The IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature), the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, and the University of the West Indies through the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) are pleased to renew their commitment to improving the long-term conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and natural resources in the Caribbean through the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management Programme (BIOPAMA).

This continued collaboration has been made possible by the decision of the European Union and the African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) Group of States to renew their investment in continuing BIOPAMA into a second phase. This extension will among other things provide added value to ACP conservation and protected area management efforts in the form of a 20 million Euro funded grant instrument.

Under BIOPAMA I, a series of interlinked, but regionally centred, Observatories for Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management were established in each ACP region, with the Caribbean Observatory being launched in September 2015 as the “Caribbean Protected Areas Gateway” (Caribbean Gateway). The Caribbean Gateway (https://caribbean-rris.biopama.org), hosted by The UWI at CERMES is a resource hub for facilitating and promoting viable decisions and policies by decision makers and resource managers for effective and sustainable management of protected areas (PA) and biodiversity.

Under the second phase of BIOPAMA, regional stakeholders will be encouraged to strengthen their efforts toward information monitoring and the contribution of verifiable data to the Caribbean Gateway; sharing resources; and developing capacity on PA management and governance. The support provided to the region by BIOPAMA and the Caribbean Gateway is expected to result in a public, and policy makers who are equipped with the best available information to drive appropriate conservation actions and decisions crucial for the sustainability of PAs and the people who depend on them for their livelihoods.

The second phase of the BIOPAMA programme (2017-2023) is an initiative of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States financed by the European Union’s 11^th European Development Fund.