Local Area Management Project (LAMP)

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Local Area Management Project (LAMP)
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The Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) at the University of
the West Indies announces the implementation of its Local Area Management Project (LAMP).

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has provided a sub-award to CERMES Marine Resource Governance in
the Eastern Caribbean (MarGov) Project to carry out work under LAMP to advance the TNC Marine
and Coastal Biodiversity Threat Abatement in the Eastern Caribbean Project.

TNC received a grant from the United Stated Agency for International Development (USAID) to conduct the Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Threat Abatement in the Eastern Caribbean Project, which is intricately linked to achieving long-term protected area management goals and protecting the biodiversity contained within the protected areas systems of countries in this region.

The TNC’s primary strategy in the insular Caribbean is to help countries meet and then exceed their commitments to the Program of Work for Protected Areas (PoWPA) under the Convention for

Biological Diversity (CBD) that will result in an effectively managed network of marine protected areas (MPAs). About 4% of the Eastern Caribbean’s marine shelf is under some form of protection and less than 20% of that small area is judged to be effectively managed.

The LAMP study sites are Dominica and Grenada.
From January to September 2010 field research,
workshops and communication will take place in these two countries using participatory approaches.

Lessons learned from the history of the Local Area Management Authority (LAMA) in Dominica, the
potential for improvement in Dominica, and the application of lessons to Grenada will be examined
with the intention to help advance the governance of coastal and marine resources.

Work by CERMES will include:-

Provision of a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis of existing
LAMAs – identifying strategies for addressing sustainable fisheries by improving existing
LAMAs and establishing others. The LAMAs are an evolving institution of interactive
governance suitable for MPA co-management or community-based coastal management or
fisheries management.
Strategy for establishing LAMAs or other management mechanism to allow community
management of resources to reduce fishing pressure in and around MPAs
Identify effective ways to influence decision making in natural resource management, with
particular emphasis on local (community) and national (policy/legislative) levels to generate
improved management decisions that produce greater community benefits while providing for
better sustainable fisheries management practices.
Develop communications products and training pathways for influencing policy makers and
other key change agents on effective regional fisheries governance.

Please stay tuned as more detail will be provided in the weeks to come.

This communication was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of its Cooperative Agreement Number 538-A-00-09-00100-00 (BIODIVERSITY THREAT ABATEMENT Program) implemented by prime recipient The Nature Conservancy and its partner the UWI Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies.
The contents and opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the BIODIVERSITY THREAT ABATEMENT PROGRAM and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID.