Overall the FEAST Project will build local capacity for enhanced fisheries resource governance in the context of a changing climate. Project interventions will raise awareness of the links between climate change impacts, human actions and targeted adaptation measures within communities, resource planning and management agencies and, will support communities to assess their vulnerabilities, draw up plans of action and put those plans into practice. The specific project objectives, outcomes, and outputs are listed below:
Project results will be achieved through: 1) direct habitat management, 2) reducing marine resource user conflicts; 3) reducing pollutant loads from land-based pollution sources that are adversely impacting MPAs, 4) improving access to science and analysis for climate adaptation and conservation decision-making through resource monitoring and research analysis, 5) knowledge management and public awareness building of resource value, climate change impacts and adaptation options, and 6) implementing action that deliver sustainable alternative livelihood options to advance development in local fishing communities.
Project interventions will facilitate the development of adaptive capacity at various levels. On the parish level, the project will facilitate institutional coordination, structured information flows and targeted policy support to sensitize policy stakeholders and re-evaluate key policies that affect the sustainability of protective systems. The project will capitalize on existing institutional structures at the local level to enhance the exchange and flow of climate information and facilitate implementation of community-based adaptation measures while enhancing MPA resource management. Importantly, the project will build capacity of community-based organizations and specifically vulnerable population groups to address climate risks to coastal livelihoods and climate change impacts on coastal ecosystems.
With a strong capacity building focus, this intervention will build local capacity to implement and sustain coastal and Marine Protected Area (MPA) management strategies necessary for effective adaptation to climate change and supports multiple national environment and development legislation, policies and action plans. Management Plans provide the framework for zoning the MPAs and propose to ensure that socio-economic values are preserved and the resources within the MPAs. It will provide resources to improve fisheries management via implementation of zoning infrastructure, regulatory enforcement and fisheries habitat and biomass improvement. It will improve conservation practices and reduce environmental degradation and resource vulnerability in three sensitive PAs via increased stakeholder stewardship of resources and derived benefits from sustainable resource use.
Also, project interventions will link communities to local government, both directly and through NGOs, making the processes of climate change adaptation (CCA), dialogue and advocacy sustainable. Communities will realize they have the right and ability to continue that dialogue and to work to decrease their vulnerability. Technical improvements mean that ecosystems will be better able to absorb climate shocks and provide protective buffers to people, biodiversity, physical assets and livelihoods. But more importantly, local adaptation capacity will be built and streamlined. Also, the capacity of the local authority will be built to improve its role as a leader and coordinator of local sustainable development and climate change adaptation actions. Essentially, Negril EPA communities’ vulnerability to climate change will be effectively reduced and they will be resilient enough to absorb climate change shocks.
The FEAST in Negril MPAs Project is a development project co-financed by the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW Development Bank and Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (5Cs). The project is executed by the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation, and implemented by 5Cs. The total project budget is US$1,007,736 with US$600,000 being provided via a grant. Project activities will be implemented over a 2 year period.