Project

Species Protection Dutch Caribbean

The Caribbean Netherlands is part of the Caribbean "biodiversity hotspot" in which high and unique biodiversity is combined with high anthropogenic ecological and environmental pressures. This combines to cause many species to be quite endangered. In all the Caribbean Netherlands possesses about 130 endemic species and 143 internationally endangered species of policy concern. For many of  these there is an enormous lack of basic knowledge and information on population and conservation status. Also many of the threats have not been adequately quantified which makes it difficult to set management priorities, especially considering the limited budgets available for biodiversity.

The required process of updating nature policy plans every five years also necessitates regular evaluations and assessments of the state of nature as related to the various species and their habitats. In this project the focus in 2022 will be to:

1) provide an update on the conservation status of the Lesser Antillean Iguana of St. Eustatius, a species recently seriously threatened by introduction of the non-native green Iguana with which it hybridizes.

2) conduct an population assessment and mapping inventory of the endangered orchids of the island of Saba.

Publications