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H I GH L I GH T S o f F O U N D A T I O N A C T I VI T I E S f o r 2 0 10 - 2 0 1 1 In the Caribbean—particularly the smaller islands of the Eastern Caribbean—the development of envi- ronmental profiles has created a foundation for much of Island Resources Foundation’s (IRF’s) programmatic work during the last two decades. During the 1990s, the Foundation prepared environmental profiles for six independent countries (Antigua-Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent) and for two UK overseas territories (Anguilla and Montserrat). Each profile was comprehensive in scope and re- presented the most detailed analysis available of environmental data and issues for each country. Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the United Nations Development Program, the profiles were initially donor-driven, i.e., to provide baseline environmental data to guide donor decision- making. However, as the process evolved, the Eastern Caribbean profiles were also very much country- driven planning efforts that reflected individual country priorities and options. A decade later, as the Foundation expanded its programmatic activities in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), IRF again turned its attention to the utility of environmental profiles as an effective means for integrating en- vironmental concerns in public policy decision-making. Approached by the Jost Van Dykes Preservation Society to assist the Society and the Jost Van Dyke (JVD) community to better appreciate and understand their island environment, the Foundation partnered with the Society to produce, in 2009, the first environmen- tal profile for the BVI (download at: www.jvdgreen.org/files/JVD_Environmental_Profile_Final.pdf). Recognizing that the JVD Profile was only a first step, IRF Vice President Judith Towle developed a pro- gram concept paper to expand the profiling process to all of the BVI. By 2011, funding had been identified to support a new phase of the BVI Environmental Profile Program, this time for the islands of Virgin Gorda and Anegada. Project activities began in July 2011 and will continue to publication of the two profiles at the end of 2012. Funding support was secured from: the UK Overseas Territories Environment Programme (OTEP), which is administered in the BVI by the Governor’s office; from the Office of the Premier of the BVI; and from private sector contributions initiated by the Hokin family of the Bitter End Resort in Virgin Gorda. Each BVI Environmental Profile will provide: a retrospective look at environmental change, a current-state description and analysis of the natural resource base for each island profiled, an assessment of priority envi- ronmental issues, and recommendations for sustainable growth—and will do all of this within a single, island- specific document that makes the information available for easy access and use by: policy makers, resource managers, development proponents, researchers, students, donors, and the BVI community. The island of Tortola will be added to the process in 2013, followed by a summary synthesis report for the territory.    1718 P Street NW, Suite T4 Washington, DC 20036 202/265-9712; fax 232-0748 6292 Estate Nazareth #100 St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands 00802 340/775-6225; fax 779-2022 123 Main Street, PO Box 3097 Road Town, Tortola British Virgin Islands VG1110 Tel. and Fax: 284/494-2723 Via the Internet at: irf@irf.org www.irf.org BOARD of TRUSTEES Bruce G. POTTER Chairman Barbara J. LAUSCHE Vice Chair Judith A. TOWLE Secretary/Treasurer Nicolas C. DRAYTON Dr. Henry G. JARECKI Dr. LaVerne E. RAGSTER STAFF Jean-Pierre BACLE dcbacle@aol.com Kevel C. LINDSAY klindsay@irf.org Dr. Michael E. O’NEAL moneal@irf.org Bruce G. POTTER bpotter@irf.org Dr. Carlos E. RAMOS-SCHARRÓN cramos@irf.org Judith A. TOWLE jtowle@irf.org ____________ PARTICIPATING PROGRAM ASSOCIATES Kimberly BALDWIN (Antigua) Dr. Brian COOPER (Antigua, St. Kitts, Grenada) Rosemary DELANEY-SMITH (BVI) Lloyd GARDNER (BVI) Dr. Edwin HERNÁNDEZ-DELGADO (Puerto Rico) Dr. Michael KENT (BVI) Charlotte McDEVITT (BVI) Lucia MINGS (Antigua, St. Kitts, Grenada) Clive PETROVIC (BVI) Cynthia ROLLI (BVI) Damaris TORRES-PULLIZA (Puerto Rico) island resources FOUNDATION environmental planning for sustainable island development View across Hansons Bay into Five Islands Harbor with mangrove area in the foreground, western coast of Antigua IRF participated in an ecosystem assessment of the Body Ponds Watershed as part of a larger Global Environment Facility-funded project for Antigua. One of IRF’s outputs was an assessment of current conditions in Five Island Harbor (above) and the impacts of activities in the watershed on the harbor’s ecosystems. (Photo Credit: Bruce Potter) The Southwest Watershed of Antigua includes some of the most valuable natural systems on the island, including Wallings Forest, Fig Tree Drive, Cades Reef, the Cades Bay Marine Reserve, and Mount Obama (formerly Boggy Peak, renamed in 2008); it is also an area utilized by a wide range of commercial and recreational stakehold- ers. In 2010, Island Resources Foundation was engaged by the Gov- ernment of Antigua and Barbuda to provide (1) an assessment