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I sland Resources Foundation 1991 REPORT AN ANNUAL SUMMARY OF PROGRAMS, ACTIVITIES, AND PUBLICATIONS FOR THE YEAR 1991 Red Hook Center Box 33, St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands 00802 Tel: 809/775-6225 Fax: 809/779-2022 FIVE YEAR ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PROJECT CLOSES WITH RELEASE OF SYNTHESIS REPORT Environmental Agenda for the 1990's Put Forward A five year environmental as sessment program for the Eastern Caribbean — launched by the Caribbean Conservation Associa tion (CCA), implemented by the Island Resources Foundation (IRF), and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Develop ment (USAID) — came to an end in September of this year. Known as the Country Environmental Profile (or CEP) Project, this effort involved a unique collaboration between re gional and national non-govern mental organizations (NGOs) and the Governments of six Eastern Caribbean countries. The result was a first-of-its-kind program to exam ine and assess priority environmen tal issues in selected island areas. A milestone event in the project was achieved in July when publication of six Environmental Profiles was formally announced at a ceremony held in Barbados. Copies of the recently published (June 1991) Profiles were presented to Government and NGO delegates from the six participating countries, and remarks were presented by representatives from key sponsoring institutions, including Aaron Williams, outgoing director of the USAID Regional Development Of fice, Barbados; Calvin Howell, exec utive director of CCA; and Edward Towle, president of IRF. THE IRF MISSION ... Environmental planning for the sustainable development of islands The comprehensive, multi- island CEP series provides the reader with a national overview of the state of the environment in six neighboring island states in the Lesser Antilles — Antigua-Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The documents go be yond a mere historical review, how ever, to highlight current pollution problems, research and planning needs, conservation issues, and envi ronmental policy weaknesses in the Profile countries. Additionally, each 200-300 page report presents a broad spectrum of action agendas reflecting the inputs of in-country review committees. In short, the Environmental Profiles were designed to assist the six target nations in the difficult task of balancing development and envi ronmental demands. To make this task easier, a smaller, seventh vol ume was prepared as an executive summary of the first six volumes. Entitled Environmental Agenda for the 1990's: A Synthesis of the East- em Caribbean Country Environmen tal Profile Series, the report was pre pared by IRF vice president, Judith Towle. The Synthesis is intended to provide easy access to Profile find ings and recommendations and thereby to increase their visibility to a wider audience of Caribbean lead ers — both political and envi ronmental. It highlights those issues and recommendations common to Profile countries and, by so doing, provides an updated and organized framework for change in environ mental policies and resource man agement programs in the targeted countries - and, by extension, in the Eastern Caribbean region. ISLAND RESOURCES FOUNDATION LAUNCHING CEREMONY FOR CEP SYNTHESIS REPORT Formal announcement of the publication of the CEP Synthesis Report {Environmental Agenda for the 1990's) was made jointly by the Caribbean Conservation Association and Island Resources Foundation at a ceremony held on September 24 in St. Kitts. A CEP Follow-up Workshop was held the next day when delegates from participating CEP countries were given an opportunity to report on post-CEP activities and to informally outline steps for CEP follow-up by donor agencies, regional and national NGOs, and CEP Governments. Judith Towle, IRF vice president and author of ENVIRON MENTAL AGENDA FOR THE 1990's, is pictured with CCA ex ecutive director, Calvin Howell (left), and Albert Merkel of USAID, at a reception held in connection with the formal launching of the CEP Synthesis Report. Bruce Horwith (left), IRF's NGO Program Director, chats with Andrew Bierzynski, president of the Grenada National Trust and Historical Society, at a CEP reception held in St. Kitts in September. A FEW COMMENTS ABOUT THE CEP REPORTS AS RECEIVED AT IRF HEADQUARTERS This is an amazing document (St. Vincent CEP), and I'm surprised so much was as sembled in [a relatively short time]. ... the