The Trust For Sustainable Livelihoods

Governance in management of protected areas in the insular Caribbean has not been evaluated and previous protected area programmes in the region (CCA/CIDA Marine Parks and Protected Areas Programme) or ongoing (CCA/CARIFORUM Caribbean Regional Environmental Programme, and UNEP/RCU Training of Trainers Programme) have not given sufficient emphasis to this component of management. Governance is the interactions among institutions, processes and traditions that determine how power is exercised, how decisions are taken on issues of public and often private concern, and how citizens or other stakeholders have their say (Institute of Governance, Canada). At the Seventh Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Programme of Work on Protected Areas agreed to by all Parties, included Programme Element 2: Governance, Participation, Equity and Benefit Sharing. There were 11 actions identified for State Parties under this element with targets to be achieved by the year 2008.The daily challenges encountered by protected areas managers are often related to governance issues. Protected areas managers and administrators have the responsibility to ensure that all or most of the governance instruments and powers are favourable for effective management. In this context, effective leadership will help to provide a supportive environment for improving governance of protected areas in the Caribbean and assist in discharging national obligations under the CBD.

Goal

Enhanced capacity in the Caribbean for governance of marine and terrestrial protected areas.

Objectives

To help participants better understand the role of governance in effective protected areas management
To improve participants understanding of the various aspects of leadership in protected areas management.
To enhance leadership in ongoing of protected area management and identify ways to support and promote this process.
To better integrate the Principles of Good Governance and explore the recognition of different governance types of protected areas.
To identify information resources that will be necessary to empower stakeholders to engage in charting the future of protected areas management in times of increased social, economic, and environmental change, and particularly climate change.

Participating Countries

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Participants

Two participants from each country will be invited. Senior officers with day-to-day responsibility for managing the protected area and in charge of administration and financial allocation to the protected area are targeted in this workshop.

Approach

The workshop will proceed from the premise that there have been significant achievements in parks and protected area management in the insular Caribbean in recent years, and that these achievements, and the participants that are responsible for them, provide the basis for creating a culture of success essential to further capacity building. A training goal for this workshop is to create a culture of achievement by engaging leaders about spotting success, nurturing it, and becoming comfortable with being successful. Rather than dwelling on the failures in management, participants will be invited to consider how to replicate or improve on success. The country participants will be asked to prepare and submit ahead of time, a brief situation analysis of the critical aspects of governance, including:

The existing protected area governance situation (Who is involved? Who holds the decision-making authority and responsibility? Who is accountable to whom? What structures, institutions and relationships are concerned? How do they function?)
The protected area governance goals (What are the values, principles, approaches and goals underlying the system? Can those be better served by an improved governance system? )
The desirable changes in protected area governance (What needs to be modified for the PA governance system to function more effectively and efficiently? Who can take action? How? With whose help? With what resources?)
The strengths and weaknesses of existing protected areas management arrangements, and the opportunities and threats to these protected areas, especially from climate change.
Information resources and tools to empower stakeholders in effective decision-making
The possibilities of other governance types (private/public partnerships, private protected areas, and community conserved areas, etc),……… have any lessons been learnt or documented?

The workshop will start with a visioning exercise, in which participants will consider an ideal situation 5 years hence. Small-group and plenary discussion will help to develop a consensus vision of protected area management that will serve as the foundation for the action planning sessions that will follow.The second and third days of the workshop will review the governance aspects based upon the vision and situation analysis, identifying strengths and weaknesses, constraints and challenges that they have faced in protected area management. Participants will reflect on lessons learned or lessons that should be learnt from their prior experiences and identify strategies for overcoming obstacles. Elements of leadership skill training, including communication skills, and facilitation skills will be interwoven with the sessions. The fourth and final day will be spent on the discussion of the need for and elements of a capacity-building program that could be developed and used to build local governance capacity using tools such as interactive training modules. Additionally, participants will concentrate on elements of success and the role of the peer network in reinforcing success in the region. Benchmarks and targets will be identified and participants will be asked to commit to specific steps that they intend to take to promote a culture of management excellence in the region.

Workshop Venue:

Anguilla Great House, Rendezvous Bay, Anguilla [Tel: 264 497 6061]

Accommodation rate:

US$223 per night taxes and service charge included

Registration fee:

US$200 per person (payable on arrival)

Enquires to:

Floyd Homer

Vice Chair-Caribbean

IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas

c/o The Trust For Sustainable Livelihoods

#23 Mc Inroy Street, Curepe

Trinidad and Tobago

Tel: 868 679 4012

Fax: 868 636 7496