Earth Today | UWI professor bats for conservation funding as pandemic forces ‘lean times’
Published:Sunday | May 17, 2020 | 8:52 AM
UNIVERSITY OF the West Indies (UWI) professor, Dr Mona Webber, has come out in support of continued financial assistance for entities working in conservation, as the world faces down COVID-19, which is draining the coffers of countries and donor agencies alike.
The hit to tourism, she said, could be especially problematic for those involved in the protection of fish sanctuaries and other protected areas, who derived support from the industry.
“The positives of less tourism taking the pressure off the environment is one thing, and places like Montego Bay are reporting improved conditions in the water. But many of our sanctuaries and protected areas were being funded through partnership with tourism interests,” Webber said.
“The Oracabessa Fish Sanctuary and other sanctuaries are part funded by hotels and even the Tourism Enhancement Fund. The source of those funds is the tourism industry,” she added.
Money not wasted
Webber, a marine biologist and director for the Centre for Marine Sciences at the UWI, said it is, therefore, critical that potential funders see the value of resource conservation and be willing to invest in it, even if at a reduced level.
“We have to see the management of the sanctuaries and the continued investment in the environment as an important part of the (tourism) product, so we should not think that it is money wasted, if the money continues to be given to support sanctuaries,” she said.
“The product will need the enhanced environmental management or sustainably managed environment when we get back up. The management of our environment has to be seen as part of what we keep doing until we are able to go back to normal after COVID-19 or in a managed COVID-19 regime,” Webber added.
“There needs to be a national recognition of the need for the proportioning of funds towards the importance of these sanctuaries and protected areas. It is not a waste of money to keep them going because our tourism product depends on a healthy environment. Even if it is reduced, you can’t just cut the funding,” she maintained.
COVID-19, which has forced the reprioritisation of funding globally, has put conservation work in jeopardy in many countries.
“Throughout the pandemic, scientists have repeatedly urged humanity to reset its relationship with nature or suffer worse outbreaks. But the economic consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown have raised fears of a surge in poaching, illegal fishing and deforestation in life-sustaining ecosystems, with tens of thousands of jobs in the ecotourism sector at risk around the world,” reads a May 5 news report from the Guardian.
Those concerns are also true for Jamaica, with entities such as the Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency (STEA), which has been involved in conservation work in the Cockpit Country, one of Jamaica’s foremost ecological gems, feeling the pinch.
STEA has derived up to 30 per cent of its earnings for its work from its Cockpit Country Adventure Tours, which is operated precisely to fill that need. Still, the entity is not impervious to the challenge ahead.
“We have been able to hold on up to now. I can’t speak to six weeks from now,” admitted Executive Director Hugh Dixon.
Still, he said, they are prepared to pull out the stops to continue.
“We know that climate change remains a relevant issue and we know that the Cockpit Country is a significant place and we have to continue. My team met and decided that we are going forward. Whether we will proceed without some members of our teams, I don’t know, but I know we will continue,” he added.