bibliography is the most complete assembled to date. - Richard A. Howard Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University [The CEPs] are a great compilation of in formation and will certainly help in assuring more effective land and resource manage ment in the OECS [countries]. - Richard M. Huber Organization of American States I am sure they will become a valuable refer ence source in the future and perhaps more importantly, the production of the docu ments was a valuable process in environmen tal planning for the islands. - Gillian Cambers, Conservation Officer British Virgin Islands Government Personally, I think the CEP report for Dominica is an excellent document. We only hope that a mechanism to have the recom mendations implemented can be put in place as a matter of urgency. - Felix Gregoire, Director Forestry and Wildlife, Dominica The very impressive set of 6 volumes arrived today. A splendid compilation it is! Con gratulations on your magnum opus. - Jim Thorsell, World Conservation Union I want to congratulate the Foundation for the excellent job that was done with these country profiles. This is an important con tribution to the literature on the islands. - Ariel E. Lugo, Director Institute of Tropical Forestry Puerto Rico Needless to say, you have chalked up a sig nificant first in this area in the Eastern Caribbean. My congratulations ... for the winner ... produced in ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA FOR THE 1990's. The cover is so compelling that it hooks readers who [might] otherwise have ignored the title. - Frank L. Mills, Eastern Caribbean Center University of the Virgin Islands 1991 ANNUAL REPORT UPDATE ON FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES IN THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands has been the home base of the Island Resources Foundation since its formal establishment in 1971. Utilizing its institutional resources on behalf of the community in which most of IRF's staff live and work has always been a Foundation priority. Thus, over the course of the last two decades, IRF has undertaken research, technical assistance, and educational programs in the U.S. Territory totaling al most two million dollars. Fifty-five separate grants or contracts have been awarded to the Foundation in the execution of V.I.-based programs, of which over two dozen were awarded by various agencies of the Virgin Islands Government. IRF president, Ed Towle, has long maintained that institutional and resource management models devel oped and tested in the Virgin Islands have potential usefulness elsewhere in the Caribbean. For example, Towle has pointed to the V.I. Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Program — with over a decade and a half of ex perience ~ as a useful island model for neighboring in sular areas now facing coastal-intensive development is sues similar to those confronted in this U.S. Territory. Collaboration with V.I. Government Since the mid-1970's the Foundation has enjoyed a solid working relationship with the V.I. governmental department charged with environmental planning and management responsibilities -- initially, the Department of Conservation and Cultural Affairs (DCCA) and, more recently, the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR). Under contract to DCCA, several of IRF's accomplishments in the 1970's and early 1980's were quite unique, both to the territory and the region: development of the Territory's coastal planning guidelines; - design of a susceptibility indexing sys tem for V.I. bays and harbors; - completion of a first-of-its-kind vessel waste pollution study; and - preparation of a series of mangrove la- goonal system case studies with man agement guidelines. More recent efforts carried out by IRF for DPNR have focussed on the Territory's land use planning ini tiative, assessment of the environmental damage inflicted Roy Watlington, currently on leave from his faculty po sition at the University of the Virgin Islands while pur suing a doctoral degree at the University of Miami, re turned for a second summer at IRF headquarters in St. Thomas. He served as project coordinator during the early phases of IRF's APC project, funded by the Virgin Islands Government. on coastal systems by Hurricane Hugo, and preparation of a feasibility study for a proposed territorial park sys tem. In 1991, DPNR asked the Foundation to design management plans for five sites designated by the Gov ernment as "areas of particular concern" (or APCs). Eighteen