Jamaica will receive over $1,700,000 for a project to reduce the threat of invasive alien species to the region’s biodiversity. The project, “Mitigating the Threats of Invasive Alien Species in the Insular Caribbean,” is being funded by the United Nations Environment Program’s Global Environment Facility (UNEP-GEF) and was launched on October 28, 2009, at the Spanish Court Hotel in Kingston. The non-profit organization Center for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) is coordinating the project.
The four-year initiative will support efforts to strengthen national capacity and regional strategies to deal with alien species in the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. Invasive species are plants, animals or micro-organisms not native to an ecosystem. For example, one of the threats these countries deal with is the threat of lionfish, “one of the most venomous and voracious predators in the ocean.” Other examples are invasive predatory animals that prey on native reptiles and birds, exotic insects that attack rare and endangered palm species, or plants that encroach upon native sea grass beds.
Damage by alien species is responsible for huge financial losses in the Caribbean and globally. This impacts biodiversity, food security, human health, and economic development. Task Manager for UNEP Kristin McLaughlin emphasized that prevention measures are very important for Caribbean countries, which are largely dependent on tourism, agriculture, and fisheries.
The project being introduced in the Caribbean will assist the target countries to develop their own national strategies, which will inform coherent policies, legislation, regulation and management of invasive species. So far, the Bahamas is the only partner country, which already has a national invasive species strategy.
For full article, see http://jis.gov.jm/officePM/html/20091031T190000-0500_21716_JIS_JAMAICA_TO_BENEFIT_FROM_MULTI_MILLION_DOLLAR_PROJECT_TO_REDUCE_THREAT_OF_INVASIVE_SPECIES.asp
Photo of lionfish from http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/web/oceanguide/key.html
