Caribbean

Natural
Resources
Institute
(CANARI)

An overview of current activities

Washington
12 June 2009
CANARI
• Independent regional non-
profit technical organisation,
founded over 20 years ago.
• Based in Trinidad, with a
small office in Barbados.
Formerly located in Saint
Lucia and St Croix, with a
small office in Antigua.
• Geographic focus: all the
islands of the Caribbean.
 CANARI’s mission
• To promote equitable participation
and effective collaboration in
managing the natural resources
critical to development through:
– research
– sharing and dissemination of
lessons learned, including capacity
building; and
– fostering partnerships.
 CANARI Governance
• Legally managed by a regional Board
under the Companies Act but in
practice operated as a Partnership
between Elected Partners (Board
members) drawn from all over the
region and senior staff (Managing and
Staff Partners)
• Currently 6 technical and 2
administrative/financial staff
• Collaborate closely with 6 CANARI
Associates.
 Funding sources
• Principally grants (e.g. MacArthur
Foundation, FAO, EU, Commonwealth
Foundation, Defra, IIED)
• Some technical assistance/ consultancy
work that contributes to CANARI’s strategic
objectives, e.g.
– Participatory development of new Forest and
Protected Areas policies (Trinidad & Tobago)
– Participatory management planning for the Aripo
Savannas (Trinidad & Tobago) and Centre Hills
Project (Montserrat)
– Climate change communications (JNCC, Christian
Aid)
 Strategic plan 2006-2010
• Wide stakeholder input producing mainly
validation of previous approach but some
key changes:
• Project to programme structure
• Strengthening of communications research
focus
• Review of communication strategy
– visual image,
– Redesigned website (under construction)
– greater focus on varied needs of different target
audiences
• Increased focus on partnerships
 Thematic programme areas

1. Forests and livelihoods

2. Climate change and disaster risk
reduction
3. Civil society and governance
4. Coastal and marine governance and
livelihoods
 Cross-cutting approaches
1. Tools and methods for participatory
natural resource management (PNRM)
e.g. Action research and learning, participatory
GIS, participatory video, mentoring, network
analysis.
2. Facilitating evidence-based policy making
and practice through effective
communications and communications
research.
3. Participatory monitoring and evaluation.
4. Protected areas and participatory
management planning.
Forests and Livelihoods
Goal:
• To improve livelihoods by promoting
and facilitating sustainable use and
management of forests, building
effective institutions, and facilitating
collaboration between key
stakeholders, using participatory
action research, capacity building,
and dissemination of lessons
learned.
Main implementing projects
• FAO “Participatory Forest
Management: Improving policy
and institutional capacity for
development” [2006-2009].
• EU “Practices and policies that
improve forest management and
the livelihoods of the rural poor in
the insular Caribbean” [2007-
2010].
Forests and Livelihoods
Main implementing activities:
• Regional Action Learning Group (ALG)
• National policy analysis and identification of
technical assistance needs for updating
policies
• National Forest and Protected Areas Policies
for Trinidad and Tobago
• Training of trainers in participatory forest
management
• Regional and national training workshops for
NGOs/CBOs
• Action Learning Projects and mentoring
• Small grants for CBOs
Forests and Livelihoods
Activities (cont’d):
• Case studies of livelihood benefits to
rural poor from different types of forest
management arrangements
• Participatory protected area
management planning (Aripo, Centre
Hills)
• Legislation for participatory management
(Centre Hills)
• Study on impact of payments for
watershed services on poor
• Economic valuation of forests
 Forest and livelihoods:
programme development
• Parallel project to assess the
impacts of different types of
participation on achieving forest
conservation goals.
• Establishing a pilot centre for the
development and support of small
and medium enterprises based on
sustainable use of forest products.
 Climate change and
disaster risk reduction
Goal
• To improve livelihoods and resilience to
climate change and related disasters by
building the capacity of stakeholders,
particularly those most vulnerable to
climate change, to participate effectively in
ecosystem management and develop
appropriate responses to climate change,
through participatory action research and
application and dissemination of lessons
learned.
Current/recent implementing activities

