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Nature Forum 2002 urges Kingdom support for nature conservation Hosted by the St. Maarten Nature Foundation, the biennial meeting of the Antillean Nature Forum, organized by the Dept. of Environment of the Netherlands Antilles (MINA), this year in cooperation with the University of Groningen, discussed problems and issues facing nature conservation efforts in the islands. The forum concluded that the financial emergency situation, particularly for the St. Maarten and St. Eustatius nature management organizations was extremely critical, and required immediate measures to avoid the demise of those organizations and loss of their infrastructure and experience. The forum appeals to the Kingdom of the Netherlands to recognize the urgent need for support and to recognize that conservation of nature is a global responsibility in which the Kingdom also shares. Other issues discussed by the forum concerned the need for consistent monitoring of nature in order to have early warning of negative trends and accordingly adjust development planning and policies, and by involving volunteers in monitoring programs increase public awareness at the same time. A closing declaration was issued by the Forum stating the above mentioned, and other points. The Antillean Nature
forum is a platform for all organizations, institutions, and agencies
involved with nature conservation, from all the islands. It is convened
at least every two years on a different island. Aruban and Dutch organizations
are also invited to the meetings. The platform was established in 1996
with a first meeting in Bonaire. There it was agreed that at a minimum
it was necessary to preserve at least one major terrestrial area and one
marine area in each island. In 2000 the Nature Forum as it was now named, met in Curaçao. It was confronted with an increasingly urgent financial situation of the nature management organizations in the islands. The forum reasserted the need for a trust fund for nature conservation and subsequently drafted a budget and financing plan for the management costs of nature, outlining the immediate needs and the step-wise establishment of a trust fund. This
year, the financial situation is even worse, while no funding has yet
been found for the implementation of the financing plan. At the forum
meeting last week in St. Maarten the imminent demise of the management
organizations in St. Maarten and St. Eustatius was announced. All reserves
have been depleted and insufficient additional income from user fees could
be realized; in St. Maarten because of the lack of the necessary regulations,
and in St. Eustatius because of the lack of proper enactment of existing
regulations. Although yachts pay a mooring fee in St. Eustatius, tankers
routinely anchor within the marine park area without any fees because
the park management lacks the necessary authorization by the government
to levy them. If these management organizations were to disappear, their
infrastructure and experience would disappear with them and it would be
extremely costly to rebuild them later. Although the forum acknowledged the difficult financial situation of the islands, it pointed out the responsibility of the island governments and urged them to do their utmost to provide at least some funding, and in addition to prioritize the identification of additional regulations or taxing measures to provide funding for their nature management organizations. The forum also pleaded for the Kingdom to recognize the urgency of the situation and provide support for the preservation of nature as a globally shared responsibility for a common resource. The forum once again asserted that the Trust Fund for Nature Conservation mentioned above is the only feasible way for sustainable funding of nature management in the small islands of the Netherlands Antilles, where tourism while it is good source of additional income, is prone to sudden changes in response to global developments, and thus not suitable as a stable financing base. Nature Monitoring The forum, organized this year in coordination with the University of Groningen, also discussed the monitoring of nature to keep track of developments and adjust planning and policy. The University of Groningen presented a project it is working on in collaboration with Aruba where, after a biological inventory, indicator species were identified and a monitoring scheme was devised. The Dutch Society for Flora and Fauna Research (VOFF) presented the Dutch model where volunteer organizations do most of the monitoring while the coordination and fund raising is done under the umbrella of the VOFF. The Dutch Environmental Assessment Bureau (RIVM) explained how they collate and publish the analyzed data in National State of Nature and Nature Outlook reports, and calculate a Nature Capital Index, ready to be used as policy-making instruments. Groningen University also explained how such collated and standardized data could be used in analyses to reach well-balanced decisions about projects and spatial planning. Following presentations
from each of the islands on their monitoring activities, the forum recognized
the need for consistent monitoring, using standardized methods and indicators,
in order to adequately report on the state of nature. The benefits of
using volunteers were also recognized. All islands acutely felt the lack
of a central coordinating, data processing and collating facility, and
the forum urged the establishment of such a body, seeking cooperation
with the Dutch umbrella organization VOFF. A small working group consisting
of Adrienne Lemaire of VOFF, St. Eustatius park manager Kay Lynn Plummer
of STENAPA, Gijs van Hoorn of the Bonaire Department of Planning and Management,
and George Jonkhout of the Foundation Reef Care Curaçao was established
by the forum to discuss the best way to proceed with this. The group will
report to NANCIweb about their progress. |