Dates:

10-15 July 2006

Venue:

Trinidad (north-east if possible) alternative Tobago – Buccoo Reef or Speyside

How will participants benefit?

This week-long regional course will enable participants to build on and share their experiences of protected area management arrangements and to explore a range of options for, and capacity needs of, institutional frameworks that foster equitable stakeholder participation and inter-sectoral collaboration to meet the increasingly broad goals of protected areas management. 

Overview:

What is the need?

Protected areas management in the Caribbean no longer focuses solely on narrow conservation objectives but increasingly embraces a range of developmental and natural resource management goals.  Caribbean protected areas managers are therefore faced with the challenge of designing institutional arrangements to achieve objectives as diverse as environmental sustainability, biodiversity conservation, poverty reduction, sustainable livelihoods, equity and social justice.

The relationships between stakeholders in a protected area and their use of resources are governed by both formal and informal institutions (policies, laws, rules, organisations and practices), which are often very complex.  While participatory approaches to natural resource management in protected areas have become more widespread in the region, transforming existing institutions to incorporate meaningful participation and to achieve the broader goals established by a diverse array of stakeholders remains challenging.  Opportunities need to be created for stakeholders to participate in the design of new institutional arrangements without undermining existing structures.  

In order for new institutional arrangements to be effective, a framework must also be developed for assessing capacity needs for the proposed institutional arrangements as well as identifying change agents within the present structure.

The workshop will draw on a number of case studies of institutional arrangements for protected areas, including:

• The two designated Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) in Trinidad and Tobago – the Matura National Park and the Buccoo Reef Marine Park;
• The Jaragua-Bahoruca-Enriquillo Biosphere Reserve in Dominican Republic;
• The proposed arrangements for the Speyside Marine Park, Tobago.

Who should participate?

The workshop targets senior managers and technical staff from the governmental and non-governmental (including community-based) sectors who shape and implement policies for protected areas management.

Participants would be expected to have a basic understanding of the current institutional framework for protected areas in their own country.

Objectives:

The specific objectives of the workshop are:

·   to identify the factors that shape institutional arrangements in Caribbean protected areas;

·   to learn from the Trinidad and Tobago experience of designing institutions for participatory protected areas management and to compare it with other experiences from the region;

·   to learn and apply a variety of mapping techniques to identify the current linkages and gaps in the Trinidad and Tobago institutional framework and in other regional case studies and to recommend alternative arrangements;

·   to explore the concept of biosphere reserves and their potential application in Trinidad and Tobago and other regional case studies;

·   to provide a framework for assessing the capacity needs of and identifying change agents in the present institutional arrangements;

·   to identify capacity building strategies for strengthening change agents.

Outline of topics:

The final agenda will be informed by participants’ identified needs and an analysis of the findings from the proposed case study sites but will include:

• Key concepts in participatory natural resource/protected areas management;
• Factors that shape institutional arrangements for protected areas in Caribbean Small Island Developing States;
• Learning from and making regional comparisons with the experience of Trinidad and Tobago including one or more field trips to a protected area;
• Learning from the The Jaragua-Bahoruca-Enriquillo Biosphere Reserve and assessing the potential of biosphere reserves in Trinidad and Tobago and other areas of the English-speaking Caribbean;
• Stakeholder identification and analysis;
• Capacity assessments and the development of a capacity building strategy;
• Identifying and strengthening the capacity of key change agent(s).

Approach:

The workshop will be participatory and interactive and use a combination of facilitation techniques, including plenary discussions, short lectures, small group work applied to participant selected case studies, field trip, and panel discussion. It will include case study material from Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic as well as drawing on CANARI’s experience of facilitating and building capacity for participatory natural resource management processes throughout the region.  

Costs & funding:

TO BE ADVISED 

Facilitators:

This workshop is being coordinated and facilitated by Sarah McIntosh & Alana Lum Lock from the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI).

Click here for an Application form

For more information contact Polin Sankar-Persad at:

 CARIBBEAN NATURAL RESOURCES INSTITUTE

Administration Building
Fernandes Industrial Centre
Eastern Main Road
Laventille
Trinidad and Tobago
Telephone: 868 626 6062
Fax: 868 626 1788
E-mail:info@canari.org
Website: http://www.canari.org/