Dominica National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2014-2020.

The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs) are the principal instruments for implementing the UN Convention on Biological Diversity at the national level with a multi-sectoral approach aimed to safeguard natural resources and ecosystems. Goals and objectives of NBSAPs: article 6 of the Convention on General Measures for Conservation and Sustainable Use states that each Contracting Party shall: develop national strategies, plans or programs for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity; integrate, where appropriate, the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity into relevant sectoral plans, programs and policies. The Convention requires countries not only to prepare a national biodiversity strategy but that they also ensure that this strategy is integrated in the mainstream planning and activities of all those sectors whose activities can have an impact (positive and negative) on biodiversity (pag. 18). The program takes cognizance of Dominica s rich biodiversity and encourages conservation through agriculture, tourism and culture. The strategy here is to use organic farming techniques, integrated pest management (IPM) programs and soil conservation strategies to ensure food security and biodiversity conservation (pag. 25). Table 8: Action Plan for BD Objective 2 (pag. 36).
The goals of NBSAPs are as follows: conservation and sustainable management of Dominica s terrestrial and marine biodiversity to ensure intra- and inter-generational equity; promotion of sustainable agricultural practices and technology within existing agricultural human capital so as to minimize the loss of agro-biodiversity, and reduce vulnerability to desertification and the contamination of water resources. The Objectives are to ensure that the biological resources of Dominica remain rich and diverse by maintaining: optimum systems resilience; resistance to invasive alien species; ecosystem structure and function; and maximizing ecological integrity by reducing negative environmental impact of human influences; to ensure that Dominica promotes the sustainable use of natural resources; to reduce or eliminate the potential risks from the use of biotechnology and its by-products while at the same time exploiting opportunities presented that are in keeping with Dominica s sustainable development agenda; to reduce and/or minimize the loss of terrestrial and marine biodiversity; to ensure that the basis for development is through the sustainable use of terrestrial and marine biological resources; to ensure the equitable and sustainable distribution of social and economic benefits from the use of terrestrial and marine biological resources.
For the integration of biodiversity management into existing development programs that are already part of the economic and social fabric of the country the tool that would be used is the poverty alleviation program. This program provides financial and technical support to poor, rural and marginalized persons with the intent of raising their standard of living thus reducing the impact on biodiversity (pag. 46).
The Kalinago are the indigenous people of Dominica whose way of life has not changed significantly over the last hundred years. However, some of their livelihood practices are unsustainable and need to be modified using available and appropriate technology. The strategy, therefore, is to train these citizens in sustainable harvesting techniques as well as encourage in-situ conservation strategies domestic cultivation of indigenous plants grown in the wilds (pag. 26).
Table 14: Baseline, Indicators and Targets: implement data Collection and Management Project; implementation of Phase 2 of the Disaster Risk Mitigation Project with FAO. Dissemination of Meteorological Data to guide production techniques (pag. 51).