such areas (all coastal) were first designated by the Territory's 1978 CZM Act, but no boundaries were drawn or management plans formulated. Five pilot sites have now been earmarked for initial APC management planning, and a team of IRF resource planners, in coop eration with DPNR personnel, have been at work on this project since mid-summer. As a unique feature of the APC effort, the Eastern Caribbean Center of the University of the Virgin Islands (ECC/UVI) joined DPNR and IRF in project imple mentation. Under a Memorandum of Understanding initiated by ECC Director Dr. LaVerne Ragster, IRF was able to secure the services of UVI faculty member Roy Watlington to assist in the early phases of the APC effort. Dr. Ragster, who is also an IRF Research Associ ate, and IRF's president Ed Towle are exploring similar opportunities for collaboration. (continued on page 4) ISLAND RESOURCES FOUNDATION V.I. PROGRAM UPDATE, continued from page 3 ... MacArthur Planning Grant to Assist Reestablishment of VIRMC The recent cooperation of DPNR, UVI, and IRF demonstrates the intent of an important program initia tive which IRF has pursued during the last year, namely, the building of stronger public and private sector coali tions in the pursuit of common resource management objectives in the Virgin Islands. This initiative acquired added incentive with receipt of a planning grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The MacArthur grant focuses on the prospects for reorganizing the Virgin Islands Resource Management Cooperative (VIRMC), a unique institutional vehicle created in the mid-1980's with the assistance of the Virgin Islands National Park and approximately a dozen public and private sector research and resource man agement institutions based in or carrying out programs in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Although coordinated research initiatives un dertaken by VIRMC in the 1980's focused on baseline research and resource assessment for the Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve in St. John, a rejuvenated VIRMC would expand its framework to encourage a partnership of federal, territorial, and NGO institutions concerned about resource management issues in the Territory. A further objective would be to look seriously at lessons learned" from the Virgin Islands' experience with managing development impacts, in part, because the Virgin Islands continues to be viewed as a successful de velopment model elsewhere in the Caribbean region. Therefore, there is an extra-territorial dimension to as sessing the Virgin Islands' successes and failures and its two decades of experimentation in managing high densi ties, rapid growth, modernization, and insular ecosys tems. In this regard, a leadership role could be assumed by a revamped V.I. Resource Management Cooperative. New Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. National Park Service IRF and the U.S. National Park Service have exe cuted a Cooperative Agreement which establishes the foundation for programmatic collaboration between the two institutions. The Agreement was signed by the Foundation's president and Robert M. Baker, Director of the Park Service's Southeast Regional Office. Under the terms of the Agreement, in 1991 IRF took over institutional sponsorship and management of a long-term monitoring program of coral reef communities within the Buck Island Reef National Monument in St. Croix. The project is part of the Park Service's regional Coral Reef Assessment Program, directed by V.I. Na tional Park research scientist Dr. Caroline Rogers, and was formerly run by the West Indies Laboratory (WIL) in St. Croix, headed by Dr. Elizabeth Gladfelter. Transects have been monitored every three months since late 1988, while individual colonies have been monitored for bleaching and other damage since March of 1989. Hurricane Hugo (September 1989) damage to the coral colonies was reported on by WIL in its report on the first two years of work. The final project report, currently under prepara tion by principal investigator Dr. John Bythell, will be released early in 1992 by IRF and the National Park Ser vice. IRF staffers Jean-Pierre Bade (left) and Adrian Schottroff aboard the Foundation's research vessel ODYSSEY at IRF's Red Hook dock in St. Thomas. ODYSSEY, first donated to IRF in 1984 by a Florida-based environmental film maker, recently underwent a complete overall following extensive damage incurred during Hurricane Hugo in 1989. 