RESEARCH
• Climate change and biodiversity in
the islands of the Caribbean project
(MacArthur Foundation)
– 3 Working group reports
• Climate change trends and scenarios in
the Caribbean
• Climate change impacts on coastal and
marine biodiversity
• Climate change impacts on coastal and
marine biodiversity
 Climate change and biodiversity in the
islands of the Caribbean project (cont.)
– Policy brief: “Climate change in the
Caribbean: the case for greater investment
in research and adaptive policies”
(English/French/Spanish)
– Technical Report: “The impacts of climate
change on biodiversity in Caribbean
islands: what we know, what we need to
know, and building capacity effective
adaptation” (English/French/Spanish)
– Research agenda
– Key elements of a communication
strategy
 Climate change- building
regional awareness
• Series of
guidebooks, leaflets
and videos on
Climate change in
the UK Overseas
Territories (Joint
Nature Conservation
Committee, UK)
 Climate change- building
regional awareness
• Supporting Christian Aid Caribbean in
its countdown to Copenhagen
campaign/ capacity building
– Regional workshop
– National workshops Jamaica, Haiti,
Dominican Republic
– Climate change toolkit
– 5 advocacy briefing papers
 Climate change- building
regional awareness
• Capacity building of civil society
(Commonwealth Foundation):
– Workshop engaging civil society
organisations, the media and performance
artists/drama-in-education practitioners in
developing communication and
adaptation strategies
– Development of a communications toolkit
for grassroots organisations
 Workshop spin-off activities
• Using key change agents and role models as
channels of information, e.g.
– Climate change songs developed
– Concerts by conscious performance artists
– Drama-in-education on climate change
• Media stories about climate change
• Country partnerships between NGOs and the
media
• Conducting local research, (e.g. Sandwatch)
• Collecting traditional knowledge (e.g. Panos)
• Video, television, YouTube etc. (e.g. Buccoo
Reef Trust)
Climate change next steps

• To implement a regional climate change

communication strategy and pilot community-
level adaptation projects to inform regional,
national and local adaptation policy and action
– Joint fundraising with CCCCC
– Implementing partners Buccoo Reef Trust,
CERMES, Panos Caribbean

• CARIBSAVE: Caribbean Climate Change,

Tourism and Livelihoods: implementation of
the biodiversity component
Civil society and governance

Goal:
• To enhance the capacity of civil
society organisations to participate
in and derive livelihood benefits
from the effective governance of
natural resources, through action
research and learning, peer
exchange, training, small grants
and fostering networks.
 Civil society and
governance
Main implementing projects:
• Going from strength to strength
(MacArthur Foundation): main focus
D.R, Haiti and Jamaica).
• Building civil society capacity for
conservation in the Caribbean UK
Overseas Territories (Darwin Initiative
with Commonwealth Foundation)
 Civil society and
governance
Main project components:
• Regional Action Research and Learning
Group (ARLG)
• Training
• Small grants
• Exchange and study visits
• Case studies
• Website, intranet, forums etc.
• Communication of lessons to influence
governance arrangements
 Marine and Coastal
Governance and Livelihoods
• Member of CERMES MarGov Steering
Group and conducting case study of
fisheries governance in Trinidad and
Tobago.
• Involving Fisherfolk Organisations in
Marine Fisheries Management and Policy
in the Commonwealth Caribbean (funded
by Commonwealth Foundation, co-
implemented by CRFM and CERMES).
• Member of CLME Steering Committee
with particular focus on capacity building/
local engagement
Recent CANARI training courses
• Stakeholder identification and analysis
• Community-based tourism
• Information management for CSOs
• Institutional arrangements for PA
management
• Understanding and managing natural
resource conflicts
• Participatory wetlands management
• Participatory forest management
• Organisational development
• Participatory GIS mapping
CANARI Communications

• Technical reports
• Policy briefs
• Guidelines
• Audiovisual materials
• Website
http://www.canari.org
 The MacArthur Award for Creative
and Effective Institutions

• Enhancing CANARI’s financial

sustainability.
• Keeping technical staff at the
cutting edge of current research
areas through mini-sabbaticals.
• Communications research.