Our method of operation

How we work

The CCA works with various tools and through various channels to achieve conservation, protection, and wise use of the region's natural and cultural resources. The methods and channels are listed below. Some can also be accessed through other menu items on the home page.

1. CCAs national focal points
2. Collaboration with related agencies
3. Information provision and exchange:
   • Online discussion groups
   • Library-based information services
   • Directories of environmental organisations
4. Projects

The Association is managed by a Board of Directors, elected by the membership for a two year term. The daily activities are coordinated by the Executive Director and implemented by a core team of professional and administrative staff at the Secretariat in Barbados.

 CCAs national focal points

The CCA works with and through its network of members throughout the Caribbean. The quickest way of accessing the pool of resources for environmental conservation is to use the CCA's system of national focal points. 

Collaboration with related agencies

CCA also works collaboratively with other agencies concerned with the management of natural resources in the Caribbean. For example CCA sits:

• The Task Advisory Committee of the Natural Resources Management Unit of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

• The selection committee for Small Grants Caribbean awardees through the Global Environment Fund (GEF).

• The project advisory committee of Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Global Climate Change (CPACC).

• The Barbados Commission for UNESCO's sub-committee on World Heritage.

The CCA is also the NGO focal point for GEF NGO consultations.

These collaborative arrangements reinforce the CCAs pivotal role in the Caribbean's environmental conservation. 

Information provision and exchange

The CCA gathers its members under one umbrella in order to assist with networking needs and information exchange amongst professionals. One of the benefits of membership is access to vast sources of information using new and traditional technology.

1. Online discussion groups: where information on the latest environmental issues can be freely shared and aired! This is opened only to members of the CCA. As soon as you become a member, you are subscribed to this members-only discussion list. In addition, the CCA's moderator (Island Resources Foundation) also moderates a number of other lists addressing environmental and public policy issues for the small island and Caribbean communities. This is highly advantageous because  items of interest to the work of the CCA and its members are disseminated through the association's members-only channel. The other lists are:

Caribbean Biodiversity Conservation -- this list was founded to support our Biodiversity Conservation Office in Antigua. The list membership includes scientists and researchers working in the region and natural resource planners and managers, and it has a large number of bird experts enrolled. Click here to subscribe.

Environmental Working Group of the Forum of Organizations of Civil Society for the Wider Caribbean. This is a bi-lingual list, sort of the Environmental SIG (Special Interest Group) for NGOs trying to be involved in the policy deliberations of the Association of Caribbean States. Click here to  subscribe.

Caribbean Assessment and Reporting Mailing List. This list was established to continue the conversation begun by UNEP and UNDP at a November 1999, workshop for Environmental Assessment and Reporting for countries of the insular Caribbean. The list concentrates on tools and information sharing for conducting state-of-the-environment reports, policy analyses and projections for alternative environmental futures. Click here to subscribe.

San Andres Research Mailing List. This list is maintained to support a network of scientific researchers interested in research about the people reefs and banks of the Colombian Archipelago of San Andres, Old Providence, and Santa Catalina. The list is supported by Island Resources Foundation as a free service for CORALINA, the Colombian government corporation for the sustainable development of the archipelago, with special concern for environmental protection and equitable and sustainable use of the resources of the Archipelago by the indigenous inhabitants. Click here to subscribe. 

The "Carib-Territories" discussion list is organized to promote communication and information exchange among the dependent small islands in the Caribbean, especially the US, British, French and Dutch dependencies. The concern is less for precise political status, and more for whether current communication links tend to be more with the mother country than with other islands. Subjects include governance and environment. Click here to subscribe.

Caribbean GIS Users -- News of interest to regional users and implementers of geographic information systems and remote sensing applications. We also forward some GIS job postings to this list. This list also includes some discussion of metadata issues in the Eastern Caribbean. Click here to subscribe.

Virgin Islands Resource Management Cooperative. Information for researchers on biological or natural resources management issues in the area bounded roughly by the Virgin Banks -- from the Mona Passage to the Anegada Passage. This list also reflects [our founding president] Ed Towle's long-term leadership in Island Systems and Coastal Zone Management strategies and tactics. Click here to subscribe.

Sustainable Tourism Mailing List. Encompasses private sector, governmental bodies, and the scientific and conservation communities which seek to promote the development of a sustainable tourism for the Caribbean, to enhance the ethical management of our natural and cultural resources and to protect the health of our people and guests. Click here to subscribe.

Caribbean Consulting Group for Small Island Developing States Information Network (SIDSNet). Coordinated by UNDP Trinidad, this list is designed to provide technical and policy input to the organizers of SIDSNET. Priority attention is given to management of the web site through commitment by Group Members to input /update/ edit /screen contents of the site on issues, themes and requirements for sustainable development in Caribbean small island developing states. Write Dr. Carol James carol.james@undp.org.tt if you think you want to join.

2. Library-based information services. CCA's varied conservation activities over the past three decades, have resulted in the development of a repository of national and regional environmental information. CCA and many other institutions have continually utilized this repository in conservation activities in the region.

   The present collection includes monographs, (books, manuals, conference proceedings, reference materials) journals, newsletters, reports, documents and audiovisual material. The collection is particularly strong in unpublished Caribbean materials.

   CCA is continuing to expand the Information Centre by identifying and acquiring relevant materials in new areas of focus. This development is being supported by new grants and through acquisition by gifts.

   The Information Centre has established databases for processing materials. This is enabling improved access to the collections.

3. Directories of environmental organisations. The CCA has a compiled national, regional, and world directories. Please click here to go the directories page.

4. Projects. CCA is currently running three major projects. They are listed below and can also be accessed from the home page.
   
   
   • CREP - The Caribbean Regional Environment Programme that is funded by the European Union through the CARIFORUM and concerned with protected areas and biodiversity.
     
     
   • Coral Reef Education Project funded by the Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species in the U.K..
     
     
   • The Coastal Resources Co-management Project (CORECOMP) is a 3-year project within the Coastal and Marine Management Program (CaMMP) of the CCA.

CCA members are encouraged to work with CCA to create regional projects.