Earth Today | The Nature Conservancy celebrates 20 years of work in The Bahamas | News

THE NATURE Conservancy (TNC) – an environmental organisations with the reputation for pioneering initiatives for healthy oceans, and climate resilience through science, policy, capacity-building as well as innovative finance – recently celebrated 20 years of work in The Bahamas.

In an event hosted at the Balmoral Club on March 15 under the theme ‘Celebrating 20 Years of Conservation, Collaboration and Community’, key stakeholders, government agencies and partners gathered to express appreciation and to highlight the milestones and contributions of TNC.

“TNC has been a driving force in our country, and has been integral in expanding and effectively managing The Bahamas National Protected Areas System, advancing sustainable fisheries management policy and practice, restoring and conserving coral reef ecosystems, and, most recently, to promoting nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation,” said the Hon Vaughn Miller, minister of environment and natural resources.

In the conservancy’s 20 years of work in The Bahamas, the organisation has also provided scholarships to students, shared millions of dollars in grant funding towards conservation projects, facilitated local and international training for hundreds of national and community-based stakeholders, and aided in the establishment of new local NGOs on several family islands.

“TNC is proud to have been a part of advancing conservation for the past 20 years in The Bahamas, one of the truly unique and marvelous places on earth. Led by three amazing Bahamian women leaders, The Bahamas programme has taken conservation to new scales and shown that collaboration across the spectrum, from individual fishers to the nation’s leaders, is what makes conservation successful,” noted Dr Rob Brumbaugh, executive director of TNC Caribbean Division.

“At TNC, our mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends, and The Bahamas is an excellent example of a country whose economy and culture are inextricably linked to the ocean and land around us. I am very grateful for the strong work ethic of our staff and the spirit of collaboration among our partners and local communities here that has yielded transformative and positive outcomes over the years,” added Marcia Musgrove, director for the Northern Caribbean Programme in The Bahamas.

Key achievements of TNC included serving as coordinator for The Bahamas Spiny Lobster Fishery Improvement Project, which led to the first international sustainable seafood certification in the Caribbean region and helped the country to maintain its seafood export market share.

TNC also collaborated with regional governments and partners to launch the Caribbean Challenge Initiative, which supported the expansion of the Bahamas Protected Areas Network to help The Bahamas meet its 20 per cent nearshore marine area protection goal.

Additionally, the entity was also pivotal in the establishment of the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund and a regional network of national conservation trust funds, including The Bahamas Protected Areas Fund in 2014, which provides sustainable financing for protected areas management, climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation into perpetuity.

Since launching The Bahamas Coral Innovation Hub with partners in 2018, TNC’s Northern Caribbean Programme was also among the first recipients of a grant from the Global Fund for Coral Reefs to implement the Impact Funding for Bahama Reefs programme.

The eight-year initiative, launched in 2022, will identify and provide innovative financing for local projects and businesses whose revenue-generating activities promote healthy coral reefs and associated ecosystems, while providing benefits to reef-dependent communities.