The Environmental Awareness Group of Antigua & Barbuda
Raising awareness & promoting sustainable use of natural resources
The EAG was delighted to welcome the 17th Regional Meeting of the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds (SCSCB) to Antigua . The conference was held at the Jolly Beach Resort from 14 - 18 July 2009 under the theme Beyond the Beach - Birds and Tourism for Sustainable Islands. This year, about 125 delegates (ornithologists, wildlife and conservation professionals, resource managers, students, and other interested parties) attended from over 20 countries in the region.
Dynamic keynote speaker Ted Eubanks of Fermata Inc. highlighted the often overlooked linkages between sustainable tourism and conservation. His research showed that tourists who appreciate an authentic, local experience are really the types of tourists that are willing to pay to help with conservation efforts - a powerful message for the many Caribbean tourism destinations that focus on the high-impact, low yield type of mass tourism. Other terrific keynote speakers included Barbard MacKinnon de Montes of Mexico, Andrew Rothman of the Sarapiqui Conservation Learning Center in Costa Rica and Carol James of the Asa Wright Center in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds (SCSCB) is a nonprofit membership organization working to conserve the birds of the Caribbean and their habitats through research, education, conservation action and capacity building. Founded in 1988, SCSCB is the largest single bird conservation organization in the Greater Caribbean region, including Bermuda, the Bahamas and all islands within the Caribbean basin.
EAG Hosts the Caribbean Bird Conference
I consider it a privilege to have been invited to attend the Society’s conference in July at the Jolly Beach Hotel. As a simple lifelong observer and photographic recorder of wildlife (my father was a well informed teacher), I was impressed by the dedication of the delegates and the speakers to their particular interests, specific issues, and the very real achievements that are in the making, and they have already made in the conservation and sustainability of birdlife in our area.
It seems to have taken some serious lobbying amongst the members of the EAG, and within the Society itself, to finally achieve the goal of securing the biennial, and 17th Conference to be held here in Antigua. From what I could gather Junior Prosper’s persistence with the EAG finally did bear fruit! It was gratifying to see the Prime Minister and the Minister for Tourism in attendance at the opening of the conference.
These are difficult ecological times and the conference community was all too aware of that. There was, rightly, a sense of urgency underlying many of the presentations.
Ted Lee Eubanks’ theme of “The Business of Nature”, though incompatibilities may spring to mind in that title, and Ted is a dedicated marketer, but when coupled with his accent on sustainability, outdoor recreation and TOURISM, that biggest of all words for our tourism dependent small island nations, his opinions resonated strongly. He was not afraid to answer occasionally difficult questions; he did so with disarming ease, and in a concise, specific manner.
When it comes to actually creating an organization that caters for the nature observer and birder; who could not fail to be impressed by the achievements of the Asa Wright Nature Centre in Trinidad. Founded in 1967, it represents a solid and ongoing achievement. Dr. Carol James, the current Chairperson was, rightly, a warmly received speaker. She made it seem so simple, partly by her entertaining style. She laid out the foundations of successful nature park development. Not just the training of local guides, but in developing suppliers of local foods and crafts, along with creating hospitality and recreation areas, all help with the financing and funding for continued expansion of the centre as well as significant local work creation, in jobs it seems that those employed take great pride.
Much of the thrust of the conference was upon preservation, sustainability, and ecological responsibility, a group of objectives that need ever increasing currency and attention.
Though I was unable to attend many of the presentations, and I attended every day, those that I did left me with an overriding impression of an organization of dedicated professionals and adept enthusiasts who are committed to the current continuing survival of just one of the many forms of life that are daily under threat.
I also learned at the conference that I am now a “birder”, I used to be a “birdwatcher “, I also learned that I now go “birding” and not “bird watching”!
It does seem better than “twitcher” and “twitching”.
Peter Duce
A “birder”s report on the conference