on them,” he said.

Photo taken from: Awesomeocean.com

For more on this story go to: http://antiguaobserver.com/un-backed-projects-in-the-caribbean-highlights-connection-between-life-on-land-and-life-below-water/