1991 ANNUAL REPORT IRF OUTREACH SERVICES In 1991, the Foundation carried out a variety of service activities not specifically linked to ongoing pro grams. These included, in part: Keynote address by IRF's president at the 30th anniver sary meeting of the British Virgin Islands National Parks Trust; - Election of Judith Towle to the Board of Trustees of the Mukti Fund, a Florida-based foundation whose funding activities focus on the dual- island state of St. Kitts-Nevis; Consultancy by Ed Towle for the Inter-American Develop ment Bank, including preparation of an environ mental impact assessment for a $37 million out-island elec trification project in the Bahamas; - A series of seminars and lec tures by the IRF president at Dalhousie University's Ma rine Affairs Program in Halifax, Canada; Address by Ed Towle at the annual convention of the Caribbean Hotel As sociation on eco-tourism and the need for visitor impact mitigation; Assistance to the Organi zation of American States and the St. Christopher Heritage Society by IRF Research Associate, George Tyson, including establishment of a com puter-based inventory of historic sites and other amenity features as part of a tourism master plan for St. Kitts-Nevis. Week-long tutorial semi nar for CCA's marine parks project coordinator, Nick Drayton, including visits to the Eastern Caribbean Center and the V.I. National Park and Biosphere Reserve, and briefings by Adrian Schottroff, IRF's ter ritorial park project coor dinator. 1991 AWARD TO ALISSANDRA CUMMINS The 1991 Euan P. McFarlane Leadership Award was presented by Island Resources Foundation to Ms. Alissandra Cummins of Barbados. This year's award recipient, cur rently the Director of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, is an articulate and resourceful advo cate for historical and cultural institutions in the Caribbean. Long active as a regional leader for mu seum development, Ms. Cummins played a key role in the estab lishment of the Museums Associa tion of the Caribbean and served as that organization's first president. The McFarlane Award for Outstanding Environmental Leadership was first established by IRF in 1987 to provide recognition for young West Indians (under 35 years of age) who have demonstrated en vironmental leadership in the Eastern Caribbean. It includes an unrestricted $1,000 cash gift. TOWLES HONORED BY REGIONAL CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION Edward and Judith Towle were honored in August by the Caribbean Conservation Association as recipients of CCA's Twenty-Five Year Service Award. Presentation of the award was made at the 25th Annual General Meeting of the Association in St. Croix. It was particularly appropriate that CCA delegates convened in the Virgin Islands for this anniversary meeting be cause the regional body grew out of an initiative first spearheaded by the then College of the Virgin Islands in the mid-1960's. That idea culminated in the first regional meeting of conserva tion leaders, held at Caneel Bay, St. John in 1965, a session which, in turn, gave birth to the Association two years later. CCA Service Awards were given to seven individuals from throughout the region in recognition of their long term contributions to and interest in the As sociation. In addition to the Towles, other recipients were from Barbados and from the Spanish-speaking, Dutch, and French Caribbean, thus pointing to the multinational, multilingual compo sition of this regional organization. Edward Towle was president of the Association from 1968-74. During that period, both of the Towles were in volved in early strategic planning ini tiatives and in laying the groundwork for the ultimate emergence of CCA as a recognized leader for environmental affairs in the Wider Caribbean. More recently, the Towles played a leading role in implementing CCA's Envi ronmental Profile Program for the Eastern Caribbean. ISLAND RESOURCES FOUNDATION NGO PROGRAM COMPLETES SECOND YEAR FOCUS ON NGO GRANTSMANSHIP SKILLS, FINANCIAL and TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, AND BIODIVERSITY INITIATIVES It has been five years since the Island Resources Foundation launched its Eastern Caribbean NGO Institutional Development Program. Since that time, the Foundation has invested substantial resources in this initiative, based on its belief that a strengthen private sector — in partnership with the public sector ~ will enhance environmental leadership in the re gion. This is an ongoing IRF pro gram objective which will continue well into the 1990's. During the last two years, pri mary