OECS invites comments on its Stakeholder Engagement Strategy

Port of Spain, October 25, 2021 – Stakeholders are being invited to input into development of a Stakeholder Engagement Strategy for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Development of this Strategy will fulfil a mandate from the OECS Council of Ministers for Environmental Sustainability (COMES) and contribute to efforts aimed at the management and sustainable use of marine and terrestrial biodiversity in the region.

The Strategy will provide guidelines for engagement of civil society (including national and community-based and indigenous groups) and private sector stakeholders (including resource users, user associations and nature-based micro-enterprises). It will be used by public sector agencies in the OECS, the OECS Commission, and their partners working on biodiversity and ecosystems management in the OECS region. It will cover all members of the OECS: Anguilla,

The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) is providing technical assistance to the OECS Commission to develop this Strategy as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations. This initiative is being supported by the European Union as part of the OECS Commission’s Biodiversity Support Programme in ACP Coastal Environments (BioSPACE) project.

Development of the Strategy was informed by desk review and interviews and focus group sessions with representatives of OECS civil society, private sector, government agencies and OECS Commission staff. The draft Strategy was presented to the senior technical officers of COMES and the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management Committee (BEMC) in September. It was also presented to stakeholders during an open online webinar on October 15, 2021 and is now being circulated for further review and input.

Stakeholders from civil society, private sector, and government agencies in the OECS are therefore invited to review the draft Stakeholder Engagement Strategy and to submit their comments and recommendations by October 31, 2021 to Ms. Nicole Leotaud at [email protected] and copy Mrs. Norma Cherry-Fevrier, [email protected].

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Access the draft Stakeholder Engagement Strategy at: https://canari.org/wp- content/uploads/2021/10/OECS-Stakeholder-Engagement-Strategy-10.10.2021.pdf

For further information, please contact:

Nicole Leotaud at [email protected] or Norma Cherry-Fevrier at [email protected]

Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St.

Vincent and the Grenadines.

For more information on development of the Stakeholder Engagement Strategy please see www.canari.org/OECSstakeholders.

About CANARI: The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) is a regional technical non- profit organisation which has been working in the islands of the Caribbean for over 30 years. Our mission is to promote and facilitate stakeholder participation in the stewardship of natural resourcesintheCaribbean. OurworkfocusesonBiodiversityandEcosystems,Equity,Participatory Governance and Resilience. See here for more information on CANARI: http://www.canari.org/.