SPAW-RAC Meeting November 2024

SPAW-RAC meeting November 2024

On 19 – 21 November 2024, TIDE Program Director represented TIDE at the second SPAW-RAC meeting, held in Homestead, Florida.
The Cartagena Convention is a regional agreement that has been ratified by 28 Caribbean states since its establishment in 1983, focused on the protection and development of the marine environment in the Wider Caribbean Region. The Government of Belize ratified the Cartagena Convention in 1999. The convention has three main protocols that members can commit to, one of which is the Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) Protocol, first signed in 1990. Belize signed the SPAW Protocol in 2008, committing to the protection of special areas of wildlife within Belize. To date, Hol Chan Marine Reserve, Glovers Reef Marine Reserve, and the Port Honduras Marine Reserve (PHMR) have all been listed under the SPAW Protocol, alongside 34 other protected areas in the Caribbean region.
The SPAW-RAC is the Regional Activity Centre which provides technical support and assistance to mobilize projects within the signatory states of the Convention. This meeting was the second of its kind that brought members together to collaborate on the implementation of the SPAW Protocol.
Following an inception meeting held in October 2023, the focus of this second in-person meeting was to foster collaboration between SPAW protected area managers, finalize the strategic vision and goals, and draft the roadmap for a five-year capacity building program to commence 2026. During the meeting, participants from 22 protected areas worked together to identify their own capacity strengths and weaknesses, prioritize network capacity needs and formulate training program concepts. From this, the SPAW-RAC will seek partnerships and funding in order to implement this and other priority activities identified by the network. Working with groups like this to identify weaknesses is not only empowering, but also creates tangible opportunities to seek funding that address issues on a regional scale. TIDE shared experiences from more than 20 years of experience in managing PHMR.
The meeting was facilitated by SPAW-RAC, NatureXpairs, the French Biodiversity Agency, and an expert in fostering collective intelligence. Hosted by the Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks, participants were also able to explore the nearby Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park.
Emma Doyle from MPA Connect also presented at the meeting, who shared information about their programs and highlighted the benefits that the network has for its members, which also includes PHMR.
Collective intelligence was a theme that resonated throughout the three day meeting, and refers to the enhanced shared or group intelligence that emerges when people collaborate to solve complex problems.
The meeting was made possible with funding from the ACP MEA 3 Project, which is a joint partnership between the UN Environment Programme, The European Union, the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

“It was incredible to collaborate with and strengthen relationships with protected area managers throughout the Caribbean, where we face many of the same challenges but also could identify areas where others could assist us in a particular topic, or vice versa.
It is exciting to learn of the network’s plans for the next few years, which will only strengthen our management of PHMR. We are committed to our continued engagement with the network in order to fulfil our obligations within the Protocol.”
Caroline Oliver – TIDE Program Director