of the ecosystems within the watershed and (2) mapping products for the natural areas of the watershed. Both activities are part of a full-size Biodiversity Conservation Demonstration Project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The overall objective of the Demonstra- tion Project is to develop an integrated man- agement strategy for the watershed. IRF’s marine and terrestrial eco-surveys, as well as the team’s mapping of the area’s natural features, are seen as key components to achieving this objective. The IRF team for the project comprises: Kevel Lindsay (principal investigator), Jean- Pierre Bacle (biodiversity assessment), Kimberly Baldwin (marine research and map- ping), Dr. Brian Cooper (GIS mapping), Lucia Mings (stakeholder engagement), and Bruce Potter (project supervi- sor). IRF will complete its assignment and deliver its findings to Government by the end of 2011. In 2009, the British Virgin Islands Department of Town and Country Planning initiated discussions with IRF to undertake environmental monitor- ing for a devel- opment project on Mosquito Is- land, owned by British entrepre- neur Sir Richard Branson. IRF agreed to take on this challenge as an opportunity to create a prototypic monitoring plan and protocol within the framework of the VI Physical Planning Act (2004). As noted by IRF Vice President Judith Towle, “Given the absence of Regulations for the 2004 Act, the Mosquito Island environmental monitoring project is an opportunity to more carefully and more rigorously define and refine the environmental monitoring process in the BVI.” An Environmental Monitoring Plan for Mosquito Island, including baseline survey findings, was prepared in September of 2011 by an IRF team comprising: Jean-Pierre Bacle, Judith Towle, Kevel Lindsay, and Clive Petrovic. In 2004, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, through its Environment and Sustainable Development Unit, began implementation of its Protected Areas and Associated Livelihoods (OPAAL) Project. In 2010, a contract was awarded to IRF to undertake environmen- tal and socioeconomic baseline studies for OPAAL demonstration sites in Grenada and St. Kitts: in Grenada, for the Grand Etang and Annandale Forest Reserves and in St. Kitts, for the Central Forest Reserve. Both demonstra- tion sites were selected for inclu- sion in OPAAL because of their potential as multi-use, national park-style protected areas that would protect biodiversity while providing increased livelihood op- portunities for surrounding com- munities. A four-person team under- took the IRF assignment: Dr. Brian Cooper and Lucia Mings of Antigua for the socioeconomic studies and IRF’s Kevel Lindsay and Jean-Pierre Bacle for the environmental studies. A number of new species in both Grenada and St. Kitts were reported by the Lindsay- Bacle team, which underscores the team’s conclusion that more detailed, on-going scientific study and monitoring of the flora and fauna are needed before implementing major plans to change conservation strategies for either demonstration site. Waterfall visitor area within the Annandale Forest Reserve, Grenada Working group session at the Grenada Forestry Department during IRF’s OPAAL project mission to the country. From the right (counter clockwise) are Anthony Jeremiah (Senior Forestry Officer), Kevel Lindsay (IRF), three Forestry Rangers, Jean-Pierre Bacle and Brian Cooper (IRF). Jost Van Dyke-based caretaker David Blyden examining a rat bait station on Sandy Cay (BVI) as part of a long-term invasive species monitoring program at the island. Under a 2008 grant from the Laurance S. Rockefeller Fund, IRF continues to assist the BVI’s National Parks Trust (NPT) on behalf of the Sandy Cay Habitat Management Area, including supervision of caretaking and invasive species monitoring services provided by the Jost Van Dykes Preser- vation Society (JVDPS). IRF’s Jean-Pierre Bacle represents the Foundation in this partnership of three institutions (NPT/IRF/JVDPS) that has been in place for three years. Sandy Cay is the newest national park of the 21-site park system over which the NPT has jurisdiction. Clive Petrovic (l) and Jean-Pierre Bacle during Mosquito Island field work Red Mangroves along southeast shoreline of Mosquito Island Jameison “Kublai” Mannix, an Antiguan fisher who assisted scientist Kim Baldwin in carrying out marine sur- veys for the Southwest Wa- tershed project in Antigua American Kestrel on Virgin Gorda (BVI), northeast of Gorda Peak Monarch butterfly on milkweed (Antigua) Flambeau butterfly (St. Kitts) Cienfuegosia heterophylla, rediscovered by an IRF team in St. Thomas (USVI) in 2010 after not having been seen for approximately 80 years IRF’s Judith Towle and William Moody, Distinguished Fellow at the Rock- efeller Brothers Fund, have led a two- year effort to analyze the legal system governing philanthropy and civil society in the insular Caribbean and to encourage the development of modern structures and laws to support philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. Under the auspices of the Caribbean Philanthropy Network (CPN), Towle and Moody prepared the Caribbean’s first study on the development of charity law (Philanthropy, Civil Society, and Law in the Caribbean, published