Nature Conservation

Receives Letter of Support from Royal Patron Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands

The Nature Conservation Network Organization the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) will host its next Board Meeting on Sint Maarten from the 14th to the 17th of March. DCNA Board meetings are critical for discussing and strategizing on the most effective way to support protected area management organizations in the Dutch Caribbean, especially in light of the significant challenges brought about by the global Covid-19 pandemic and other pressures faced by the Park Management Organizations. Park Management Organizations also have the opportunity to update attendees  on some of the challenges and successes the parks are experiencing as they continue to safeguard nature in the Dutch Caribbean. Various governance decisions are also taken during the biannual meetings, including decisions related to financial good-governance, the disbursement of the DCNA Conservation Trust Fund and the support the DCNA network provides in terms of its regional and international lobby on behalf of the conservation organizations in the Dutch Caribbean.

The DCNA conservation network provides support to the Protected Area Management Organizations of all six islands of the Dutch Caribbean: Aruba National Parks Foundation, STINAPA Bonaire, CARMABI Curaçao, STENAPA St. Eustatius, the Saba Conservation Foundation and the Sint Maarten Nature Foundation. Another critical component discussed during the Board Meeting is the importance of implementing a strategy which will help foster the development of sustainable tourism for the islands, enabling the Dutch Caribbean to emerge from the challenges brought about by the Pandemic with a greater focus on green and blue economies. Aside from conservation managers and the various experts of the Board of DCNA, observers from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN-NL), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF–NL), BirdLife Netherlands, Observation International and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) also participate in DCNA Board Meetings.

DCNA’s Royal Patron Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands also recently commended the Conservation Network Organization for their recently organized Board Congress held last November in Curacao. During an official letter from the Royal Palace to the Chair of DCNA Dr. Hellen van der Wal, the Princess commended the organization on their continued support for the protected area management organizations on all six islands while especially providing the means to the nature organizations to execute their tasks.

DCNA Secretariat’s Office Manager Emeray Martha-Neuman presents a gift to Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrix for being the Royal Patron of DCNA

Article included in Special Edition: 2022 Park Updates

Introduction

In this publication you will find papers and reflections that were written by the ten participants in the UAUCU undergraduate research exchange project 2015, a project that offers students from University College Utrecht (UCU) and the University of Aruba (UA) the opportunity to conduct research in a multidisciplinary international student team. All students, 5 from each university, have submitted papers that reflect the diversity of approaches that the students have followed.

On the following pages you will find papers on linguistics, economic development, communication, nature conservation, renewable energy, law, cultural identity and the influence of tourism. While reading you will notice that the research was in different stages of completion at the time of publication of this book: for some of the participants, the field research is completed but data still need to be interpreted, for some the field research still has to start, and for some, the research and analysis have been completed. Based upon this fieldwork the student will write their bachelor’s or master’s thesis. The research interests of the students are diverse but show a common interest in sustainable development and it is clear from the final products that the collaboration in the multidisciplinary team has influenced their approach to their research topics.

Every student has written a reflection on his or her experiences during the project that you will find in this book. It is an interesting experience to read the reflections of the participants and to see how strong the collaboration and support has been among the students. These reflections tell you more about the core of this project: it is not only about doing research and about making student research meaningful; it is also about the realization that we can achieve more if we approach problems from several perspectives at the same time, and work together in teams that are multidisciplinary and as such complementary.

Looking back at this first year of the project, one realizes how many people have been involved. It is impossible to name everybody; many people are crucial to the success of a project like this. For everybody who has been part of this project as (guest) lecturer, supervisor, manager, initiator, facilitator, student, interviewee, respondent, guide, coach, or mentor: thank you very much for your support!

Eric Mijts & Jocelyn Ballantyne Project coordinators UAUCU

Florianne Sollie - UCU

Language and education in a multilingual society: Text comprehension and language attitudes among Aruban high school students.

Sil Boedi Scholte - UCU

Who Plays What Role to Take the Stage? The Governance of Staging Authenticity and Commodification of Cultural Heritage in Aruba.

Kimberly van Loon - UA

Perceptions of internal communication, as told by employees within the health care sector.

Geneida Geerman - UA

Internal communication of sustainable development within hotel sector.

Sharon Meijer - UA

Sustainable practices of Aruban SMEs and their influence on the economy.

Petra Zaal - UCU

Reduction of energy consumption at Aruban hotels.

Francis Malca - UA

Legal perspectives on Solid waste management in Aruba.

Rikkert Loosveld - UCU

Does the Parkietenbos landfill have boundaries? A waste and ph-gradient assessment of Parkietenbos.

