Biodiversity and Ecosystems Management

Online survey: The Role of Geothermal in the OECS Region1.

BACKGROUND

All Countries of the Eastern Caribbean are almost totally dependent on imported fossil fuel despite their significant potential for renewable energy such as solar, hydro, wind and geothermal. In recent years geothermal energy has emerged as a priority for the sub-region and the scientific evidence shows a strong potential for development: Currently, seven of the ten OECS Member States are working toward the development of their geothermal resources. 

Part 1 (this document) was supported by a research grant received from the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) through the GEF-funded project ‘Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States’ (IWEco) in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme-Caribbean Environment Programme (UNEP-CEP).

This substantive review is intended to act as a valuable resource for the wider sargassum stakeholder community as well as to inform other aspects of the SargAdapt project including trade-offs in fisheries, tourism and coastal livelihoods of alternative mitigation and management options for sargassum influxes.

This technical report is an output of the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) project 'Adapting to a new reality: managing responses to influxes of sargassum seaweed in the Eastern Caribbean' (SargAdapt), co-financed by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety through KfW.

The research reported here was supported by a research grant received from the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) through the GEF-funded project ‘Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States’ (IWEco) in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme-Caribbean Environment Programme (UNEP-CEP).

The queen conch (Strombus gigas) is a highly appreciated seafood delicacy with important non-food uses, including therapeutical products and handicrafts. While global demand is booming, small-scale coastal producers in the Eastern Caribbean do not fully seize the opportunities offered by sustainable conch markets. In 2020, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) – with the support of the European Union and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – joined forces to design a pilot project to test the application of the revised UNCTAD BioTrade1 Principles and Criteria (UNCTAD, 2020)2 to the marine environment, focusing on the queen conch value chain in the countries of Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. This case study presents the value chain analysis of queen conch production in Saint Lucia. It builds on a stakeholder map of the queen conch value chain of Saint Lucia, Grenada, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, produced as part of the Blue BioTrade project.3 It is the first of three country case studies to be produced under the Blue BioTrade Project, together with forthcoming studies of queen conch production in Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. These case studies, in addition to a regional workshop, will contribute towards the development of a regional Blue BioTrade Action Plan in 2022. This report is divided into eight chapters. Chapter I provides an introduction and overview of the approach taken by the case study. Chapter II analyses the regulatory frameworks, management plans and institutional frameworks in Saint Lucia as they relate to the queen conch. Chapter III provides a product assessment, looking at Saint Lucian queen conch biology and stock location. Chapter IV analyses the value chain, examining its economic features during the pre-harvest, harvest and post-harvest stages. Chapter V presents an initial assessment of current market access and potential entry points to various potential markets of queen conch products. Chapter VI outlines the main challenges faced by the value chain. It is followed by chapter VII, which outlines opportunities to address these challenges using the BioTrade Principles and Criteria as a guideline. Finally, the report ends by providing recommendations and conclusions in chapter VIII.

Preface

At the Third Meeting of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Environment Policy Committee (EPC) in September 1999, OECS Ministers of the Environment requested that the OECS Secretariat prepare an “OECS Charter for Environmental Management” and “a regional strategy... that will become the framework for environmental management” in the region. In accordance with the Ministers’ request, the OECS Natural Resources Management Unit (now the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit, ESDU) developed the St. George’s Declaration of Principles for Environmental Sustainability in the OECS (SGD), which was signed by the OECS Ministers of the Environment.

Queen conch is a highly appreciated seafood delicacy with important non-food uses, including therapeutical products and handicrafts. While global demand is booming, small-scale coastal producers in the Eastern Caribbean do not fully seize the opportunities offered by sustainable conch markets. In 2020, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) joined forces to design a pilot project to test the application of the revised UNCTAD BioTrade1 Principles and Criteria (2020)2 to the marine environment, focusing on the queen conch value chain in the countries of Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. In the preparation of case studies on the queen conch value chains in beneficiary countries and working towards the development of a Blue BioTrade Action Plan for the OECS, UNCTAD has worked to produce a map of stakeholders in the queen conch value chain in the three participating countries and an initial scoping of opportunities and challenges that will be further explored to improve environmental and economic outcomes.