Strengthening the Dominican Republic and Grenada’s Capacity to Conduct National Ecosystem Assessments

The Dominican Republic and Grenada participated in an annual global workshop on national ecosystem assessments in Cambridge, UK from 27th November to 1st December 2023. 

The workshop was hosted by the National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) Initiative at UNEP-WCMC and delivered in partnership with UNDP and UNESCO under the umbrella of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Network (BES-Net). Also in attendance were other partner countries of the NEA Initiative.

Speaking about the workshop, Mr. Alfredo Morillo, Project Coordinator for the Dominican Republic National Ecosystem Assessment said that it has helped the country team understand how to incorporate Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) in the assessment process. 

“The workshop gave us the opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned from other NEA Initiative’s partner countries. Some useful insights for us were related to the organisation of working groups during the assessment process, communication among chapter authors, and how the findings of the national ecosystem assessment could be used”, he further added.

Mr. Hayden J. Redhead, Representing Civil Society and a Local Knowledge Contributor in the Grenada National Ecosystem Assessment, shared that the workshop brought diverse NEA Initiative’s partner countries together in a singular purpose to protect and restore nature. 

“We can now advance with full knowledge to improve the uptake of the Grenada National Ecosystem Assessment and assist stakeholders with using the assessment to build knowledge and improve practices to protect all ecosystems and biodiversity”, he said.

The workshop provided a space for country teams including the Dominican Republic and Grenada to celebrate their achievements, share experiences and capture lessons learned.

The Dominican Republic team provided updates on project progress, key policy questions formulated, the beginning of the expert evaluation stage and their priorities going forward in 2024. 

Grenada participants. Phtoto by NEA Initiative

Representatives from Grenada showcased their achievements and lessons learned under the project’s expert evaluation stage aimed at finalising their ecosystem assessment. These presentations enabled a wealth of exchanges, discussions and knowledge-sharing among the participants.

During the workshop, discussions were geared towards creating a better understanding and awareness of key stages, tools and guidelines within the national ecosystem assessment development and implementation process. Specifically, the event facilitated dialogue and peer-to-peer learning in the following areas: scoping stage and expert evaluation stage; embedding ILK in the assessment process; stakeholder engagement; human rights and gender considerations; assessment finalisation; scenarios in ecosystem assessments, and the relationship between biodiversity and economy.

Learn more about the NEA Initiative’s Global Workshop 2023: Outcomes of the NEA Initiative’s 2023 Annual Workshop - NEA Initiative (ecosystemassessments.net)

All the resources and presentations from the workshop can be found here.