Moderating event on UK Overseas Territories by the Marine Conservation Society

I’m looking forward to moderating “Amplifying best practice in the Caribbean UK Overseas Territories“, an online event by the Marine Conservation Society during the UN Ocean Conference.

📍Online

⏰ Thursday, 12th June 2025, 16:00 – 17:00 CEST

💻 Im looking forward to being joined by a lineup of excellent speakers:

  • Luc Clerveaux, Director of Department of Environment and Coastal Resources, Turks and Caicos Government
  • John Bothwell, Manager of Legislation Implementation and Coordination Unit, Department of Environment, Cayman Islands Government
  • Veta Wade, CEO of FishnFins, a non-profit organisation based in Montserrat that focuses on marine conservation and community empowerment
  • Amdeep Sanghera, UK Overseas Territories Conservation Manager, Marine Conservation Society

💙The UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) encompass 16 diverse nations scattered across the globe, from the warm waters of the Caribbean to colder climates in the South Atlantic. The UKOTs have vast Exclusive Economic Zones covering millions of square kilometres of ocean. Home to 94% of the UKs unique biodiversity, including endemic species like the Cayman Islands’ parrotfish and habitats for commercially important fish like the spiny lobster and the queen conch, the UKOTs are the jewel in the UKs marine estate.

🌊However, the UKOTs can often lack access to funding schemes to manage their marine areas, which are vital to the lifeblood of these islands. But funding can be transformative for the marine environment. Using available funding through the UK Governments Blue Belt and Darwin Plus schemes, local UKOT communities have been able to provide crucial grassroots stewardship leading marine restoration, species re-introduction and compliance programmes.

🤝Funding programmes like Blue Belt and Darwin Plus have been critical in supporting Caribbean UKOT communities to provide grassroots stewardship to marine restoration, species re-introduction and coastal resilience programmes in the face of evolving threats. A thriving sustainable blue economy could further help to boost marine conservation in the UKOTs. Local communities across the UKOTs stand ready to shape partnerships with eNGOs, territory Governments and private financiers, and provide support to sustainable blue finance projects. With generations of local knowledge at their fingertips, it is vital that local knowledge is embedded into crucial marine conservation policies and sustainable blue economy business practices to create win-wins for communities and the marine environment.

💡Hear from government representatives and policy experts working directly with communities in Caribbean UKOTs on their experiences embedding community knowledge into marine conservation schemes, the value of Darwin Plus and Blue Belt funding, and reflections on the potential for a thriving sustainable blue economy in the Caribbean UKOTs.

👉Register for free here

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