Collaboration between Wageningen University and Research and the Caribbean

Introduction The Caribbean is a region in the Americas with islands and coasts bordering the Caribbean sea. Three countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten) and the three special municipalities Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius are placed in the Caribbean and main the reason why Wageningen University & Research has been and is doing quiet some research in the Caribbean. Also still a historic and dynamic relation with Surinam exist and the new government and the easiness of sharing a common language created new opportunities with ministries, research institutes and the University of Anton de Kom in Surinam.

In the second half of 2022 visits of several WUR experts to other Caribbean islands are foreseen and beginning 2023 WUR expects to come up with a strategy to work on specific topics with partners in the Caribbean in the framework of challenges faced by Small Island Development State. This booklet is a first step and offers you an overview of the research of WUR in the Caribbean. Apart from the projects in the Dutch Caribbean (on for example ecology of the valorisation of Sargassum) it shows you work on food security in Cuba and fruit quality in Haiti as well as marine research under water on corals, sea turtles and sharks.