The Tribune

Thirty-six environmental workers have received certificates after completing Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) training at the Prime Minister’s Office.

The workshop, hosted by the Bahamas Project for Marine Conservation (BPMC), marked the completion of several months’ work spent assessing 70 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) across The Bahamas.

The METT is the third of three milestones that the BPMC has to achieve over a 15-year marine conservation initiative. It said the METT focuses on developing management plans for marine protected areas, and identifying a baseline against which its project will be measured over the 15 years.

The project management unit (PMU), based in the Prime Minister’s Office, oversaw workshop and meeting planning throughout the year to meet the project targets. Jacklyn Chisholm-Lightbourne, PMU monitoring and evaluation consultant, said the training was a capacity-building workshop to ensure continuity as the project progresses in completing future METT assessments.

“We took the same group of persons from the previous METT workshops, and now we have a cohort of individuals who are trained to continue the management effectiveness assessments of protected areas,” she said.

“The management authorities are ensuring, through climate smart management plans and rapid ecological assessments (REAs), that they are doing the work required for protected area management.”

An initial introduction and overview of the METT was presented during a conference in March held by the PMU and project partners from the Bahamas National Trust (BNT), Department of Marine Resources (DMR), Forestry Unit, Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) and Bahamas Protected Areas Fund (BPAF).

The first METT workshop was held in June, where the process of assessing 27 MPAs began. Another 23 sites were evaluated at the second workshop held in July, and the remaining 20 sites were assessed during sessions held between August and September.

The five-month process included conservation experts, park wardens and technical specialists from environmental groups, who collaborated to gather and compile data on MPAs across The Bahamas.

The evaluations were conducted using the internationally-standardised METT, which allows for a clearer picture of existing strengths and challenges, and identifies areas needing improvement.

The BNT played a critical role as the organisation responsible for 23 MPAs across The Bahamas. Representatives from the environmental non-profit organisation provided existing data and information from previous assessments, which was used to help strengthen park management overall.

Ellsworth Weir, the BNT’s director of parks, said some of the 70 MPAs have not yet been assigned to a management authority. He added that improvements and better implementation are being explored.

“We looked at various areas, trying to assess what the threats are. Key threats can include poaching, climate change, even vessel groundings. There are any number of issues, and we try to look at each area by island - or by clusters of islands - to determine what the issues are that they might face. Then we brainstorm to find ways to mitigate these issues,” Mr Weir said.

The third and final METT session was held earliert this month to ‘train the trainers’. Participants reviewed site assessment reports, and discussed ways to strengthen management effectiveness.

Rich Wilson, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) consultant for the project, from Seatone Consulting, led the three-day workshop, equipping participants to conduct future METT assessments. He explained that the goal was to move “from METT to action” as this phase of the project comes to an end.

The next step is developing a climate smart management plan and national mangrove management plan. Ms Chisholm-Lightbourne, who organised all the METT workshops over the past year, said the future looks bright for the project as the BPMC moves into its forurth year.

“The advantage of having the METT completed is that we now know where the gaps are, we know what the financial concerns are, we know what some of the ecological concerns are, what the struggles are, and what is required,” she added.

“So now the action beyond this point is that we take those concerns and we put them into management action, with the right funding and resources for the parks to move forward and benefit The Bahamas in terms of resources, tourism, fisheries and everything else.”