by CPN in 2010). This was followed in 2011 by more intensive research and analysis of legal frameworks in the British Virgin Islands and the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. In the BVI the two were joined in their work by IRF Senior Research Fellow Dr. Michael O’Neal. Their conclusions and recommendations will be presented in a paper by Ms. Towle at the Islands of the World XII conference taking place in Tortola (BVI) in 2012 at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (http://www.hlscc.edu.vg/islandsXII). IRF’s Kevel Lindsay says he is on a personal quest to reconnect with the native plants of his homeland, the dual-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. He is particularly focused on redis- covering the country’s unique species of ferns, many of which are quite rare. Since 2007, Lindsay has been working with the Plant Conservation Project of the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG), an Antiguan-based NGO. It did not take long for him to realize that the plant team was going to have a particularly difficult time finding and describing native ferns and that his much- loved ferns were one of the least studied and least understood of Antigua’s plant groups. A source of personal achievement for the IRF ecologist was his discovery of the Netted Adder’s Tongue fern (Ophioglossum reticu- latum) in the southern volcanic hills of Antigua (“I fell to my knees in utter shock … I was so overwhelmed by this new discovery!”). Most ferns (60 species now recorded for Antigua) do not elicit such ex- citement, but this should not diminish their biodiversity importance. Lindsay reminds us that ferns often make up the bulk of the ground cover on the floor of forests and thus are a part of the forest’s bio- mass, contributing significantly to the nutrient and water cycles of the upper soil layers. During 2011, Kevel Lindsay received additional funding for continuation of his fern research in Antigua: first, an award from the Rufford Small Grants Foundation (UK) and, more recently, a second grant from the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Throughout the Caribbean, it is widely assumed that the region’s coral reefs are being threatened by increased erosion rates induced by land use changes. While the as- sumption is reasonable, it must be supported by a scientifically vali- dated cause-and-effect model if desired public policy changes are to be achieved. IRF’s Río Fajardo Watershed project in east- ern Puerto Rico, funded by the University of Puerto Rico’s Caribbean Coral Reef Institute, has ad- dressed this very issue. By analyz- ing long-term land cover trends and watershed-scale hydrologic modeling, the IRF research team has reconstructed historic runoff and sediment yield rates within the watershed. The project linked land use patterns over the past seven decades to coral reef growth indi- cators. The use of a hydrological model allowed the team to transfer land use pat- terns and climatic data into runoff and sediment yields. Project researcher Damaris Torres-Pulliza presented findings from the Río Fajardo study at a meeting of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Aquatic Sciences Meet- ing in San Juan, PR in February 2011. She presented the findings on behalf of herself and fellow researchers: Dr. Carlos Ramos-Scharrón, principal investigator, and Dr. Edwin Hernández-Delgado. Rare Dwarf Gecko (S. parthenopion) discovered by IRF team on Mosquito Island, BVI Epidendrum fragrans at Annandale Forest Reserve, Grenada Lobelia sp. at Dos d’Ane Pond, St. Kitts Kevel Lindsay taking photos of rare ferns along the Fig Tree Ghaut, Antigua Judith Towle and Bill Moody Red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle), east end of Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands IRF Research Associate Damaris Torres-Pulliza com- pleting a stream survey of the Río Fajardo Wa- tershed, Puerto Rico. In combination with historical aerial imagery and climatic data, Damaris uses the field measurements to reconstruct water and sedi- ment discharge in the Río Fajardo Watershed from the 1930s to the present. IRF staff geologist Dr. Carlos Ramos-Scharrón (right) describes the uses of an automated rain gauge in erosion studies to a volunteer. Rain provides the energy and the medium for erosion and sediment transport and is used to predict erosion rates from natural hillslopes and from ground that has been disturbed by construction, unpaved roads and foot trails, and agriculture. Kudos to IRF Research Associate Don Anderson, author of the technical report lauded in the following excerpt: GUIDELINES FOR SEDIMENT CONTROL PRACTICES IN THE INSULAR CARIBBEAN is one of the most practical and useful coastal manage- ment handbooks ever written … [over] fifteen years have passed and the publication is as useful as ever. Source: http://coastalchallenges.com/2010/05/11/sediment- control-strategies-for-the-coastal-zone. Technical Report No. 32 was prepared by IRF in 1994 for UNEP’s Caribbean Environment Programme in Kingston, Jamaica.  