DCNA Places Projects Officer in Windward islands to Increase Support to Nature Parks

SINT MAARTEN (PHILIPSBURG) - In an effort to increase the support for Nature Conservation and Protected Area management for STENAPA St. Eustatius, the Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF) and the Sint Maarten Nature Foundation, the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) has placed its Project Officer Ms. Dahlia Hassell in the Windward Islands.

“Having a member of the DCNA Secretariat located on Saba will go a long way in DCNA’s ability to facilitate the assistance we provide to the Protected Area Management Organizations for the Northern Islands. We really want to ensure that the support provided by the DCNA Network is equally distributed amongst all six islands,” commented DCNA Interim Director Tadzio Bervoets.

Ms. Dahlia Hassell joined the Secretariat of DCNA in March of this year and already works closely with the park management organizations of all six islands in the Dutch Caribbean in supporting their conservation management actions. She will now be hosted at the Saba Conservation Foundation in Saba and can support the other islands more closely. The offices of the DCNA Secretariat are located on Bonaire.

Similar to other protected areas in the Caribbean, the organizations that manage the nature parks in the Dutch Caribbean (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten) face a structural shortage of capacity to effectively fulfil their nature management tasks.

The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) address this gap as a nonprofit organization created to protect the natural environment, and to promote sustainable management of natural resources on the six Dutch Caribbean islands.

This is done through (1) supporting efforts of Park Management Organizations to secure sustainable sources of funding for nature conservation, (2) promoting and facilitating of permanent dialogue, knowledge exchange, training and cooperation between the Park Management Organizations, (3) Assist Park Management Organizations with representation and advocacy.

Promoting awareness and creating of the urgency to support park and nature management and actions to address global conservation challenges face by the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, (4) Provide online access to information on biodiversity and conservation management and encourage information exchange and (5) promote educational outreach and public awareness.