The high-level segment of the meeting takes place October 27-29, 2010.
Minister Church, who is accompanied by Dr Spencer Thomas, said that “Grenada recognises the unbreakable linkage between healthy ecosystems and the livelihoods of island people”.
He said that Grenada is proud to have been at the forefront of launching the Caribbean Challenge in 2006. “At the CBD COP8 we announced our commitment to increase the amount of habitat under protection from 10% under the CBD to 25% by the year 2020,” he said on Tuesday at an event co-hosted with the Secretary of the Department of Resources and Development of the Federated States if Micronesia.
The event included celebrating island achievements such as the recognition of the Caribbean Challenge’s Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, a US$40 million regional endowment created as part of the eight-country Caribbean Challenge and the leadership, financing and partnerships for implementation which have seen significant progress since 2006 in the Micronesia Challenge, a five-country protected areas and livelihoods commitment.
The Caribbean Challenge was officially launched at the COP9, in Bonn, Germany, in May 2008, by the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Antigua & Barbuda, St Kitts & Nevis and St Lucia are now active members.
There are 193 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which was opened for signature at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and entered into force in December 1993.
Welcome
On behalf of the Government of Grenada and along with the Honorable Marion Henry, Secretary for the Department of Resources and Development of the Federated States of Micronesia, I would like to welcome you all to this Celebration of Island Leadership and Commitment to Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods on Islands.
Excellences, Dignitaries, Fellow Islanders, Ladies and Gentlemen
I first would like to extend my thanks to the Government and people of Japan for their warm and kind hospitality and the excellent arrangements made for COP10.
This Island event is a celebration of the achievements of the Micronesia Challenge, the Caribbean Challenge and the Coral Triangle Initiative. We are also here to show support for new multi-country initiatives the Western Indian Ocean Partnership and a conservation challenge for West Africa.
We are glad to be here with our partners in the Global Island Partnership – GLISPA - a partnership that helps to bridge local and global island initiatives, build upon existing networks and programs and share knowledge among all islands.
As we deliberate on the revisions of the Convention it is a time of reflection on the responsibility we have to protect the biodiversity of our islands, and our oceans. The survival and long-term sustainability of our island nations relies on the actions we take now. Grenada recognizes the unbreakable linkage between healthy ecosystems and the livelihoods of island people.
This is why, island nations, despite their small size, are providing an example to the world – and we have shown and will continue to show that significant progress on achieving this conventions biodiversity targets are achievable.
While Grenada is a signatory on the CBD and supports the actions under this Convention, we have recognized that for our islands we need to do more. Grenada is proud to have been at the forefront of launching the Caribbean Challenge – in 2006. At the CBD COP8 we announced our commitment to increase the amount of habitat under protection from 10% under the CBD to 25% by the year 2020. Along with the Government of Bahamas, we then issued the Challenge to our neighbors in the Caribbean to join us in this vision.
The Caribbean Challenge was officially launched at the COP9, in Bonn, Germany, in May 2008, by the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
• There are Three primary components of the Challenge:
• Expansion of near shore marine protection to a minimum of 20% by 2020;
• Development of sustainable finance mechanisms, such as Protected Area Trust Funds, tourism and conservation derived fees, and payment for environmental services to provide sustainable funding to the countries’ national systems of protected areas; and,
• Development and implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change projects
The Caribbean Challenge builds on the past 5 years of work by the participating countries to develop, endorse and implement our National Protected Area System Plans that include biological, financial, and capacity assessments, and focused strategies to fill the identified biological, financial and capacity gaps.
Grenada is proud to celebrate with you the success to date of the Caribbean Challenge – the largest biodiversity conservation initiative in the history of the Caribbean. It is the vision of The Challenge to more than double the amount of marine and coastal habitat currently under protection, safeguarding nearly 20 million acres of habitat. It will improve protected area management by helping governments establish sustainable finance mechanisms to generate long-term funding for capacity building and the on-the-ground conservation action for newly expanded Marine Protected Area networks.
Of the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund’s initial capitalization goal of US$40 million, US$31 million has already been pledged by KfW (the German Development Bank), the Nature Conservancy, and the GEF. The Challenge now includes, in addition to the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, our neighboring Eastern Caribbean islands of Antigua & Barbuda, St. Kitts & Nevis, and St. Lucia are active members.
Our Caribbean Challenge effort requires coordination and assistance from partners with regional expertise – and we are pleased that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Italy has generously provided $1 million through the UNEP-Caribbean Environment Program to help advance Marine Protected Area’s networking, strengthening and regional coordination with a particular emphasis on capacity building.
This coordination was evident at the recent Wider Caribbean Governments meetings convened by UNEP in October in Jamaica. This included the Eleventh Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention of the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region.
At this meeting the Parties called on both The Nature Conservancy and the UNEP-CEP Secretariat “to examine and establish the appropriate coordination mechanisms, with the Caribbean Challenge. And we note with interest that the French delegation was also keen to highlight the very relevant work of listing of marine protected areas under the Caribbean's SPAW Protocol – and hope that the Government of France will soon join us as an official partner of the Caribbean Challenge.
In conclusion, the Caribbean is already leading the world in sustainable finance planning for our national systems of protected areas. And now the Caribbean countries, supported by our partners, continue to lead by example, moving beyond planning to implementation, via the development and establishment of the $40 million Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, 8 national Protected Area Trust Funds, and expansion of our protected areas.
Thank you very much
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