funding for the Foundation's NGO Program has been provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), under a five-year matching fund grant. NGO Directory Published In April, IRF published an an notated Directory of Eastern Carib bean Environmental NGOs. With 55 entries, it is the most complete guide available on non-governmental or ganizations (NGOs) that support conservation and resource manage ment programs in the Eastern Caribbean. It has been distributed as a public service to organizations participating in IRF's NGO Pro gram, but copies may also be pur chased by contacting IRF's Publica tions Office in Washington, D.C. Grantsmanship Workshop The Foundation hosted a "grantsmanship workshop" for NGOs in June on the island of Antigua. Sessions focused on those grantsmanship skills needed for im proved project planning and pro posal writing, with participants being led through a series of activities de signed to improve their under standing of the basic building blocks of proposal design and preparation. A manual, entitled Proposal Writing Overview for Eastern Carib bean NGOs, was prepared by IRF staff for use at the workshop. It is available by writing NGO Program Director, Bruce Horwith, at the Foundation's Program Office in Antigua. Assistance To NGOs Six institutional development grants were awarded during 1991 by IRF as a part of its program of as sistance to environmental NGOs. - $1,405 to the Carriacou Historical Society; - $2,500 to the St. Vincent National Trust; - $2,750 to the British Virgin Islands National Parks Trust; - $2,000 to the Nevis Histori cal and Conservation Soci ety; - $2,470 to the Small Pro jects Assistance Team (Dominica) - $2,500 to the Antigua His torical and Archaeological Society. Direct training and technical assistance services were also pro vided to NGOs over the last 12 months, including: the Antigua En vironmental Awareness Group, Antigua Historical and Archaeologi cal Society, Guiana Island Society (a new NGO in Antigua), North East Timber Cooperative (Dominica), Dominica Conservation Association, Montserrat National Trust, St. Christopher Heritage Society, and the Nevis Conservation and Histori cal Society. Several regional organi zations also benefited from the ser vices offered by the IRF NGO Pro gram during 1991, including the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association, the Museums Associa tion of the Caribbean, and the Caribbean Conservation Association with whom IRF co-sponsored a three-month internship by Ms. Kate Irvine, an environmental edu cational expert. Biodiversity Initiatives In response to a need to im prove the biodiversity leadership of Caribbean NGOs, Program Director Horwith worked with organizations in Antigua, Dominica, and St. Kitts to design new biodiversity initiatives that are linked to findings specifi cally identified in the recently pub lished Country Environmental Pro files. Each initiative focuses on an NGO-led research and monitoring program to protect the biological heritage of the target islands, with an emphasis on addressing a com mon regional problem — namely, the lack of an adequate environmental database for assessing development pressures on tropical ecosystems. With the assistance of IRF, propos als for the three biodiversity pro grams were prepared and submitted to external donors for support. 1991 ANNUAL REPORT IRF'S ISLAND STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM Baltimore Washington - O 39°" * - > / \ D C N J J i / P o t o m a c ^ , ^ I F Riverf£/ . WROTEN *-» ' I S L A N D > TTheMpeake B a y / ■? / o N 38°. . V / A T 1 A W T I C t 37°. 0CEAW I 77° A7.6° 75° • IRF plans to establish an advisory group to provide counsel on Wroten Island development. Various fund ing options for program activities are also being pur sued. Those wishing more information on Wroten Is land should contact Dr. Rosen or the Foundation's president, Ed Towle, at IRF's Washington, DC office. A short videotape on the island is available for viewing. Wroten Island is one of three properties which comprise the Foundation's Island Stewardship Program. Other IRF land holdings are a barrier island beachfront facility for visiting researchers at Fire Island, New York, and 50 acres of coastal, dry evergreen woodlands on the island of St. John adjacent to the Virgin Islands National Park. The latter was named the Nancy Woodson Spire Nature Reserve in 1987 in honor of one of IRF's long standing patrons. Almost a decade ago, Wroten Island in the Chesapeake Bay (see map above) was