CANARI co-operates with organisations and institutions to achieve its vision. The Institute has national partners in all territories of the insular Caribbean. It participates in the activities of informal networks, and has links with international and academic organisations, which include:

Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN)
In collaboration with the GCRMN and the Reef Check Foundation, CANARI is currently undertaking a project to improve and provide appropriate coral reef monitoring skills in the Eastern Caribbean.

The Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex, UK (IDS)
The IDS is CANARI's research partner on the "People and the Sea" project funded by the UK Department for International Development/Natural Resources System Programme. IDS interns assist in research work on this project.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
IIED have been CANARI's link to policy developments outside the region. In 2002, CANARI along with SEDU, will be implementing the Caribbean component of a global study of market-based approaches to watershed management in collaboration with IIED.

The International Institute for Tropical Forestry (IITF)
Over the years, CANARI has benefited from technical assistance from the IITF, particularly in aspects of silvicultural techniques in the harvesting of mangrove trees. One of CANARI's longest ongoing research projects is the sustainable mangrove harvesting in southeastern St. Lucia. The Institute has been working with a group of charcoal producers on an experimental management strategy to provide protection to the mangrove as well as economic benefits to rural families.

Natural Resources Systems Programme (NRSP)
The NRSP is one of DFID's research programmes. One of its current areas of focus is the understanding of natural resource related livelihoods and opportunities for natural resource management, which impact on poverty at the coastal zone. CANARI's People and the Sea project is funded through this programme and the Institute has helped to inform the NRSP's work in the region.

Sustainable Economic Development Unit (SEDU)
SEDU, based at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, undertakes research on the impacts and outcomes of sustainable development in the Caribbean, with an emphasis on socio-economic benefits. SEDU is a regional partner of CANARI's who provide a socio-economic policy analysis dimension to the Institute's programme.