Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival Highlights Habitat Restoration
“Restore Habitats, Restore Birds” is the theme for this year’s Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF). At dozens of events throughout the region, participants of all ages will learn how restoring local habitats can benefit the unique birds found only in the Caribbean. Events on many islands will include habitat restoration activities like clean ups and distribution of native tree seedlings for planting.
1. BirdsCaribbean is the largest regional organization devoted to wildlife conservation in the Caribbean. It is a non-profit organization whose goals are to promote the scientific study and conservation of Caribbean birds and their habitats, and to promote greater public awareness of the bird life of the region. For more details, see: www.birdscaribbean.org.
2. Countries taking part include: Antigua, Anguilla, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Martin, Saint Andre (Columbia), Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The initiative is supported across the region by a variety of organizations including schools, churches, environmental NGOs, government conservation departments, private sector organizations, universities, and concerned groups and individuals.
3. Dr. Leo Ricardo Douglas is a Honorary Research Fellow in the Institute for Sustainable Development and visiting lecturer in the department of Geography/Geology. Leo holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University, New York City. He has taught about conservation conflicts and biodiversity at Columbia University and Bard College in New York. Dr. Douglas has recently published research on how Caribbean parrot feeding habits improve food availability for important native pollinators and see-dispersing birds – thus benefiting local ecosystems overall.
4. Lisa Sorenson is also the Executive Director of BirdsCaribbean. Dr. Sorenson also coordinates the West Indian Whistling-Duck and Wetlands Conservation Project, a public education and awareness programme on the importance and value of the regions wetlands and birds. Sorenson, who is a adjunct professor at Boston University MA, is an ecologist and conservation biologist, that has been working in the Caribbean for 25 years.
5. The Caribbean Birding Trail, a multi-partner initiative led by BirdsCaribbean, is being organized to create and promote nature-based, authentic experiences that engage visitors and locals with the unique birds of the Caribbean and connect them to the extraordinary places, diverse cultures and people of each island. By creating and promoting tourism experiences based on the cultural and natural resources of the Caribbean, we aim to stimulate high yield, low volume, and low impact tourism. This approach targets wildlife watchers, photographers and those looking for authentic, unique, and revelatory travel experiences. Tourism of this sort strives to capture the economic impacts locally, and to empower local communities and small businesses to harness the tourism economy for their own direct benefit. For more information, visit: www.caribbeanbirdingtrail.org.
