Biodiversity Strategy for the Dutch Caribbean
The quality of nature on the Dutch Caribbean islands is an important part of the identity of the people who live on these islands and in large part underpins the quality of life and economic wealth of the islands. Our marine and terrestrial ecosystems and habitats, animals and plants are diverse and of high local, regional and international importance.
This Biodiversity Strategy, together with the Nature Policy Plan for the Caribbean
Netherlands, and other planning and strategy documents form the framework for the sustainable and successful management of our islands’ natural wealth.
The two key strategies identified in the “Nature Policy Plan The Caribbean
Netherlands” are mainstreaming and nature management. This document starts where the Nature Policy Plan ends to action the policy.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands furthermore has a strong interest in biodiversity conservation and management due to their obligations under various international treaties and conventions and the consequent need to meet international standards and obligations.
Local interest paragraph.. (this may be covered now in the opening).
1. Our vision for the future of biodiversity in the Dutch Caribbean is of no net loss of the islands’ biodiversity: where natural systems are healthy and diverse and support and promote human well-being
OR
2. The people of the Dutch Caribbean work together to conserve the islands’ biological diversity, and all share in the economic and social benefits of biodiversity.
The full range of each island’s natural systems and their species are secure and thrive.
The goal of the Biodiversity Strategy is to ensure the conservation and
enhancement of biological diversity on the islands through the protection of areas
and species and the sustainable use of the island’s natural resources, in harmony with economic development and human well-being.
This can only be achieved by generating awareness about biodiversity and conservation on the islands to inform, motivate and encourage support and active participation in nature conservation by all stakeholders.
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Biodiversity Strategy for the Dutch Caribbean
 Conservation and enhancement includes the protection, maintenance, strengthening and where feasible restoration of nature on the islands.
 Protection of areas and species refers to the active management of areas designated as nature or conservation areas and/or selected species
 Sustainable use includes prohibiting destructive practices, regulating extractive practices and managing other use to ensure no net loss of biodiversity.
The key elements within the Biodiversity Strategy are:
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Protected area management
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Species management
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Genetic resources
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Biodiversity monitoring
Biodiversity is considered in its widest sense and includes the fluctuation, variability, amount, and distribution of all biodiversity components and their interaction.
Biodiversity includes freshwater, marine and terrestrial environments and their attendant flora and fauna. It also includes the relationships between earth systems such as climate change and biodiversity. Biodiversity occurs within and amongst dynamic environmental stressors and a rapidly changing society. Long-term measurements will be fundamental to our understanding and management of biodiversity. Local, regional and global processes are inextricably linked and will thereby assist with predictions and decisions at all spatial scales and where data may be limited.
Understanding the scope of the islands’ biological resources is an essential first step towards effectively managing biodiversity on the islands.
The challenges of understanding biological diversity include but are not limited to:
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Understanding biodiversity’s role in ecosystems: processes, resilience and environmental change
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The development of appropriate tools and techniques to describe biodiversity and its functions
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Improve how the abundance and distribution of biodiversity is measured
 How society can predict and mitigate the effects of biodiversity change on processes that sustain life
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The development of integrated tools for assessing the benefits of biodiversity
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Biodiversity Strategy for the Dutch Caribbean
The islands of the Caribbean Netherlands are biologically diverse and home to hundreds of endemic species, several globally endangered species and a variety of globally threatened ecosystems. Ecosystems range from arid, cactus dominated landscapes, dry forests and evergreen limestone vegetation, to tropical rainforest and cloud forest. The Caribbean Netherlands form part of the Caribbean Islands
Biodiversity Hotspot (Conservation International, 2004), an area with exceptionally diverse ecosystems, rich in plant and animal species, many of which are endemic to one or only a few islands. At the same time the Caribbean islands have suffered from deforestation and human encroachment. As a consequence the islands characteristically have a rich but fragile biodiversity that is in need of special attention. The marine biodiversity of the Caribbean Netherlands is also exceptionally rich. Even within the Caribbean hotspot the Southern Caribbean area has been identified as the second richest area (after the Straits of Florida) for marine species
(Conservation International, 2004; Solórzano et al). Much of this biodiversity is still hidden in the deep-sea and has yet to be studied. The surrounding seas and coastal zones of the islands are also rich with mangrove communities, seagrass beds, and coral reefs. The Saba Bank, only recently partly explored, yielded new fish species as well as algae and soft coral species new to science.
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Biodiversity Strategy for the Dutch Caribbean
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