MEDIA RELEASE -  October 23, 2009

On Wednesday, October 28, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) will officially launch the ‘Mitigating the Threats of Invasive Alien Species in the Insular Caribbean’ Project. The launch is part of a four-day workshop which will be held at the Spanish Court Hotel, from October 26-29, 2009. The ceremony is scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m. and will end at 9:00 p.m.

All activities, including the Workshop, are sponsored by the CABI’s Regional Centre for the Caribbean and Latin America, in Trinidad and Tobago and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). NEPA is the implementing Agency for the project.  Funding has been provided by The Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The Project’s objective is to mitigate the threats to local biodiversity from IAS in the Insular Caribbean, including terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. Expectations are that, at the end of the Workshop:  

• there will be an increase in Jamaica’s capacity to address potential risks posed to biodiversity of global significance from invasive alien species; and
   

• the national IAS working group will receive additional support.

Jamaica is also expected to produce an IAS Strategy, parts of which will be discussed at the Workshop, next week. In addition to increased regional cooperation to reduce risks posed to biodiversity of global significance from invasive alien species, Jamaica is also expected to participate fully in establishing a regional framework of cooperation. A Region-wide invasive species strategy will also be drafted with full participation from Jamaica. The Workshop runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., from Monday to Thursday.