The Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of the Ministry of Blue and Green Economy, Agriculture and National Food Security is in the final stages of preparation for the GEF 7 project titled “Leveraging Eco-tourism for Biodiversity Protection.
Under that project, the management of Dominica’s three national parks and the Kalinago Territory will receive funding support that would assist in promoting sustainable livelihoods for rural communities in and around protected areas and at the same time conserve important ecological systems.
The Morne Diablotin National Park and the Cabrits National Park are the two natural amenities on the west and northwest corner that have been singled out for some attention. It is proposed to create a buffer zone on the west/northwest flanks of the Morne Diablotin National Park. This buffer zone is likely to impact the existing land use practices on some of these lands. At the Cabrits National Park it is also proposed to develop a management plan particularly for the marine component of the park. This is critical for the future management of the park.
Owners of land bordering the west/north western flanks of the park from Syndicate, Dyer and Morne Plaisance Estates all the way to Ross Castle Estate Estates, are specially asked to take note. Tourism service providers along the west, north and northwest areas of Dominica are also asked to take note as this project could potentially impact your livelihood.
As part of the project preparation process, all stakeholders to include farmers, land owners, tourism service providers operating in and around the above mention areas must be consulted on the project and their inputs recorded and taken into consideration in the final document.
To this end, the PIU has invited a number of stakeholders to two public consultations that will be held on Wednesday 22nd September 2021 and Thursday 23rd September from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM each day. On Wednesday 23rd September, the first consultation will focus on the west and northwest corridor of Dominica and will focus on the proposed buffer zone for the Diablotin National Park and the development of a management plan for the Cabrits National Park.
On Thursday 23rd September 2021, the consultation will be held in the Kalinago Territory to discuss a number of natural resources management issues, livelihood opportunities, and youth skills training for the Kalinago People.
Because of the Covid19 pandemic and the strict protocol (hand sanitization, social distancing and wearing of masks) for staging public gatherings, the activity will be delivered using two modalities. A face-to-face aspect and a virtual aspect.
Only those individuals who were invited or their designate will be allowed inside the face-to-face locations. All other individuals who were targeted and invited will follow the consultation virtually via zoom.
Anyone interested in participating and were not on the original list of participants can be accommodated via the zoom platform. Please call Tel. No 266-3998 or Email: dealcrp@dominica.gov.dm for the links to these two important activities.
A two man-team of local consultants will lead the consultation.