Grants Provided For Nature-Based Proposals In Protected Areas
By: , December 9, 2021
Photo: Contributed
Executive Director, Negril Area Environmental Protection Trust, Keisha Spencer, accepts a cheque on behalf of her entity from the National Conservation Trust Fund of Jamaica (NCTFJ) Fund Manager, Danellia Aitcheson (centre), at a recent handover ceremony in Kingston. At left is NCTFJ Chairperson, Lisa Grant.
Photo: Contributed
National Conservation Trust Fund of Jamaica (NCTFJ) Chairperson, Lisa Grant (left), observes as Board Member of the Oracabessa Marine Trust, Travis Graham, signs the grant agreement for their Oracabessa Bay Marine Protected Area Coral Reef Restoration, Marine Education and Livelihood Enhancement Project. The handover ceremony was held recently in Kingston.
Photo: Contributed
Sanctuary Manager at Alloa Fisherman’s Co-op Society Limited, Andrew Thorpe (right), accepts a cheque on behalf of his organisation from the National Conservation Trust Fund of Jamaica (NCTFJ) Fund Manager, Danellia Aitcheson (centre), at a recent handover ceremony in Kingston. At left is NCTFJ Chairperson, Lisa Grant.The Full Story
The National Conservation Trust Fund of Jamaica (NCTFJ) has given grants to six entities, whose nature-based proposals will help to provide solutions for economic recovery in Jamaica’s Protected Areas.
Grantees are the University of the West Indies Centre for Marine Sciences, Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory; Negril Area Environmental Protection Trust; Oracabessa Marine Trust; White River Marine Association; Alloa Fisherman’s Co-operative Society Limited, and Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation.
The grants, totalling $19,998,500, were presented recently at a ceremony held in Kingston, and form part of NCTFJ’s efforts to support organisations that manage and operate within Jamaica’s protected areas, using nature-based solutions.
These solutions are smart investments that will simultaneously provide social, economic, and environmental benefits to build the resilience of nature and people to the impacts of societal challenges, such as biodiversity loss and degradation in protected areas.
Some of the projects to be undertaken by the grantees include water quality assessment of the Special Fishery Conversation Areas (SFCAs) on the North Coast of Jamaica and the Oracabessa Bay, Marine Protected Area for coral reef restoration in St. Mary.
The theme of this year’s proposals is ‘Nature-based solutions for economic recovery in Protected Areas’.
The NCTFJ was established to assist the Government in mobilising additional and sustainable resources that will support the effective management of Jamaica’s protected areas.
In 2019, the NCTFJ signed a partnership agreement with the regional conservation trust fund – Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF). Through this agreement, the NCTFJ receives an annual payment from CBF’s endowment, where Jamaica has a subaccount.
The resources are channelled through NCTFJ to support biodiversity conservation programmes, projects and activities that will improve the management of the island’s protected areas. This is provided through NCTFJ’s annual call for Proposals.