Tobia de Scisciolo - UCU

The Assessment of Aruba’s Shoreline Pollution: A Comparison between the South and the North coast.

Giovanni Jacobs - UA

Mapping Aruba’s policy on beach care.

LANDSBESLUIT, houdende algemene maatregelen, van 24 au-gustus 2000 ter uitvoering van artikel 10 van de Natuur-beschermingsverordening (AB 1995 no. 2) tot instelling van het natuurreservaat Parke Nacional Arikok.

LANDSBESLUIT, houdende algemene maatregelen, van 20 december 2018 houdende instelling van het Parke Marino Aruba (Landsbesluit Parke Marino
Aruba)

In overweging genomen hebbende:
dat het ter bescherming van de mariene flora en fauna in de kustwateren van Aruba wenselijk is om bepaalde gedeelten van die kustwateren aan te wijzen als natuurreservaat in de zin van artikel 10, eerste lid, van de Natuurbe-schermingsverordening (AB 1995 no. 2);

LANDSBESLUIT, houdende algemene maatregelen, van 10 februari 2017 tot wijziging van het Landsbesluit Parke Nacional Arikok (AB 2000 no. 59) (aanwijzing Spaans Lagoen-gebied als natuurreservaat).

In overweging genomen hebbende:

• Dat het ter voldoening aan de Overeenkomst inzake watergebieden van internationale betekenis, in het bijzonder als verblijfplaats voor watervogels (Trb. 1975, 84) wenselijk is om het Spaans Lagoen-gebied aan te wijzen als een natuurreservaat in de zin van artikel 10, eerste lid, van de Natuurbeschermingsverordening (AB 1995 no. 2);
• Dat het voorts uit oogpunt van doelmatigheid wenselijk is om de aanwij-zing van het Spaans Lagoen-gebied als natuurreservaat te doen ge-schieden door toevoeging van dit gebied aan het bestaande natuurre-servaat Parke Nacional Arikok;

In overweging genomen hebbende:

Dat het wenselijk is een aantal domeingronden aan te wijzen als natuurreservaat in de zin van artikel 10 van de Natuurbeschermingsverordening (AB 1995 no. 2) met het oog op de bescherming van de aldaar aanwezige inheemse flora en fauna, en het behoud van de biologische diversiteit en het karakteristieke natuurschoon van die gebieden;

Gelet op: artikel 10 van de Natuurbeschermingsverordening (AB 1995 no.2); Heeft, de Raad van Advies gehoord, besloten.

Elsmarie Beukenboom was the first board representative for Stichting Nationale Parken Bonaire (STINAPA Bonaire) when the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) was established in 2005 and is the former Director of STINAPA Bonaire. She set up and ran the Bonaire Tourism Training Centre, was Director of the Tourism Corportation Bonaire and for many years was the driving force behind Tene Boneiru Limpi (“Keep Bonaire Clean”). Before retiring from STINAPA Bonaire Elsmarie dedicated her time to a reforestation project which she ran on Klein Bonaire. Her dream is to see the nature on Klein Bonaire restored to its former glory.

See on youtube or listen on soundcloud

The Nature Policy Plan Caribbean Netherlands identifies the need to “Evaluate the financial instruments available for nature conservation in the Caribbean Netherlands and make recommendations aimed at guaranteeing a sustainable financial future” as one of its strategic actions. Three preceding studies investigated budget requirements and sustainable funding of nature (MINA 2000, Spergel 2005, Spergel 2014). These studies focused on the potential sources of income to achieve financial sustainability and led amongst others to the establishment of the trust fund.

The aim of this study by IMARES is to provide insight in the financial needs to carry out park management tasks based on quantifiable tasks. So, rather than the functional approach of earlier studies, which quantified budget needs based on staffing of the park management organizations, we here introduce a task-based approach to identify budget requirements. In this we used elements of the Netherlands cost standards for nature management ('normenboek') to build an analytical calculation model which quantifies the annual budget requirements and human resources based on quantitative estimates of prices for material and labor. The budget requirements were then used to determine the financial gap between financial needs and income sources.

We incorporated the preliminary list of core management tasks recently developed by DCNA and the parks (Appendix A) and re-arranged the list in three levels (responsibilities-tasks-activities). Then we prioritized the four most important responsibilities to achieve the primary goal of nature conservation (infrastructure, education, monitoring, enforcement), merged similar tasks (e.g. monitoring and research) and included additional essential tasks. Furthermore we subdivided tasks in several tangible and quantifiable activities.

Critical monitoring tasks which we also included were a) habitat and species restoration and b) abiotic monitoring. Restoration from losses or damage to habitats and species is part of the primary goal of protecting nature against two major global threats to biodiversity: invasive species and habitat loss and destruction. Abiotic monitoring of factors that influence the abundance or distribution of key species and systems over time (e.g. rainfall, seawater temperature, salinity and water quality) was also included as it is essential to understand ecosystem trends for management purposes.

