FREE LECTURE: Protecting Nature, Preserving Life: The Nature Conservancy in the Caribbean

The Caribbean is one of the World's biodiversity hotspots, home to thousands of miles of rich coastal habitats, providing valuable ecosystems services that contribute significantly to the region's human well-being. These ecosystems are highly vulnerable, subject to the impacts of unsustainable coastal development, overfishing, and climate change because of the region's geographic exposure, reliance on climate sensitive sectors, low incomes, and weak adaptive capacity. Depleted fish stocks, dying coral reefs, and increasing storms and intensity are all undermining the resiliency of these ecosystems and the future well-being of the region.

Dr. Schill will discuss specifically how his Caribbean team is working to help countries struggling to manage these threats and meet conservation goals outlined by the Convention on Biological Diversity. These efforts include the development of customized GIS-based tools that help decision-makers balance choices between economic and ecological interests, mapping and expanding protected areas in key areas, improving management effectiveness financed through conservation trust funds, and designing new government-endorsed strategies that focus on projects in climate change adaptation, building sustainable fisheries, and implementing tourism practices that consider both economic and environmental needs.