The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) recently supported the attendance of representatives from the Protected Area Management Organizations of Aruba (Fundacion Parke Nacional Aruba), Bonaire (STINAPA), Saba (Saba Conservation Foundation) and Sint Maarten (the Nature Foundation) to a five-day BirdsCaribbean Landbird Monitoring Workshop in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic where participants were trained in increasing the capability to monitor landbirds in the wider-Caribbean Region.

Monitoring the health of landbird populations is vitally important to understand changes in population sizes and distributions of species in response to environmental changes and threats, such as from climate change, pollution, invasive species, development, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and more. Through the monitoring of the health of landbird populations in the Dutch Caribbean, conservation managers will be better able to tell how these species, and the nature areas in which they live, are doing. The data they gather will help decision-makers to plan conservation and management actions to ensure the Dutch Caribbean’s amazing birds will be around for our children and grandchildren to see and enjoy.

We are grateful to Birds Caribbean for organizing this Training of Trainers workshop. With the skills learned during this workshop we will be able to increase the way we protect our nature areas on land which are some of the most threatened spaces on our islands,” commented Tadzio Bervoets, Director of the DCNA.

The participation of qualified local conservationists to the workshop was made possible through the support of the US Fish and Wildlife Service Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Fund, Environment and Climate Change Canada, US Forest Service International Programs, Optics for the Tropics, and the DCNA.

DCNA