July 2012: The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis, with the support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), is developing a national trust fund and conservation finance mechanism for the sustainable financing of protected areas in St. Kitts and Nevis.

A meeting held from 17-19 July 2012 gathered stakeholders to discuss the development of a sustainable financing architecture in the country. This effort is part of the Caribbean Challenge Initiative, under which the Governments of Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have committed to protect at least 20% of their shores, marine and coastal environment, and put in place a new sustainable finance architecture to generate long-term funding for protected areas.

Participants at the meeting considered the status of development of this financing architecture, and participants were informed that US$43 million in new financial commitments have been secured from: GEF (US$20 million), the Government of Germany (US$13 million), The Nature Conservancy (US$8 million), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) (US$1 million) and the Government of Italy (US$1 million). Some of this funding is capital that will integrate the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund endowment. Once established, the yearly returns from the Fund will be given to independent National Protected Area Trust Funds (NPATF) within the eight countries, and NGOs and government agencies will receive funding for projects.

Participants discussed how to achieve 1:1 match funding, with examples discussed from other countries, where Belize collects a US$3.75 tax for each visitor at the airport and US$2 for each cruise ship passenger, while in Trinidad and Tobago a Green Fund receives 1% sales tax on all goods. [IISD RS Sources] [GEF Project Website]