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PARKS AND NATURAL RESOURCES PARQUES Y RESERVAS NATURALES

Parks and natural resources in Bahamas Parques y Reservas Naturales en Bahamas

Parks and natural resources The Bahamas recognized early the need to establish, protect and preserve important biodiversity resources. In 1958, the first Marine Protected Area (MPA) in The Bahamas was established - the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. It is reputed to be the first of its kind in the world and became an exclusive no-take area in 1986. A National Creek and Wetlands Initiative was commenced in 1999 and forty creek systems countrywide were catalogued and inventoried for restoration, an important starting point for The Bahamas to manage effectively its creek and wetland systems. In 2000, the Government approved the creation of an initial five Marine Reserves in the north and central Bahamas and with the expansion of the Westside National Park of Andros, which was announced at the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Bahamas National Trust the total network of marine protected areas in The Bahamas has increased to approximately 550,000 hectares (ha). The Bahamas 2020 Declaration was formally declared in Bonn, Germany at the Ninth Conference of the Parties in May 2008. The 2020 Declaration served as the Government of The Bahamas’ confirmation of its intent to preserve the country’s marine and terrestrial environments and to meet the targets established by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Programme of Work on Protected Areas. During this meeting The Bahamas also stated its

intent to exceed CBD goals by effectively conserving at least 20 per cent of the near-shore marine resources across The Bahamas by 2020. In an attempt to help meet this goal the Bahamas National Protected Areas System Project was implemented. The BNPAS is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and funding for this project ends in 2014. The Bahamas National Protected Areas System (BNPAS) project Key threats to the protected area system of The Bahamas include invasive species, cross-boundary issues/surrounding land, unsustainable exploitation of fishery resources, climate change tourism-related conversion (e.g. ecologically valuable sites). The greatest deficiency in the system is related to marine protected areas with less than 1% of the country set aside in such areas. With financial assistance from the GEF the BNPAS seeks to build a Sustainable National Marine Protected Area Network for The Bahamas and thus enable it to meet its commitments under the CBD Programme of Work for Protected Areas (PoWPA) as well as other obligations under the Biodiversity Convention. The BNPAS project’s design also incorporates not only key biodiversity issues, but also climate change and the impact it will have on biodiversity and conservation. While protecting Bahamian resources the project will also have global effects.

In spite of its relatively small land area, The Bahamas has many terrestrial ecosystems and, with its large expanse of ocean, a high diversity of marine ecosystems. Important and easily- recognized, Bahamian ecosystems include but are not limited to: 1. Pine woodland (forest) – northern islands 2. Coppice – central and southern islands 3. Desert – the annual rainfall for the southerly Hogsty Reef is sufficiently small for its two small cays to qualify as desert 4. Wetlands – throughout the islands; may be allocated amongst five categories: mangrove swamps and marshes, beach vegetation, swashes, pine forests/barrens, broad-leaf coppice. Mangroves are dominated by one or more species of mangrove (Avicennia, Laguncularia and Rhizophora,). 5. Seagrass beds – dominated by turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum) 6. Coral Reefs – of great significance in terms of Bahamian biodiversity 7. Other shallow water marine habitats – rock and unvegetated sediments 8. Caves, sinkholes and blue holes

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