donated to the Island Resources Foundation. The 500 acre island possesses a rich diversity of estuarine habitats and, consequently, unique op portunities for programs in insular ecology. A two-story farmhouse can accommodate 10-15 persons dormitory-style, thus enhancing the island's potential utilization for research and educational programs. IRF research associate Dr. Walter Rosen, a biologist formerly affiliated with the National Academy of Sciences, has been investigating opportunities for more active use of Wroten by the Foundation. During the last six months Dr. Rosen has met with potential collaborators from the Smithsonian Institution, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and other groups interested in the programmatic potential of Wroten. A warm welcome awaits visitors to IRF's head quarters in St. Thomas where the Foundation's V.l. office manager, Sandra Tate, has been on duty since 1979. MEMBERSHIP and DONATION INFORMATION Island Resources Foundation is a non-endowed, operating foundation, incorporated as a tax exempt, non-profit organi zation under the laws of the United States. Contributions, including membership, are tax deductible in the United States. Contact the Founda tion's headquarters in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, for more information. The Foundation reminds U.S. citizens that income and in heritance tax laws are de signed to encourage "planned gifts" to organizations such as IRF. Such contributions may be made: • as gifts from current income • as donations of property, stocks, bonds, insurance or annuities • through bequests and wills. MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES * INDIVIDUAL: Associate Membership US$ 25 Family Membership US$ 50 Sponsoring Membership US$ 100 Life Membership US$ 500 INSTITUTIONAL/CORPORATE: C o n t r i b u t i n g U S $ 2 0 0 . D o n o r U S $ 5 0 0 . P a t r o n U S $ 2 , 0 0 0 . * 25% discount on publications for members ISLAND RESOURCES FOUNDATION INCOME - Fiscal Year 1991 GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS (27.9% MEMBERSHIPS AND DONATIONS (3.8%) USAID GRANT (20.8%) OTHER INCOME (2.5%) NON-GOVERNMENT GRANTS (45.0%) EXPENSES - Fiscal Year 1991 TECH. ASSIST. PROG. (30.3%) DMINISTRATION (25.4%) FUND RAISING (0.4%) RESEARCH PROG. (8.6%) RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS (35.3%) FINANCIAL NOTES Fiscal Year 1991 (July 1, 1990 - June 30, 1991) was somewhat of a banner year for the Island Resources Foundation - for the first time in the organization's history, revenues exceeded one- half million dollars for a 12 month period. As the figure to the left indicates, almost two- thirds of IRF's income was received as grant revenue and was linked to the implementation of specific Foundation programs. A smaller por tion of income (a little over one-quarter) was de rived from contract work undertaken for agen cies of the U.S. or Virgin Islands governments. Less than five percent of revenue in FY 91 was received as unrestricted contributions. Of FY 91 expenditures, three-quarters was ear marked for direct program implementation. The remainder was used for day-to-day man agement costs, including maintenance of IRF's unique library facilities in St. Thomas and Washington, D.C, and a very small portion for fund raising activities. The largest expenditure category, Resource Management Programs, in cluded costs for execution of the CEP project and two DPNR-contracted projects. Most ex penditures within the Technical Assistance pro gram category were related to implementation of the Foundation's Eastern Caribbean NGO Program. ISLAND RESOURCES FOUNDATION ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING FOR DEVELOPMENT HEADQUARTERS Red Hook Center Box 33 #11 Estate Nazareth St. Thomas, Virgin Islands 00802 USA Tel: 809-775-6225; Fax: 809-779-2022 BRANCH OFFICE 1718 P Street, Northwest Suite No. T4 Washington, D.C. 20036 USA Tel: 202-265-9712; Fax: 202-232-0748 NGO PROGRAM OFFICE Bruce J. Horwith, Program Director c/o Antigua-Barbuda Museum Long Street, Post Office Box 103 St. John's, ANTIGUA Tel/Fax.: 809-460-1740 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Edward L. Towle, President Horace C. Hord, Jr. Henry Wheatley, Vice President Henry G. Jarecki Charles W. Consolvo, Secretary Bruce G. Potter Judith A. Towle, Treasurer Rodger Schlickeisen ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Edward L. Towle, President Judith A. Towle, Vice President Sandra R. Tate, VI Office Manager Jean-Pierre Bade, DC Staff Representative