We further emphasize the importance of infrastructure and explicitly highlighted a number of infrastructure components which we consider essential: a) fences, grids and corrals to keep livestock out and animals in which are essential to protect sensitive habitats and structures; b) freshwater structures which are essential as water supply for flora and fauna; and c) routine maintenance and trimming of mangroves trees which is essential to keep the mangrove channels open.

Based on these prioritizations and extensive cost price information and estimates, the annual budget requirements of the core tasks are estimated at approx. USD 1,461,000 for STINAPA, USD 669,000 for STENAPA and also USD 669,000 for SCF (Table 3.1). The precise calculation of the budget requirements – specified at activity level - can be found in Appendix B.

Three financial gaps were identified: 1) the difference in annual budget requirements according to this study and according to an earlier DCNA assessment; 2) the financial gap in the DCNA trust fund required to start generating returns on investment; and 3) the difference between the annual budget requirements according to this study and the current income sources. With regards to the latter, STENAPA and SCF both have a structural financial deficit between financial needs and income resources amounting to USD 470,000 and 270,000, respectively. STINAPA only has a minor financial gap in 2015 amounting to USD 40,000 due to the financing of overdue mangrove maintenance.

We recommend parties to use the task-based calculation model as designed in this study for future management and fundraising purposes and to plan and justify the activities and budget requirements of the park management organizations. However, the price, cost and activity assumptions made in our calculation model should be validated by a third party and/or by the park management organizations e.g. through a workshop and should be regularly updated. We also recommend a sensitivity analysis of minimum and maximum amounts for different scenarios to be included in the calculation model. Furthermore the calculation model is generally applicable and can also be used and adapted to estimate the budget requirements of park management organizations on Curaçao and St. Maarten, and to calculate the appropriate level of the trust fund capital needed to ensure financial sustainability for nature management for the five participating islands.

Island Ordinance from September 1ST, 2003 concerning regulations pertaining to
the management and protection of flora and fauna and nature parks in the Island
Territory of Sint Maarten (Island Ordinance Nature Conservation and protection Sint
Maarten)
 
retreived from http://www.naturefoundationsxm.org, April 13, 2015

In 1998 the Dutch Parliament called for a feasibility study for a trust fund and the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations agreed, under certain conditions, to make a financial contribution to
such a fund. In 2003 the Antillean Environmental Department invited tenders for this study, which began in 2004 with funding from the Dutch Ministry of the Interior. Besides assessing the feasibility of a trust fund to cover the operational costs of one terrestrial and one marine park per island, the study also included a broader analysis of how park funding can be made more sustainable. The consultants also advised on the technical and organisational aspects of the management and administration of a trust fund and presented a fundraising and communication strategy to support the process.

Summary of the findings
Sustainable funding: feasibility and constraints

1. The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that manage the nature parks on the Netherlands Antilles need at least €2.25 million each year to cover the costs of adequately managing at least one terrestrial park and one marine park per island. 
2. External funding sources are therefore necessary to achieve a sustainable financial situation. 
3. Certain developments in 2004 and early 2005 have considerably increased the chances of creating a sustainable funding strategy involving these four tracks:
4. In future years the National Postcode Lottery (NPL) will play a key role in providing longer-term funding to cover the running costs of the parks (track 1). 
5. An essential element in the strategy for achieving sustainable funding for conservation management is the establishment of a Trust Fund (track 2).
6. The Antillean governments should take their own share of the responsibility by ensuring the required legislative framework is in place and making a long-term financial commitment. 
7. The main capital donors to the most successful trust funds elsewhere in the world are bilateral and multilateral agencies (such as GEF and the World Bank) as well as international nature conservation organisations such as WWF and Conservation International. It is therefore highly important to obtain contributions from one or more of these parties in addition to the anticipated contribution from the National Postcode Lottery.
8. The private sector (business community, individuals and investment funds) is a potentially good source of funds in various tracks, particularly in the form of earmarked or non-earmarked donations, sponsorships and contributions to a Trust Fund (tracks 2 and 3).
9. Assuming a combined income of €1.17 million, an annual grant from NPL of €0.45 million and a return on investment of 6%, the Trust Fund would require a capital of €18.9 million to guarantee basic levels of park management on the islands.
10. The study provides a detailed design of the institutional set-up and a legal and financial framework for the Trust Fund. Instead of being a separate legal entity, the proposed Trust Fund will be established within the structure of the DCNA, since the advantages of this option outweigh the disadvantages.