Dr. Caroline S. Rogers, longstanding IRF collaborator and supporter, on her forthcoming photographic publication celebrating the extraordinary biodiversity of mangroves at Hurricane Hole, St. John, within the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument. The Mysterious, Magical Mangroves of St. John (to be released in December 2011) follows her very successful 2009 book, Coral Reef Stars, which provided a photographic essay of the marine life of coral reefs and seagrass beds around the island of St. John. Dr. Rogers, a marine ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, has spent over 30 years working to protect the coral reefs and fishes of the Caribbean.  Albert Hugh “Errol” Harris of Dominica, the 2010 recipient of the nineteenth Euan P. McFarlane Award for Outstanding Environmental Leadership in the Insular Caribbean. Mr. Harris was nominated by Dr. Karen Eckert, executive director of WIDECAST (Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network), who provided a warm and enthusiastic endorsement of Mr. Harris’s conservation activities on behalf of the Dominica Sea Turtle Conservation Organization (DomSeTCO). IRF has overseen management of the annual $1,000 award since it was established in 1987 by an endowment from Laurance S. Rockefeller. When accepting the award at the annual meeting of WIDE- CAST in April of 2011, Mr. Harris stated, “Of all the nominations and awards I have received in my career, this is the one that I least ex- pected and am most pleased about.”  IRF Trustee Barbara Lausche, author of Guidelines for Protected Areas Legislation, published in 2011 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Gland, Switzerland (370 pp. plus CD with 13 case studies). The guidelines are the first definitive guidance on protected areas legislation in 30 years and represent an updating of guidelines first developed by Dr. Lausche in 1980. Persons interested in the new guide- lines can request a hard copy by sending an email to the IUCN Environmental Law Centre at: ELCSecretariat@iucn.org. The English version PDF is available at: http://data.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/EPLP-081.pdf. Barbara Lausche is a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law and worked most recently in the Caribbean as legal drafter of the 2006 National Parks Act in the British Virgin Islands, as part of the IRF Sandy Cay project team. She also prepared the Regulations to the BVI’s National Parks Act (2008).  IRF Senior Research Fellow Dr. Michael E. O’Neal on his participation in a roundtable dis- cussion at the American Anthropological Associ- ation’s 2010 conference. Dr. O’Neal drew on his Caribbean experiences for his discussion of “practicing anthropology on the periphery,” noting that the process whereby he has worn many hats in the British Virgin Islands as business executive, conservationist, NGO chair, college president and scholar is compatible with the concept of Caribbean “occupational multiplicity” and reflects his own thinking about “practicing anthropology on the periphery”. In October of 2011, Dr. O’Neal was awarded the Certificate in Family Business Advising from the Family Firm Institute (FFI), thereby expanding his anthropological interests to the ethnography of Caribbean family enterprises.  Antiguan Racer Conservation Project, a 15-year partnership of six conservation organizations that has collaboratively made ex- traordinary progress in saving the rarest snake on the planet, the Antiguan racer (Alsophis antiguae). When the project began in the mid-1990s, only 50 Antiguan racers survived, all confined to the eight-hectare Great Bird Island off the coast of Antigua. Today, as a result of intervention efforts by the conservation coalition, the pop- ulation has dramatically risen from just 50 individuals to over 500 today. The six local and international organizations that make up the Antiguan Racer Conservation Project are: Durrell Wildlife Conserva- tion Trust (UK), Fauna and Flora International (UK), Environmental Awareness Group (Antigua), Black Hills State University (USA), Island Resources Foundation, and the Forestry Unit of Antigua. In speaking of the remarkable partnership and its success, IRF President Bruce Potter stated, “An important by-product of the Antigua Racer Conservation Project has been to demonstrate a globally relevant model for the conservation of biodiversity. Off- shore islands are being turned into reserves where public and pri- vate organizations can control invasive species and manage tourism development pressures more effectively.” Barbara Lausche at the 10th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010, where the new legislative guidelines were introduced “Errol” Harris of Dominica accepting the 2010 McFarlane Environmental Leadership Award Dr. Rogers with IRF Trustee Nicolas Drayton at a July 2011 St. John gallery opening displaying her photographs, many of which appear in her two published books Island Resources Foundation extends its congratulations to the following … IF YOU WANT TO HELP ISLAND RESOURCES FOUNDATION CONTINUE PROGRAMS SIMILAR TO THOSE DESCRIBED IN THIS NEWSLETTER, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO MAKE A US TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION. IF YOU RECEIVED THIS PUBLICATION BY MAIL, A DONATION ENVELOPE IS ENCLOSED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE. 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